The Xbox features in Windows 10 happen to be quite simple, with quick tools for capturing game footage and sharing it. That's changing today, just after the launch of the Windows 10 May 2019 Update.

Now, the Xbox Game Bar includes extra overlay options for social features, audio, Spotify and more. Microsoft presented the details within an Inside Xbox announcement.

Before, pressing "Windows Key + G" while gaming would open an easy overlay with tools to start recording, capture screenshots, broadcast to Mixer along with other tools associated with capturing your gameplay. While those tools are still present in the brand new Xbox Game Bar, you'll certainly be in a position to pull-up other players' streams when you game. And, those features have got a much more company to make the Game Bar increasingly useful.

The audio tool assists as a volume mixer so that you can balance the audio coming through different apps. The Xbox Social and Xbox Chat tools will let you easily connect with and chat with your Xbox friends. And, a Searching for Group feature can help you find other gamers to play with.

Microsoft has additionally integrated Spotify into the Game Bar, so that you can control streaming music playback within the overlay. And, finally, no gaming overlay is complete without a system performance monitor to see the way your CPU, GPU and other parts are working when you game.

A crowded field

The Xbox Game Bar's new features might be on point, but they're entering a space that already has competition. Steam has its own overlay, along with Ubisoft's uPlay and EA's Origin. The popular voice chat app Discord also offers an in-game overlay.

And, for capturing features, Nvidia's GeForce Experience is instantly accessible on computers with recent Nvidia graphics cards.

Microsoft might have one key advantage, though. While the other overlays require specific software to become running to use them (or hardware and software in the case of GeForce Experience), the Xbox Game Bar comes in the OS level.

Any computer running Windows 10 may have the Xbox Game Bar available across almost any game. It ought to work with games from Steam, Origin, uPlay and more.

That ubiquity might be a strong reason for favor of the Xbox Game Bar, but limitations like streaming via Mixer only could hold it back for now. We'll have to find out if Microsoft has even more in store for that tool at E3 2019.