Skip to main content

Spotify support is headed to the Xbox One

Create your own soundtrack for games on Xbox One with new Spotify support

A Spotify app was launched for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 back in 2015, giving players a convenient way to listen to their choice of music while they enjoyed their favorite games. At the time, Sony said that the app would remain a PlayStation exclusive for the “foreseeable” future, but the Xbox One will soon receive a Spotify app as well.

A Reddit user noticed that longtime Xbox employee Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb had been using an app titled “Spotify Music — For Xbox” through Hryb’s activity feed. No announcement regarding a Spotify app for Xbox devices had been made, but The Verge reported that one was “being tested internally.”

Recommended Videos

On Tuesday, August 8, Microsoft officially announced the Spotify app for Xbox One. As of right now, it isn’t available for download, but it should go up shortly.

Xbox One already features the Groove music app, which begins with a 30-day free trial and then transitions to $10 per month. In addition to streaming new music, you can also connect the songs you already own to your OneDrive so you can access them on nearly every device you own. The service also works on web browsers and PCs, as well as phones, and it does feature some in-game integration. In Forza Horizon 3, one of the game’s radio stations is just a Groove music stream, which allows you to make your own custom soundtrack if you don’t like the music already in the game. Of course, the game includes songs by The Bouncing Souls, Descendents, Alkaline Trio, Beastie Boys, and Bad Religion, so you probably don’t need anything else.

On PlayStation 4, the Spotify app has been specifically tailored to complement the games you’re currently playing. Soundtracks for Uncharted 4 and its various characters are available, as are playlists designed to enhance particular gaming genres. Of course, if you just want to listen to your favorite artists in the background while you’re playing your favorite multiplayer shooters, that’s also an option. A selection of games even allow you to disable the in-game music and replace it to your Spotify playlist, though this isn’t available while using PlayStation Now or Remote Play with the Vita.

Once Spotify makes its way to Xbox, you’ll be able to try Spotify Premium via a free trial for 30 days. After that, it’s $10 per month. The upgraded service includes unlimited skips, offline play, and higher-quality audio.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Spotify vs. Pandora: which streaming service should you choose?
spotify vs pandora on iphone

Let's settle a musical debate: which music streaming platform should you use: Spotify or Pandora?

Both services have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Spotify boasts a more extensive music catalog, robust social features for sharing and discovering music with friends, and a more polished user experience across devices.

Read more
Move over Spotify: Nintendo now has its own music app
Seven Nintendo characters on a red background with music notes flying around.

While most developers and publishers are getting their music onto existing streaming apps, Nintendo went the extra mile and made its own. The company announced Nintendo Music on Wednesday, and it is now free to download on Android and iOS. It's also free to use as long as you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership.

Nintendo has a lot of games under its umbrella, and many of their soundtracks are available to stream on the app. You can look up game soundtracks individually, but Nintendo Music also gives you some playlist options that sort music by character (and, yes, that extends to songs performed by characters, like KK Slider in Animal Crossing: New Horizons), by mood, or by whether it's a track in a boss battle or menu screen. You can also loop songs or extend certain tracks by up 60 minutes. Nintendo also says that you can sort tracks so that late-game moments won't get spoiled, and that it'll recommend you music based on your play history.

Read more
All cross-platform games (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)
A screenshot of the Omega update for No Man's Sky.

Cross-platform support is becoming more important in the world of video games. Multiplayer hits like Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite have pushed crossplay into the limelight, and now most upcoming video games release with at least partial cross-platform support. Finding every cross-platform game is no easy feat, though, so we did the hard work to bring you a comprehensive list of games that support crossplay.

Unfortunately, there aren't any rules when it comes to crossplay, so each game handles the feature a little differently. To make matters more confusing, certain backward-compatible games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X still support crossplay on the most recent hardware, even if there isn't an official release for that hardware.

Read more