Xbox game bar integration/widget

[Bang Kun]

I’ve been an intensive user of launchbox since purchasing it last year as I’m a couch gamer and primarily use big box. Recently however I noticed shifting over to using the xbox game bar more. As much as I’d hate to admit it, the fact that the game bar ties in with Windows 10/11 it just is so easy to use and you can call upon the game bar wherever you are in Windows or even when gaming. Right now someone has started working on launching games from the gamebar but it only works with existing launchers such as steam etc so you can already imagine its limitations. You can find the project here:

https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/one-game-launcher-beta/9PB82SFMMGRB?hl=nl-nl&gl=NL

Similarly in more recent Windows 11 beta’s Microsoft is also supporting launching games from the game bar I’ve personally tested and it works very albeit limited to only the most 3 recent games you’ve launched. It’s also limited to simple launching of executables without additional parameters so it’s definitely not a solution for emulation. You can read more about it here:

https://www.gearrice.com/update/the-xbox-game-bar-will-allow-you-to-launch-titles-even-faster/

Naturally I’d see launchbox as the perfect tie in to the game bar and would go a long way to really enhance the couch gaming experience and a step closer to a full “console like” ease of use experience. I’d still use big box for browsing the large collections but for quick use this would just make it that much smoother. Even being able to launch big box from the xbox game bar would already be huge win but I’d imagine it go much deeper and perhaps close games and launch them all from the game bar.

‌