Removal of "Join fireteam" option from the XB1 beta (Destiny)

by nash, Monday, August 04, 2014, 18:49 (3764 days ago)

This may seem a bit late, I know, but I still haven't come across a good reason for the UI change in the XB1 version of the beta. In the 360 version, selecting one of your online friends from your in-game friends list brought up a set of options including Join fireteam, Invite to fireteam, etc. In the XB1 version, the Join fireteam choice was gone. The small icon on the person's nameplate still showed when he/she was joinable, but there was no in-game way to actually accomplish this.

It wasn't until my third time playing the beta on the XB1 that I finally found that you could join them by leaving the game, launching the XB1 friends app, finding your friend, and finally selecting the generic Join game option.
(I also read after the beta that the Join game option would be available anytime you brought up your friend's Gamercard.)

So, the obvious question: why was the simple in-game method to join friends removed from the XB1 version of the beta? Was this a logical Bungie decision, and I'm just overlooking the obvious? Or is Microsoft trying to push their system utility apps by requiring developers to use them for this sort of functionality?