Summary
Xboxhas marked the 50th anniversary of its parent company, Microsoft, by making some themed customization items freely available for users on consoles as well as PC. The special tribute comes right ahead of theXboxmaker’s foundation day on April 4.
Across Xbox’s offerings, ranging from its consoles to its digital services, there is a consistent presence of customization options. On the hardware front, the gaming giant provides a plethora of unique-looking controllers, even going as far as lettingXbox players make their own controller designs, along with some special edition consoles. Whereas, on the software side, it has features, such as dynamic backgrounds and Gamerpics, that enable users to customize their experience. With a bundle of new customization items, Xbox is now celebrating a milestone day for Microsoft, the American tech giant that founded the former in 2001.
Xbox has releaseda new Xbox Series X/S dynamic background, a unique Microsoft Solitaire in-game theme for Windows users, additional profile themes including three new Gamerpics, and a new profile badge to mark 50 years of Microsoft’s existence. These items are available for free onXbox consolesand Windows devices right now. Importantly, unlike the other freebies, the Microsoft 50th anniversary-themed badge requires the user to enroll in the Xbox Insider Program before they can put the badge up on their Xbox profile, which may take a day or two to become visible.
Free Digital Xbox Items for Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary
Notably, the bundled dynamic background hearkens back to the long history of Microsoft in the gaming industry, featuring certain recognizable faces from someXbox-owned franchises, along with some third-party characters. Among those that appear in the image are Master Chief fromHalo, Marcus Fenix fromGears of War, the Dragonborn fromThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and Juno fromOverwatch 2. Moreover, the newly-added Gamerpics are nostalgia-heavy, featuring iconic images of their own, including those of Microsoft Office’s Clippy, the iconic Windows cursor, and a floppy disk.
As Microsoft completes a half-century in the business, its Xbox division makes further progress on what appears to be a path towards transitioning from a hardware-centric approach to a software-centric approach, with its first-party games jumping bridge to rival platforms. At the same time, there is also strong anticipation about itsrumored partnership with Asus for an Xbox handheld, making the coming months an exciting period for fans of the green brand.
Xbox Series X
Microsoft’s ninth-generation console, the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine that can support 4K resolution and 60 fps, depending on the game. Released alongside the Xbox Series S, the Series X has a Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, a Custom RDNA 2 GPU, and 16 GB of RAM.
