Do you remember your Xbox avatar? Well, the ability to change them may soon be gone. Xbox has quietly announced that it will be shutting down the Xbox Avatar Editor and essentially all Xbox Avatar features early next year.
Microsoft posted on its Xbox support page (found on Pure Xbox) “low engagement” and the need to shift priorities to other projects.
Microsoft continued, “Players can personalize their gaming experience using dynamic backgrounds and profile colors on Xbox consoles, and original Xbox avatars, profile themes, and gamerpics on Xbox consoles and PC.” You can also use your avatar as your gamerpic, but you can no longer change its appearance or access it elsewhere. You’ll need to make this kind of gamerpic change through the Xbox Original Avatars app.
The exception is Xbox 360 games where avatars are available. 1 to 100Two Doritos Crash Course games (yes, there were definitely two!) Kinect Sports. Xbox has made it clear that these changes will not affect Xbox Original avatars in supported games. Refunds will also be provided to players who purchased items for their avatar after November 1, 2023.
The Xbox Avatar, now called the Xbox Original Avatar, was introduced with the Xbox 360 in 2008. This is similar to Nintendo’s Mii feature, which allows players to customize a 3D version of themselves. According to Kotaku, Rare was working on creating an avatar system that would be linked to user accounts throughout the game. Former lead artist for Rare Lee Musgrave said they had a lot of success because they were everywhere in the Xbox ecosystem at the time.
“Every Xbox has an avatar on the front page of every dashboard. When you buy a new box, one of the first things you do is create an avatar,” Musgrave said.
Avatars were also redesigned for Xbox One in 2018 and included more comprehensive customization options such as prosthetics.
However, over time it has become less relevant. You’ll need to set up a gamerpic when you sign up, but you can choose from different arts. It was also not noticeable in other areas of the interface. It’s almost completely gone on Xbox Series X/S. So if you’ve forgotten you have one, you’re probably not alone.
