The Xbox (Beta) app has started to roll out mod support

(Image credit: Microsoft via PC Gamer)

As the popularity of the Xbox Game Pass on PC has grown, the shortcomings of the Xbox (Beta) launcher have become clear. While the app itself is generally quite functional, some key features of PC gaming are lacking: Like mods. Games that would be easily modded on platforms like Steam or GOG aren't immediately supported on Microsoft's app. It looks like that won't be true for long.

The latest update for the Xbox app adds a new feature. On a game's page you can select "Enable Mods," then accept a warning, which will open up a link to the game's file structure so you can insert your mods of choice. It's a bit barebones compared to Steam's elaborate Workshop, so you have to go find your own mods out on the web. It's good news for those playing games like Paradox Interactive's Cities: Skylines through Game Pass though, as it and its ilk are very much improved by mods.

Into the Breach and Phantasy Star Online 2 both support the feature so far. Microsoft pledged greater support for mods on the Xbox (Beta) app, and this is the first appearance of that promise on the app to date. Here's hoping that Microsoft gets this support out there for more games sooner rather than later. 

Thanks for the tipoff, Windows Central

Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

Latest in Gaming Industry
Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell is hooked on Stalker 2 and once he's got the fourth ending (!) will 'figure out what I'm going to play next'
Valve logo with a man with a steam valve for an eye.
Valve's DRM was inspired by an exec's nephew, who 'used a $500 check I'd sent him for school expenses and bought himself a CD-ROM replicator… he sent me a lovely thank you note'
Max, from Life is Strange: Double Exposure, looks ponderingly off into the distance.
'We all got laid off', says former Deck Nine narrative designer, after no-one was around to pick up Life is Strange: Double Exposure's GDC Awards win
An edited Microsoft/Steam logo, illustrating the potential future integration Microsoft has for an Xbox app.
Microsoft crawls back to Steam ahead of schedule by leaking a screenshot of an app where you can launch Steam games through Xbox
The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.
Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn't own the rights to Half-Life—'It wasn't an idle threat—we weren't going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich'
Latest in News
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
Western outlaws with masks and guns
'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'
Person battling bizarre four-eyed monster with stylish UI elements surrounding them
Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio's UI designer is open to accessibility options for players who find the stylish menus overstimulating: 'That is something we understand we'll need to work on and provide in the future'
Split Fiction screenshot
Split Fiction is reportedly at the center of a bidding war for its movie rights