Microsoft solitaire and xbox game pass
This project focused on integrating Xbox Game Pass across Microsoft Solitaire on Windows and Mobile. I led design efforts across multiple Xbox titles, collaborating directly with Microsoft to ship new UX/UI, social features, and quality-of-life improvements used by over 30 million monthly players.
PROBLEM SPACE
Xbox Game Pass was being introduced accross several Xbox Game Studios platforms and games, and the Solitaire team was tasked with incorporating Game Pass onboarding and initiation to its specific demographic. The challenge here is that our demographic was older adults and the language and UX flow needed to be concise, and legible in such a way that anyone could approach it.
Updates to a live-operations product like Microsoft Solitaire Collection required that major updates must be segmented first to validate the changes. Test sessions, A/B testing and regional segmentation was used to ensure users understood the purchase flow before we launched it for our massive 30 million monthly user base. Inccorporating key XBOX branding was an important challenge to balance appropriate UX elements as well as reinforcing the brand.
Wording and ux positioning
When you’re designing a purchase flow, your main objective is to translate as many users as possible into Premium Tier members. This means that our language used as well as the actual UX purchase flow (when/where the flow begins) has to be really as inoffensive as possible.
On average, users exit out of main menu notifications after 2-3 seconds. We used this knowledge to deliberately choose positioning and wording to articulate as tidy as possible what the benefits were of the Premium Benefits of Game Pass and why you should buy it.
Xbox Game Pass integration needed to feel premium, be clearly communicated across platforms, and avoid user confusion between Game Pass and standard tiers. As many of our users were older adults, it was becoming problematic that our descriptions of features were too wordy and disorganized.
Initial concept
This was my initial concept used during our first meeting with the Microsoft team of what would appear after users purchase Game Pass.
“Premium Unlocked” - Immediately show users that their purchase was successful so they are reassured.
“As an Xbox Game Pass member…” - Being a Xbox Game Pass member is a point of pride, or even of status to an extent. This language is to remind users that they have specific benefits exclusively available to them. Wording is used to reinforce the brand and in-turn, keep people playing (more specifically…within the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem).
Benefits List - As concise as possible, we listed the benefits made available to users plain and simple - no fluff.
OK Button - Clear escape for users. It’s vital to always have this especially with marketing/sales pitches within the application. Some users are just not interested in anything you have to say, so with that, you give them a quick and inoffensive exit.
PURCHASE FLOW
Our first flow of the Game Pass purchase flow was for users that already had and used their Xbox accounts during MS Solitaire gameplay. If they were signed in already, that is when the initial purchase flow would appear. If they weren’t signed in, it would not appear. This was changed later on to incorporate members that were not signed in but had the potential of purchasing Game Pass.
No matter if they have Game Pass or Game Pass + Premium, they are always led as quickly as possible back to the landing screen where they can resume gameplay.
A/B Testing
I ultimately developed two variations of the purchase flow that had sublte changes to branding color, wording and positioning of UI elements. These were eventually used in brief testing sessions to verify which format users enjoyed more.
With all my UX flows, we always had to consider how interfaces should look on various platforms as we were not only developing for Windows, but also iOS/Android.
RESULTS
My design of Xbox Game Pass integration specifically within the onboarding pipeline led to a tangible increase not only in user retention but in revenue. The new UX I helmed led to an additional 300 Game Pass Premium purchases per month
