Xbox Full Screen Experience comes to Windows 11 gaming PCs just days after Steam Machine reveal
Microsoft is bringing the Xbox Full Screen Experience to standard Windows 11 gaming PCs, just a week after Valve introduced its Steam Machine, a SteamOS based gaming PC. The feature is now live as a preview in Windows 11 Insider build 26220.7271 on the Dev and Beta channels. To use it you also need to enroll in the Xbox Insider PC gaming preview as well.
This is the first time the mode runs on non handheld devices through official builds. Until now it was limited to Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds and a preview on MSI Claw models. Support only started to roll out to other Windows handhelds, such as Lenovo Legion Go, on November 21.
Microsoft describes Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) as a controller first Windows shell that sits on top of the Xbox app and hides most of the desktop. On a PC you can enter FSE from Task View, from Game Bar settings, or by pressing Win + F11 once the feature is enabled in Settings. The mode is disabled by default and is rolling out gradually to Insiders, so even with the right build and programs you may not see it yet.
Source: Windows Central/Microsoft
On paper this is what Windows gaming PCs have been missing. Windows has spent years trying to be a business desktop, a creative workstation, and a gaming platform at the same time. A wise person once told me you cannot be good at everything, you have to choose at some point. Valve chose gaming and built Steam Deck and now Steam Machine around that focus, while Windows is still pulled in every direction at once.
Even with FSE, Microsoft has bigger problems to solve for PC gaming. A fresh Windows install still means driver updates, Microsoft Store updates, Xbox app updates, and vendor tools before you even start a game. On a SteamOS box you set up once, update, and play. Steam Machine leans into that console like path, while FSE tries to wrap a console style menu around a Windows stack that still behaves like a corporate laptop under the surface.
Steam Machine runs SteamOS natively, Source: Valve
In its current form FSE on PC is still a test build. There is no virtual keyboard for controller users on non touch systems, and some apps do not behave well when forced into this shell. Microsoft lists both issues as known problems in the current Insider build.
I’m not a controller gamer, so I have no desire to even try this on my PC. But if this makes gaming on Windows better, then we should support these efforts and inform Microsoft of what is missing, and what to change.
Source: Microsoft , Windows Central
