The issue of gaming is also becoming more and more important in terms of energy requirements, on the one hand because of climate protection and on the other hand because of rising electricity costs. We reported yesterday that many players are concerned about the issue and have already changed their behavior or want to change it. For example, by paying more attention to the efficiency of the hardware when planning new purchases. This is also an issue for Microsoft, on the one hand in production, but on the other hand also in the features that are offered to users.
Then as the Xbox News website now explainsthe Xbox (buy now ) Series and Xbox One consoles get more power saving options with the new update. The consoles can use the update to optimize their downloads, with the main concern being the timing of the downloads. Because the Xbox checks whether there is data on your regional electricity supply in order to schedule the downloads at a time when the highest possible proportion of renewable or low-emission energies is available.
Xbox Insider Program participants with a Series X or Series S already have the new console shutdown feature. The power requirement is said to be 20 times lower than in the previous “Sleep” mode. However, there is still enough energy to carry out the nightly updates and downloads. In the options menu of its Xbox Series X, we noticed that Microsoft states 0.5 watts for sleep as the power requirement. If you use the console for an average of two hours a day, the idle state will add up to around 4 kWh per year.
Xbox One console owners also have the option to use new Power Mode features. Here, too, there is a new “Shut down” item, with Microsoft pointing out that the console start is a little slower this way. Another feature for insiders to test is that users can set a time period in which the console requires a little more power when it is idle, but then boots up faster. This function is primarily intended for those who do not want to lose the convenience of fast charging and are skeptical of overly strict energy saving options.
