Microsoft pushing Xbox owners into energy-saving Shutdown mode to fight "climate change"

Surprised Gamespot didn't have an article about this. Nearly every other tech website and even news websites mentioned it.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/01/microsoft-will-start-firmly-pushing-xbox-owners-toward-energy-saving-mode/

Would you like companies to be more aggressive in slowing down your gaming start times and taking control of when you can play in order to fight climate change?

Maybe the government should measure energy usage for each PC and console to measure its carbon output and shut it down if it goes over its allocated amount. Should consoles and PCs be forced to have efficiency just like with cars and other appliances? I'm sure that this will have a meaningful impact on the temperatures on the planet.

Since they want everything to go on the electric grid you can't have your gaming interfering with the limited energy needed to plug in electric cars and electric stoves.

I was thinking of going PC/Switch gaming this gen. But man, you just made a really good case for me getting an Xbox if I need a second console.

Yay! :D

are you really having a tantrum over a 15 second boot time?

Off-topic rant but: Why would anyone be opposed to more energy efficient products? The reason oil and energy prices are so steep is not because of the green party boogieman, but because of incredibly energy inefficient energy infrastructure. Don't want energy prices through the roof? Innovate and develop solutions so we consume less energy. Find ways to produce less energy waste, that is a key part of the puzzle that sadly seems to escape a lot of the political discourse. It is almost like anyone opposed to this wants high energy costs.

Good for MS and their engineers to acknowledge this issue. MS continues to be way ahead of Sony and Nintendo when it comes to providing a service.

Oh the horrors of 15 second boot time. How can I live with that?

@horgen: Not even a 15 minute boot time. The only thing that really changed are the default settings.

This is probably why GS and most other sites are not reporting on this. Because in the end, the thing the TC is being hysterical about is a change in default settings.

I'm all for this. It's not going to save the world or anything, but why would anyone want their console to use power when they are not playing it? I hate when appliances go to standby instead of off. Having to wait a few seconds for my coffee pot to boot up is the least of my problems.

I started using my smart tv apps instead of my Xbox due to the unnecessary electricity usage. Not doing it for the climate though, lol, doing it for my wallet because my kiddo loves watching Bluey on Disney+ and Ms Rachel on YouTube.

On a related note, I wish I could remotely turn off my PS5 via the app. Or even being able to turn it on (if it's sleeping) via the app would be neat, too. Yes, these are first world problems. Still, that would be handy once in a while.

Many, many countries are still in the process of industrialisation, you can count them out. You can also disregard the developed ones too, barely anyone actually cares. It would not be very human to take preventative action would it? The planet would need to be on the verge of collapse until anyone actually says "woopse"

Small changes that improve efficiency are generally a good thing. We need billions of changes like this every year among a multitude of products. We also need far larger changes to infrastructure and energy sources if we really want to make any sort of dent in the effects of climate change, but this is a good, albeit tiny, change for the better.

This is great news, good for Microsoft.

Probably won't make much of a difference, but maybe sneak it in there and make it the default option lol. Doubt people will really care.

Yes.

This is the main problem with folks like this: they turn it into a matter of principle instead of practicality.

Oh, don't get them wrong, they'd be totally OK with green initiatives and saving the world and making it a better place to live, they just don't want to...

...and they also love slippery slope fallacies!

Pretty soon we'll have a joint EPA-USDA-FDA SWAT STRIKE FORCE raiding your home with voltmeters.

And this is why we need to appeal to people's wallets. That's the pragmatic stance, for individuals and corporations.

Nothing wrong with it, just the truth.

Thankfully it's not a hard argument to make; electrical cars, from power-plant to car battery, are cheaper to operate than combustion engines. It's easy to justify solar and wind energy for new manufacturing plants. And so on and so forth.

Honestly it's such an alienating topic, you might as well leave "climate change" out of the conversation entirely. "Want to save money while making a diff--while not giving a dime to the corrupt PG&E!? USE SOLAR! It's MANLY!"

I'm surprised anyone is buying xbox products in the first place.

@tjandmia: in that case, congrats on finding your way out of your mother's womb!

Unfortunately, this particular board is intended for mature, intellectual discussion of controversial happenings, initiatives and policies, like those around environmental concerns and commitments.

Now, would you like some assistance locating SW, too, where we can play stupidy stupidies to your heart's content?

On topic: bravissimo, Microsoft! A fine play indeed. A real win-win-win solution.

I guess I've found at least one person who bought one. Ha ha.

Good move from Microsoft.

@tjandmia:

1. I'm a pc gamer.

2. This is political discussion, not Dumbo Central. Kindly take your childishness elsewhere.

If it worked exactly the same of course I wouldn't mind. The problem is when it doesn't work the same (ex longer boot time), slower PC, being locked out of using the product, etc. For example, having the AC turn off when you're not in the room in a hot and humid climate so that you walk in from the scorching heat into a hot and muggy room doesn't help. My mom also developed horrible rashes because the washing machines don't work properly because they're trying to save water.

Don't want energy prices through the roof? Why not start by keeping power plants that operate at low cost open? Nuclear power, coal power, gas power, etc. How about not having the government forcing people to buy cars they don't want that plug into the grid or banning gas stoves to increase the demand further?

Are videogames on a high end gaming PC or console really the best use of time or energy? Would you support putting mandated energy usage on consoles and PCs if that meant going back to 8 bit graphics? What personal sacrifices are you making?

Meanwhile China has committed to increasing their carbon output until 2030 and may produce more than the rest of the world. That's not a big deal though, right?

A 15 second boot up time is next to nothing. THere are games with longer load times than that. It also results in lower electricity bills. And in the case of the Xbox, it is also something you can opt in or out of. They just changed the default. I still use a 1070. Have no desire to upgrade my graphics card. Better graphics is not worth the extra energy consumption. Let alone money for buying said card to begin with.

Coal power is not cheap by any means. Solar Photovaltic, Onshore wind are both cheaper. There is a reason coal is going bankrupt. It is no longer economically viable.

I am making sacrifices that are held within reason. A 15 second start up time, is perfectly reasonable sacrifice and if anything, I have been annoyed at a lot of electronics NOT even having the option to be shut down. To remedy this, I bought a multisocket plug to block their access to electricity myself. Holding the power button on my Switch for 3 seconds to shut my handheld gaming device (where it extra much sense to conserve energy), any time I want to shut it off is really inconvenient and annoying.

China produces significantly less per capita than most western countries. This finger pointing you are doing is why nothing gets done. You are pointing fingers rather than looking at actual solutions... smh, here let me help you out.

1. Through proper insulation you can save roughly 15% of your heating costs.
2. Rather than using electricity to heat your home, you can use a solar collector.
3. By taking the bus, walking or riding a bike, you save 100% of your fuel costs.
4. By using evaporative cooling, you can throw away the AC. The AC uses 90% more energy.
5. If all products were shut off instead of entering sleep mode. You will save hundreds of euro every year.

Edit: As for your Et Tu question about what sacrifices I make?

1. ALL my energy comes from renewable sources
2. I make sure to shut off all power on my appliances
3. I cold shower and I also limit my time in the shower
4. I minimize heating usage (only using some heating to prevent damage done to my apartment)
5. I buy local.
6. I avoid buying stuff unless I reeally need it.
7. I ride a bike exclusively. Got rid of my car.
8. I am vegan.
9. I plant and cultivate trees to regrow lost biomass. This is done on my free time.
10. I REFUSE to use an AC, instead using my windows to keep things cool. If it is still hot, I just tough it out.
11. Recycle in a myriad different categories.
12. I minimize the use of cloud storage.

But I wouldnt call these sacrifices. Since they let me save a ton of money, live healthier, have more energy and more benefits.

All this angst over a start up time. Entitlement I guess.

Funny these people never consider the cost savings, but they love to whine about soda and bag taxes.

The Series consoles boot so fast that I have no reason to use the sleep function.

Nothing wrong with energy saving. This is just a full shutdown instead of a sleep mode, which is how I utilize my PC. My electricity bills are sub-$100 a month, so i'm not worried about any cost saving. I should say I own a PC, PS5, and Switch, but no Xbox.

What service is that? Mediocre games ?

There's a reason they are dead last.

The concern is real.

How dare they change a default setting. To think they can push that commie energy efficiency BS on us.

You should protest.

I suggest you turn your truck on and let it idle. Like all the time. So you can instantly drive anywhere.

Maybe ram some small EVs as well. Show those fcukers who's boss.

Will you actually see a difference in your electric bill? My PS5 is in rest mode all but probably 6 hrs per week.

Gamepass.

Which is arguably the best deal in gaming. Surpassing even Steam. Even before gamepass, Xbox Live was trailing way ahead of Sony's attempts and whatever Nintendo was and still is doing.

And getting Persona 5 Golden (which ended up sucking), Forza, Tunic, The Outer Worlds, EVERY LoL champion, and Prodeus all for 1 dollar is incredible. Nothing the Switch or PS5 can offer a deal near that calibre.

Sorry, but as far as providing a good service goes, nothing can touch MS. Not even Valve. MS saving potentially 55ish euro a year. By changing a setting like this. Is also a commendable move, it may not be much, but considering I have 2 friends constantly mooching me for money. It is clear that even a small sum of 60 dollars a year can make or break the bank for some people.

Most users probably will. If you use your Series X 4 hours a day, that means it is in sleep mode 20 hours a day, that should have a monthly cost of around 4.7 euro, just through that alone. Now add this to 12 months. and the cost becomes around 56 euro per year, almost enough to buy a new game.

I just learned Nintendo had a subscription service as well, and it is needed to get the re-release of GoldenEye on Switch.

i think the n64 vc is extra $ from the base online subscrpition though.

you get nes/snes with the base iirc

Yup, N64 games cost extra on the subscription. Ideally there should be no cost considering how weak it is compared to Game Pass.

I love Nintendo First Party Games, but their services really suck. Almost makes me wish MS and Nintendo merged. To hopefully combine the best of both worlds Nintendo's games and MS's services and technology.

@Maroxad: 20 hours a day at 12 watts for a month would be 7.2 kWh per month. Here in the states electricity ranges in price but somewhere around 10 cents a kWh. So, 72 cents a month. I saw an article about it for the UK though. Guess electricity is way more there. I'd definitely be turning all my electronics off there. PS5 uses .3 watts per hour in default standby mode, so same scenario it'd cost me 2 cents a month. Fun fact, XSX uses more power in standby mode than Switch uses while docked playing a game lol.

It's not only the cost for the individual user, it's also the gigawatts of electricity wasted for nothing globally (how many series x/s consoles are there worldwide?).

I guess it is cheaper for you than it is for me :)

I shouldn't be too surprised though. Our current populist government COMPLETELY goofed up our energy grid. Turns out complex problems does not have simple solutions. Who would have thunk? :P There is a reason their approval rating is rock bottom. 23% Approval rating.

But yeah, you definately save a lot with this. At least over here. And given how power hungry the XSX is. You can probably see why this is a good idea for the console.

It's $1 for the first month and It goes up to $10 after that. Honestly it's $15 a month if you have a PC or want to play online on Xbox. It's a good deal but not as incredible as people make it out to be.

You'd probably be best off checking real world consumption with a power meter for any of these devices for calculations. Companies and shills always lie their asses off about this stuff because they're not interested in the reality of the situation, just whatever sounds best.

@joshrmeyer: wow, the figures you've quoted are even lower than Sony's. Where are you getting them from? Same for average electricity cost. You are taking into account daytime Vs nighttime tariffs, right?

I am not getting a subscription for that game alone. And I don't have time nor interest enough in other Nintendo games to justify the cost.

Paid for it twice for 1 dollar now. Same account and everything. It is a thing I like in and out of every few months. Made gaming incredibly cheap.

No other service comes close. Not even Steam, as good as Steam sales are.

That is the best thing to do. There are so many variables in place. I based mine by calculating using data from a friend's XSX. Using a gauge we used back in engineering school.

So basically what the Switch and PS5/4 already do? Neither of those shut down completely and instead go into rest mode.

@Maroxad: What are you doing? Just cancelling it and resubscribing?

Agreed.

1. Sub for a few months.
2. Play GamePass during those months.
3. Sub runs out
4. Play non Game Pass games.
5. Rince repeat.

@Maroxad: smart.

Yeah, just reading your post reminded me, power saving is one of those questions which sounds like a small issue per device, but when you add up the costs over an entire household, it gets obscene.

I remember Dave's EEV blog had a video on the topic a few months back. Basic power consumption meters are so cheap now, there's no reason to be taking any marketer's word for these specs.

Hmmm, I'll have to try that. I just got a XSX for Christmas.

@joshrmeyer: Where Are you getting 12 watts from?

Yup, in that experiment I mentioned, that we did in engineering school.

We actually calculated the total cost. Over a year, it added up quite a bit. Can't remember my number. I wonder what it would be now, with the inflation and increasing energy prices.

@sealionact: Googled it. It ranged from 11-13 on various sites so I went with 12. This is the last site I checked with, says 13, https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/switch-xbox-ps5-power-consumption-comparison-how-energy-efficient-is-nintendo-switch

As someone else said, it's hard to get an exact figure. But it is a good deal higher than the other 2 consoles.

@sancho_panzer: Just googled it. Various sites say different numbers so I went with the average. Also depends on if you're connected to the internet I believe. There's no daytime/nighttime tariffs here that I know of.