It is a small customization update, but an appropriately personal one. Sometimes the quickest route down memory lane is the screen you used to watch before a game even started.
Three classic Xbox startup animations return
Pure Xbox’s Fraser Gilbert reports that the additions cover three distinct eras:
- Original Xbox
- Xbox 360 — 2005
- Xbox 360 — 2010
Xbox’s announcement says the update is rolling out throughout November 15, rather than becoming available on every console simultaneously. These are animations for newer consoles; the announcement is not an update for original Xbox or Xbox 360 hardware.
Where to find them
On Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S:
- Open Settings.
- Go to System > Startup.
- Look for the original Xbox and Xbox 360 animation choices and select your preferred option.
TheGamer identifies that menu path, while Gilbert separately reports that the new options are live in Startup settings and that he has selected the original Xbox version. If they have not appeared on your console, allow for the announced rollout rather than assuming something is broken. The reporting does not establish a required system-software build.
Keep the change in perspective: choosing an older startup animation changes the presentation. It does not, by itself, establish that any additional classic games are playable.
The anniversary magazine is more than a retrospective
Microsoft has also released XBOX – The 25th Anniversary Magazine as a free online read. Writing on Xbox Wire, Xbox communications representative Jeff Rubenstein says printed copies were shared with community members at Xbox FanFest in Seattle during the preceding week, before the digital edition became available on November 15.
The publication combines hardware history, franchise memories and material about unreleased games, with contributions from the teams involved. One specific example confirmed by Xbox Wire is a feature on Fable’s capital city, Bowerstone, on page 38. That gives the magazine a forward-looking component rather than making it solely a commemorative scrapbook.
For comfortable reading on a PC, Xbox Wire’s embedded magazine viewer includes a full-screen control: select the arrows in the lower-right corner. That is a useful option for a publication designed around magazine-sized pages rather than a conventional scrolling article.
Project Helix: distinguish the promise from the details
TheGamer also reports that the magazine discusses Project Helix and its relationship with PC gaming. There is important primary-source context here: Microsoft had already publicly established that direction months before the anniversary.
In his March 11, 2026, Xbox Wire account of his Game Developers Conference keynote, Xbox next-generation vice president Jason Ronald described Helix as Microsoft’s next-generation first-party console, designed to play both Xbox console games and PC games. PC-game support is therefore an existing official objective—not a capability first revealed by this magazine.
Ronald also said Microsoft planned to begin shipping alpha hardware to developers in 2027. That is a development milestone, not a consumer release date. His announcement does not establish a complete supported PC-game catalog or guarantee compatibility with every PC storefront, so readers should resist translating “plays PC games” into “runs everything in my library.”
The two anniversary offerings work on different levels: the startup animations provide an immediate personalization option, while the magazine places Xbox’s history alongside its future ambitions. Enjoy the familiar opening act—just keep the nostalgia separate from promises about what the next machine will run.