Xbox update: Back to gaming

SEATTLE — Microsoft is giving the Xbox One a new look as the company tries to focus its video game console on its main function: gaming.

On Thursday, Microsoft will start rolling out the biggest software update for the device since its launch two years ago.

Most people will notice the change as a visual facelift designed to cut the time it takes to find and start up games, chat with friends or watch videos. The shifts come as Microsoft tries to make up ground it has lost to rival Sony since both companies released their latest game consoles in late 2013. The PlayStation 4 has maintained its predecessor’s sales lead internationally and wrestled the top spot in the U.S. from Xbox, too.

The Xbox One, the third version of the game-console line Microsoft first released in 2001, represented a departure for the Seattle-area company. The device was pitched to consumers as a home-entertainment hub, a bid to broaden its appeal beyond gamers and open for Microsoft such entertainment realms as video streaming and even original films or TV shows.

The approach fell short. Gamers weren’t as interested in a living-room hub and were turned off by unpopular policies, repealed before the console’s release, that would have required an Internet connection to play games offline and restricted use of game discs.

Within the Xbox team now, “there is a focus on the core consumer, what they do, what they want to do, what they like,” said Mike Ybarra, a director of program management at Microsoft, who oversees the design of the console’s software and Xbox Live online subscription service.