Microsoft has received a lot of criticism lately for the Xbox One’s power consumption, specifically due to the console’s “Instant On” feature, and to make amends the company is going to offer an energy-saving mode when new customers in the U.S. set up their Xbox One for the first time.
In 2014 the Natural Resources Defense Council criticised the power consumption of both Xbox One and PS4. The consoles have a special power state during which system updates and games can be downloaded in the background.
NRDC was particularly critical of the Xbox One, which has a feature that’s constantly listening for users to say “Xbox One,” according to the NRDC this console is responsible for an extra $250 million in energy bill spending in the country.
Microsoft addressed these concerns in a blog post and said that continuous upgrades to the OS have resulted in a reduction of Instant-On power consumption by one-third since the Xbox One was launched back in November 2013.
The company also said that it will give new customers in the country the choice of Instant-On or a new “Energy-Saving” mode, the choice will come up during initial setup of new consoles in the coming months.
Existing Xbox One owners who wish to enable the energy-saving mode can head to Settings followed by Power and Startup. There they’ll find the relevant option which can be toggled to turn energy-saving mode on or off.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft and Xbox One. Source: news.xbox