A new update being pushed to Xbox Insiders today aims to help console owners participate in reducing carbon emissions while their consoles are turned off or performing scheduled updates and maintenance.
Announced in an Xbox Wire post, Xbox Insiders' Xbox Series X and S consoles will automatically be updated to the "Shutdown (energy saving)" power option. Microsoft says that this update reduces power use by up to 20x while the console is turned off without impacting performance. "Remote wake" will not be available while Xboxes in this setting are powered down, though all other remote features will remain available when the console is on.
While in this mode, Xbox consoles that are powered on and connected to the internet will also use available regional carbon intensity data to schedule regular maintenance and other updates during times when more renewable energy is available on the grid. For Windows users, this feature is very similar to one that rolled out on Windows 11 last year.
A similar feature will also be rolling out to Xbox One owners, though the Shutdown (energy saving) open will supposedly cause a slower boot up time in the older system.
Finally, Xbox Insiders will also begin to see a new "active hours" setting that will allow them to choose when their consoles will boot up quickly and be available for remote wake - outside of that window, the Xbox will automatically shut down if not in use. Series X and S owners will have active hours automatically enabled when this update rolls out based on previous use time, while Xbox One owners will default to "always active" until adjusted manually.
For now, these features are only available to Xbox Insiders, but Microsoft has promised the feature will be open to all other console owners at a later date.
Microsoft has been making moves toward carbon neutrality over the last several years, joining the Playing for the Planet Alliance in 2019 and pledging carbon negativity, water positivity, and zero waste by 2030.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
