To help you save money on your power bill and further Microsoft’s environmental ambitions, the firm has released a significant upgrade for Xbox Series X and Series S consoles.
The Energy Saving mode has become the default mode offered when customers set up their consoles during the last year, and the consoles will now be able to receive system and game updates while in this mode.
It is a continuation of Microsoft’s work to optimize Energy Saving Mode, which now uses 20% less power than Standby Mode. Updates may now be downloaded even when the console is in Standby Mode, bypassing the previously necessary “active” state.
An official Xbox Wire article from today reads, “Last year, we introduced changes to the console’s Energy Saver sleep mode. When the console is not in use or receiving updates, switching to Energy Saver mode reduces power consumption by around 20 times compared to Standby mode. Now, even more, power may be saved by the downloading system and game updates while in Energy Saver mode.
In order to maximize the potential for enabling energy savings throughout the whole Xbox ecosystem, “we also made Energy Saver mode the default choice when gamers initially set up their consoles.”
If you haven’t already done so, you may save money on your power bill by activating Energy Saver mode in the Settings menu (located under Sleep Mode & Startup > Sleep Mode > Energy Saver).
Shortly after the release of the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, Microsoft came under fire for not defaulting to Energy Saving mode. The National Resources Defence Council calculated that over the course of five years, gamers might pay an extra $500 in electricity costs due to this decision.
Good news for both gamers and the environment: the firm has addressed the issue and improved the Energy Saving mode. In addition, Microsoft has stated that it is exploring advanced power management solutions for the console in an effort to reduce energy use.
Console hardware, software, and cloud advancements are all part of Microsoft’s plan to become carbon negative by 2030.
