New Microsoft Tool to Let Developers Measure Xbox Energy Use

Microsoft has announced a new toolkit for developers to measure real-time energy consumption from Xbox games at the 2023 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

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Developers using the Xbox platform will be able to monitor real-time energy use of the games they create “down to the nearest millisecond,” notes the company (via Bloomberg).

The new toolkit will also help Microsoft establish a baseline for Xbox games, which could then serve as a benchmark for developers. It will include energy consumption averages for game areas like static menus and loading screens.

“With a potential reach of over 3.1 billion players worldwide, game creators undoubtedly have potential to have a positive impact,” said Microsoft.

These resources will “empower and enable developers to understand energy usage in their games and incorporate efficient strategies,” the company added.

Xbox power options settings nov 2022

Sydney-based consultancy AfterClimate is calling the Microsoft toolkit “quite a significant achievement” if it can show developers energy consumption in real-time.

Microsoft’s new toolkit is the latest in a series of efforts made by gaming companies to mitigate their environmental impact.

Nintendo says the power demand of its current Switch console is half that of the model released in 2017, whereas Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 uses 17% less energy than the PS4.

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