The folks over at Xbox probably felt the same way, but it’s not afraid to change things up in this new era. It’s rolling out an overhaul to select Xbox Insiders, which overhauls how their consoles handle Achievements. Aside from a visual overhaul that now comes with special animations for rarer Achievements and the ability to match your custom colors, there’s also more control over how your achievements are presented.

You can hide specific games, and unlocking all Achievements for a title will let you highlight it. We’re wondering why it hasn’t been that way for so long, but better late than never.

There are a few other tweaks, but the good news is that it’s gradually rolling out to all Xbox players worldwide. Although an official schedule isn’t available at the moment, we’re hoping that this is a part of the brand’s effort to bring the console back to what it does best in the near future. You can check out the official announcement in its entirety here.

These include DOOM 64, Psychonauts, Retro Classics, DOOM Eternal, Dishonored 2, Fable Anniversary, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Gears 5, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Wars 2, Hellblade, Ori and the Blind Forest, State of Decay 2, and The Elder Scrolls Online. The lack of any third-party titles indicates that Triton could be a much more focused Game Pass tier aimed at those who only want access to Microsoft’s first-party offerings.

It is worth noting that Microsoft has yet to make any official announcement of this tier. However, a recent report that new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma wants to make Game Pass “more enticing to a broader range of customers,” lends some credence to it being in the works, especially if the company wants to “offer lower-priced tiers.” The report also indicated that Sharma had been communicating with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters about a potential partnership that would bundle the two companies’ subscriptions together.

“You would have to do it in a way that works for the consumer and works for both companies, and frankly, I think Microsoft’s still trying to figure out how to make the Game Pass bundle work for Microsoft,” said Peters. “But what I like about Asha’s thinking is, it’s all about, ‘How do we do more?’ And it’s already been exciting to watch.”

Microsoft had first introduced its tiered subscriptions for Game Pass back in October 2025, with Game Pass Ultimate being the most expensive tier at $30 per month. The slightly cheaper Premium tier is now $15, while Game Pass Essential costs $10.

At the time, the decision to raise the prices of Game Pass subscriptions was criticized by many, including Laura Fryer, one of the original co-founders of Microsoft Game Studios. She called the price hikes “greed over gaming”.

“I’m not sure that their leadership understands what makes Xbox great,” she said. “I’m not sure that they’re listening to their fans. They keep doubling down on decisions that make it clear that they’ve been in a bubble, and all this feedback doesn’t seem to reach them any more.”

“Xbox didn’t reinvent [itself] by replacing the old engine with a better one,” she continued further in her video. “They just abandoned what they had and started chasing what they didn’t understand…With this last increase to Game Pass, Xbox threw away one of their last advantages: they were the best deal in gaming. These price hikes feel like a betrayal. Greed over gaming.”

Indeed, it’s now looking like there might have been some truth to those speculations, as the individual in question points to Sharma being unhappy with the direction the campaign was taking the brand in, a sentiment shared by many of Xbox’s employees. “Asha retired ‘This is an Xbox’ because it didn’t feel like Xbox. She is personally leading a reset of how we show up as a brand.”

We’re inclined to agree, as most of the ads in that campaign focused on pitching Xbox as a platform, not a console. That might be poised to change as Project Helix takes shape as a worthy contender for a console crown that the PlayStation has managed to steal away, despite the current-gen Xbox Series being a worthy adversary. It will be interesting to see how the brand repositions itself in the coming months, and we’re hoping for a more Xbox-focused approach this time around.

A revised approach to Game Pass’s pricing would be a nice touch, but that just might be wishful thinking on our part. Nevertheless, we’re all for a fresh start to the console wars and welcome some healthy competition between two of modern gaming’s giants once again.

Charla noted that the team is working hard to ensure that developers can make a single build targeting Xbox for their games, and have it work on a variety of hardware, including Project Helix, PC, and even through cloud streaming. “We’re working hard so developers can make one Xbox build in the future and it’ll run on their Project Helix console, on PC and on streaming and cloud surfaces like smart TVs and other devices,” he said.

He also revealed that Microsoft will offer a similar level of support to developers for Project Helix as it does now for Xbox Series X/S and Windows. As for any advice he might have for developers, Charla thinks they should start working with development kits for Xbox and PC sooner rather than later. This, he believes, will put them in a better position for when Project Helix rolls around. While developing for PC might be challenging, thanks in large part to the variety of hardware available these days, Charla noted that having a single target, like Xbox for PC, could then help developers bring it over to consoles as well.

“Someone looking to be ready for next-gen with Xbox should be developing for Xbox console today, developing for Xbox on PC, and supporting Xbox Play Anywhere,” he said. “That’ll put you in pole position for the next generation and ensure your Xbox on PC game runs natively on Project Helix. The exact specifics may differ per developer and game. In a lot of cases if you’re coming from a Steam or stock PC build it may be smarter to start with the Xbox for PC version first and then use that as the basis for the Xbox console version. Of course we’ll have more details about how developers can take advantage of the specific hardware features of Project Helix in the months ahead, but doing this ensures they’ll have a native build on Project Helix.”

Charla also spoke about new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, and what her leadership has in store for the company. “I think [Sharma’s] leadership is going to be really good,” he said, before going on to discuss the three principles she laid down in her first town hall meeting with the Xbox Team. Generally speaking, he is quite optimistic about the future of Xbox. “We’re in the best time ever to be playing games,” he said.

Project Helix was officially unveiled earlier this month, and while Microsoft has been tight-lipped about its hardware and software features, reports have been coming around indicating that it might have a performance lead over Sony’s rumored PS6, at least on paper.

It is worth noting that neither Microsoft nor Sharma have made any official statements about potential plans to revamp the pricing structure for Game Pass. The company had introduced a tiered system of available subscriptions for Game Pass in October 2025, with the most expensive one being Game Pass Ultimate, priced at $30 per month and offering over 400 games. Slightly cheaper is the Premium tier, which includes over 200 games and costs $15 per month. Finally, Game Pass Essential offers over 50 games, and is priced at $10 every month.

Interestingly, the report had also indicated that Sharma had been in talks with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters about a potential partnership between the streaming giant and Xbox. This partnership would apparently involve subscription bundles.

“You would have to do it in a way that works for the consumer and works for both companies, and frankly, I think Microsoft’s still trying to figure out how to make the Game Pass bundle work for Microsoft,” said Peters. “But what I like about Asha’s thinking is, it’s all about, ‘How do we do more?’ And it’s already been exciting to watch.”

The decision had drawn quite a bit of criticism from many, including one of the co-founders of Microsoft Game Studios, Laura Fryer, who called the price hikes “greed over gaming.”

“I’m not sure that their leadership understands what makes Xbox great,” she said. “I’m not sure that they’re listening to their fans. They keep doubling down on decisions that make it clear that they’ve been in a bubble, and all this feedback doesn’t seem to reach them any more.”

“Xbox didn’t reinvent [itself] by replacing the old engine with a better one,” she continued further in her video. “They just abandoned what they had and started chasing what they didn’t understand…With this last increase to Game Pass, Xbox threw away one of their last advantages: they were the best deal in gaming. These price hikes feel like a betrayal. Greed over gaming.”

The at-the-time commissioner of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Lina Khan, had referred to Microsoft as being “too-big-to-care” shortly after the price hikes were announced.

“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been followed by significant price hikes and layoffs, harming both gamers and developers,” wrote Khan. “As we’ve seen across sectors, increasing market consolidation and increasing prices often go hand-in-hand. As dominant firms become too-big-to-care, they can make things worse for their customers without having to worry about the consequences.”

Sharma took over the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO from Phil Spencer back in February. The same report also revealed that Xbox president Sarah Bond was leaving the company as well, and that former Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty was being promoted to chief content officer.

He also praised the work that went into the backwards compatibility features of modern Xbox consoles, especially when it came to running titles like the original Xbox’s The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, and Xbox 360’s Fallout 3. “They did an incredible job with backwards compatibility,” he said. “Right now, you can go and play the original Oblivion, you can play Morrowind, you can play Fallout 3. It’s backwards compatible, it’s 4k, and like, great.”

“So that to me was like, job number one – can you play them as they were?”

He also revealed that work on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered started because the idea of remastering older Bethesda games “kept coming up.” The fact that there hadn’t been a new mainline entry in the fantasy RPG franchise since 2011’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim also likely proved to be enough motivation.

“Feeling like this also serves the Elder Scrolls audience that we hadn’t had this, this is good for that audience, and having a single player game and kind of this pocket of time. But there’s a million ways that that could have gone wrong,” he said.

As for the Fallout franchise, a report from last month has indicated that the team working on Fallout 3‘s remaster is aiming for a similar level of polish and quality as The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. “The game is still in active development, and I understand Bethesda is keen to ensure it’s as well polished as the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered last year,” wrote The Verge’s Tom Warren.

More recent reports have been adding more fuel to the fire when it comes to a remaster of Fallout 3. Earlier this month, a listing for new McFarlane toys indicated that an “Elite Edition” for Fallout 3 Remastered was planned. This edition would include a 7-inch-tall “T-45B Nuka Cola”. While few details were revealed, the name indicates that it might be a figure of power armor featuring a color palette based on the Nuka Cola brand.

Interestingly, a remaster of Fallout 3 might involve more work than previously thought. Former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith spoke about this back in April 2025, noting that the project would require a major revamp of the RPG’s gun-based combat. He referred to Fallout 3‘s gun combat as being “not good,” especially when compared to its contemporaries.

“[Fallout 3 combat] didn’t hold up to shooters at the time,” Nesmith explained. “Also, it’s an RPG shooter; it’s not a run-and-gun shooter. But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4. So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into it, assuming they’re doing the same thing.”