During the E3 Trade Show on Tuesday, Microsoft announced hat it will be upgrading its character system to the Avatars 2.0 for Xbox Live.
According to Xbox lead product manager Bryan Saftler, “We built these from the ground-up, they’re being built in Unity which is a whole new engine. Avatars are meant for whenever you want your digital self to represent. We don’t want to put you in a box, there are no more checkboxes, no matter what you think you look like or what you want to present online.”
Since its release in 2008, Xbox Live Avatars have been constantly tweaked over the years but now Microsoft are in a move to make avatars more customisable placing a huge emphasis on diversity. Integrating more props, clothing pieces, mounts and body type options including a pregnancy option.
Xbox interaction designer Kathryn Storm said, “If you can see it in the store you can wear it, we’re not holding you to any type of checkboxes.”
Windows 10 users will be the first to experience the Avatars 2.0 with Xbox follow suit in Fall 2017 while a new version will arrive for Xbox One X on November 7, 2017.
