New Xbox Game Bar overlay available for Windows 10

Microsoft has launched Xbox Game Bar, a customisable gaming overlay built into Windows 10.

It improves Xbox integration on PC by giving users quick access to widgets for controlling music, capture tools, finding new teammates and chatting on Xbox Live across PC, console and mobile without leaving their game.

Accessed by pressing the Windows key and the G key simultaneously, Microsoft says Xbox Game Bar works with nearly all PC games and the overlay is customisable, so you can decide which widgets to show or hide, pin them so they’re always visible, and choose where they’re located.

The Spotify widget lets users control music and podcasts, including favouriting, shuffling and selecting playlists, while the broadcast and capture widget enables users to overlay text on screenshots and share them via messages or Twitter.

Xbox Game Bar also includes Xbox friends list and a looking for group feature for finding new teammates. Users can chat using voice or text across PC, Xbox One and mobile, with conversations synced on all Xbox apps, and watch or send friends Mixer streams.

Microsoft is adopting an increasingly platform agnostic approach for its gaming division. It recently made a range of Xbox Live features available to mobile developers and is investigating bringing them to Nintendo Switch too.