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Microsoft Is Looking Into Xbox CMOS Situation To Prevent Future Issues

You'll be able to keep playing your Xbox further in the future.

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Microsoft is looking further into preserving games and the Xbox consoles that are being played.

Axios gaming editor Stephen Totilo says in his conversation with Xbox boss Phil Spencer, that Microsoft is looking into any CMOS battery issues on Xbox hardware. "The hardware team is hearing the message about our consoles should allow for the ongoing relationship between the player and the content that they own. So like, we hear the message and the teams are looking at things," says Spencer.

This was part of a wider conversation around games preservation, with Spencer supporting industry-wide emulation for older games. He notes, "that seems like a great North Star for us as an industry."

Conversations around CMOS batteries in consoles gained prominence earlier this year when Sony announced it would be shutting down its PS3 and Vita digital storefronts. How the CMOS battery works is that it powers a console's internal clock. So when a game is started on it, the internal clock verifies the date and time on a remote server to make sure you're able to play them.

Hypothetically, if an online function such as PlayStation Network or Xbox Live wasn't functioning properly, then your console won't connect to it, rendering any games unplayable. Now it looks like CMOS batteries in both PS4 and PS5 no longer have this issue due to some updates Sony pushed out. Let's hope that Xbox follows suit soon.

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