Xbox Is Now The First "Carbon Aware" Console With February Update

A big new Xbox firmware update is out now, and the big ticket feature is the highly touted "carbon aware" power management changes.

As announced previously, this new update makes every Xbox console default to the energy-saving option as part of Microsoft's push to reduce its carbon footprint overall. This will reduce console power consumption when the console is off. This won't affect performance or how updates can install overnight. However, the ability to remotely wake your console in the energy-saving option is not supported. Consoles in energy-saving mode boot more slowly, too.

All of this is optional. Players can go into the settings and opt for "Instant On" option to boot their console faster, though this uses 20X more energy, according to Microsoft.

With this new update, Xbox will become the first console to be "carbon aware" for game downloads and updates. "When your console is plugged in, connected to the internet and regional carbon intensity data is available, Xbox will schedule game, app, and OS updates for your console at specific times during the nightly maintenance window that may result in lower carbon emissions because a higher proportion of electricity is coming from lower-carbon sources on the electric grid," Microsoft said. "This decreases fossil fuel dependency and CO2 emissions and could potentially save you money."

Microsoft said for every two Xbox consoles that switch to the energy-saving mode for one year, this will save "the equivalent of carbon removed by one tree planted and grown for a decade."

Outside of the power-consumption changes, the February Xbox update allows players to hide game art when choosing tiles on the Home page. Game art is distracting to some, and this update makes it so the background always remains a solid color of your choosing. This can be adjusted by going to Settings > General > Personalization > My background > Solid color and game art.

Additionally, Microsoft has partnered with Google to allow Xbox owners to use the Google Home app as a remote for their Xbox. Using the app, players can power on and off their Xbox, navigate the menus, change the volume, and record game clips.

Finally, the February Xbox update includes a new feature that lets players jump back into previous parties more easily. Players can click on "Party," where they will see a list of previous parties--from there, they can restart one or create a new party. This feature remains in the testing phase and is being delivered to a random subset of users right now, Microsoft said.

In other news, the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch saw sales numbers grow in January 2023, but Xbox slumped.