Last month, we released several fan-inspired feature updates to the community. This month, we are starting to roll out even more features including a new Party overlay to help you see who’s speaking in your group, more fan-requested improvements to Looking for Group on Xbox Live and the Activity Feed, and later this month Killer Instinct tournaments powered by Arena on Xbox Live.

Since we announced Arena at E3 2016, and first launched it to Xbox Insiders this past fall, the team has been hard at work building and refining Arena to make esports available for gamers on Xbox Live, regardless of their skill-level. Huge thank you to Xbox fans for sharing your thoughts on the feature – your feedback has had a direct impact helping us evolve the Arena experience, and will help ensure the feature is great when it rolls out broadly. Over the next month, we will open up World of Tanks tournaments on Arena to more Insiders, and we’re excited to launch Killer Instinct tournaments, including the ability for users to create their own tournaments in their Clubs. Here is a little more about the great new features coming to Arena, as well a look at other features coming to Xbox Insiders in the coming weeks.

Arena on Xbox Live

In addition to World of Tanks on Arena in partnership with ESL, later this month Killer Instinct on Arena is back for select Xbox Insiders! You can discover, register, and play in both official and user-generated tournaments in Clubs across Xbox One and Windows 10. Get notifications when your match is ready, enjoy automatic results reporting, and show off the results on your Activity Feed when you’re done.

Want to create your own Killer Instinct tournament? Starting this month, Club owners and administrators can create and host tournaments in their Clubs. Download the Xbox app (beta) on your Windows 10 PC, go to your Club and click on the “Tournaments” tab then select “Create tournament.” Fill out your tournament info and publish your event. Other members of that Club, or guests if they are allowed, on either PC or Xbox One can then discover, join, and play in your tournament.

As Arena continues to grow, be on the lookout for more tournaments with games like Halo Wars 2 and Smite, as well as gamer-created tournaments for World of Tanks. And watch for more details about our first public Arena-powered prized tournament: The Killer Instinct Battle for New York, where eight top Killer Instinct players will win a trip to compete for over $10k in cash and prizes in our New York Microsoft Store studio. We’re really excited to bring the excitement of competitive gaming to the community on Xbox One and Windows 10 – it’s never been easier to compete on Xbox Live.

Party Overlay

We’ve recently shipped several multitasking features, including the Achievement tracker, to improve your gaming experience. With this update, we are adding a new overlay that will tell you who’s speaking in your Party, without having to open the Guide. When you are in a Party, go to the Guide to enable the overlay. Just like the Achievement tracker, you can choose where on the screen you want to place the overlay and how transparent it will be. The window will show the Gamertag of the player whenever they speak, and when no one is talking, the window will be invisible. This is particularly useful for Looking for Group and other scenarios where you might not know all the members of your Party.

Fan-Requested Feature Updates

Building on the update we shipped last month, we are continuing to improve features based on input from the community, which you can read about below:

Share your Looking for Group post on the Activity Feed or through a message

Unfollow a Club or Game Hub directly from your Activity Feed

Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.

For Beam and Twitch broadcasts, you will now have an option in the Guide for your Kinect to locate you automatically.

Captive Portal support for wireless internet is coming to Xbox One, which allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser. Great for colleges, hotels, or public Wi-Fi locations.

Filter posts on your Activity Feed on the Xbox app for iOS and Android

On the Xbox app for Windows 10, we’re adding the option to select the audio input and output sources for Party chat.

As mentioned earlier, these updates will start to roll out today and in the coming weeks. And as always, keep letting us know what you think about our features at Xbox Feedback. Your input is invaluable as we continue to evolve the Xbox experience. Thank you!