Shared play history across Xbox devices is now rolling out worldwide. The newly introduced addition makes cross-device play more convenient than ever, further underlining Microsoft's every-screen-is-an-Xbox push.
Xbox Insiders got a preview of cross-device play history back in July 2025. The feature revamps the old system that fragmented "recently played" lists across devices, which made hopping between screens somewhat inconvenient.
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How Cross-Device Xbox Play History Works
As of August 28, the new system is now rolling out globally via updates for the latest two generations of Microsoft's consoles and the ever-evolving Xbox PC app, and (with some limitations) even the Xbox mobile app, which supports streaming via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Following the rollout, one's play history will be synced account-wide across all supported platforms, while also being surfaced in several places, providing multiple entry points for continuing play. Console owners can access it via the Play History tile on the Home page, while PC users have the Most Recent section of the Xbox app's sidebar, as well as the Play History tab in the My Library menu.
Cloud-Playable Games Are Also Included in the New Xbox Play History
Crucially, cloud-playable games also populate the new feed, regardless of whether the player owns them outright or has previously accessed them via Xbox Game Pass. Conveniently, this change materialized just 24 hours after Microsoft announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming would be expanding to both the Core and Standard Game Pass tiers. Functionally, the new behavior removes guesswork and menu-digging, facilitating a significantly more convenient experience for anyone who often switches between devices.
Microsoft's 'Every Screen is an Xbox' Push Continues
While relatively minor on the surface, the shared history continues Microsoft's push toward making Xbox a maximally cross-platform-friendly ecosystem. That effort ties into the company's broader ambitions, underlined by the recent "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign that saw Microsoft aggressively promote the fact that its games can be experienced on many different devices. Centralizing recent play and treating cloud gaming sessions as first-class citizens supports this more platform-agnostic model that Microsoft is clearly striving toward these days.
The new changes will also affect handheld PCs, including the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, which are scheduled to hit the market on October 16. Both will arrive running a version of Windows 11 Home specifically optimized for their form factor. On a related note, using shared device history on PC requires Windows 11 as well. At this point in time, upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft's operating system seems like a straightforward decision, as the company will officially be ending support for Windows 10 on October 14.
- Brand
- Microsoft
- Original Release Date
- November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
- $499
- Operating System
- Proprietary (Windows-based)
- Processor
- Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz
- Resolution
- 720p - 4K UHD