Xbox Hardware Exec Wants To Bring Quick Resume To Windows

Microsoft is reportedly looking to bring Xbox-style quick resume to Windows. As reporter Tom Warren spotted on Twitter, Xbox's head of hardware Roanne Soanes focused on the potential of "quick resume" tech at an Asus ROG Ally streaming event.

Soanes speculates about the possibility of playing a game on a desktop PC, and then resuming the same game from the same point on a portable device like the Ally. She then points out that similar tech exists on Xbox, so it's a question of how to bring that to other devices. She said, "How do we think about integrating [quick resume] into Windows platform? How do we think about really working with developers and publishers, not just our own, but also more broadly with third party?"

However, Soanes makes no indication of when quick resume could come to PC, how it would work, or with what platforms it would be compatible with. Microsoft has been developing tech that promises to greatly reduce load times. For example, Direct Storage 1.1 released in 2022 and uses the GPU, rather than the CPU, to decompress game assets, which promises to dramatically reduce load times.

Microsoft has also explicitly supported the ROG Ally. Players who purchase the device will get three months of Game Pass Ultimate for free. Unlike the Steam Deck, the Ally uses Windows, so it can run Game Pass Ultimate natively without further installations or changes.