Cortana coming to the Xbox One in 2016

Microsoft's digital assistant arrives on the Xbox One in 2016, but Xbox One Experience Preview testers will get to try it later this year.

On Friday evening, Microsoft's Larry Hryb—better known as Major Nelson—took to his blog to make a couple announcements. First, a new update to the Xbox Beta app for Windows 10 is on its way. We'll get to that in a moment, but the big news is that Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant technology, will make its way to the Xbox in 2016.

According to Major Nelson, beta testers will get a chance to try Cortana on their Xbox "later this year" when Microsoft releases it through the Xbox One experience preview program. This will allow the company to " ensure that the experience is tuned for gamers" ahead of its public launch next year. Major Nelson didn't provide any further details as to when in 2016 you can expect the official version of Cortana for Xbox, however.

The story behind the story: Cortana debuted in Windows Phone 8.1, and Microsoft also built it into Windows 10, so adding it to the Xbox One seems to be the most logical next step. We still don't know what Cortana for Xbox will be able to do, but it will likely build off of the Xbox One's existing support for spoken commands via the Kinect controller.

Xbox updates coming for Windows 10

In the meantime, while you're waiting for Cortana for Xbox One, you may as well check out the latest Xbox Beta app for Windows 10. This new update includes support for a new group text chat feature, the ability to reply directly to notifications, and some new social features, such as an easier way to share in-game achievements and game clips, among other things. The new Xbox Beta app for Windows 10 is available for download now; a general public release date for these features has yet to be announced.

Source: Cortana coming to the Xbox One in 2016