See how Xbox Series X will reduce loading times and resume paused games in video

3 min. read

Published on March 16, 2020

published on March 16, 2020

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As Sony has yet to share more information about its PlayStation 5, Microsoft continues to own the next-gen consoles narrative by sharing new information about Xbox Series X today. We previously covered all the new hardware details shared by Xbox Wire and Digital Foundry, but the official Xbox YouTube channel has two Xbox Series X video worth looking at.

The first video shows how the Xbox Series X will significantly improve loading times thanks to its custom-designed NVMe SSD. The next-gen Xbox console is put next to an Xbox One X which uses a regular 5400rpm hard Drive, and you can see a comparison of loading times on the first-party game State of Decay 2. Xbox Series X can go from the game’s menu to the map in approximately 10 seconds, while the Xbox One X needs roughly 50 seconds to do the same.

It’s worth noting that State of Decay 2 hasn’t been optimized for Xbox Series X yet, but these are definitely impressive results. Loading time should hopefully be slightly faster for games that will be enhanced for the new console, and hopefully even faster for games designed for the ground up for the new hardware.

The second video shows the Quick Resume Technology that will allow Xbox Series X to keep multiple games in a suspended state in memory, and resume them in an instant. As seen in a video, it takes less than 10 seconds for the console to resume multiple games such as Forza Motorsport 7, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, or Ori and the Blind Forest, and it’s quite amazing to see the console remember when the gamer has paused the action. The feature even works for backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games, in case you were wondering.

This video also shows that Xbox Series X currently uses the same Xbox Guide found on Xbox One consoles today. It’s still not clear if Xbox Series X will use the exact same Windows 10-based OS, but it would definitely make sense to provide a consistent experience across Xbox consoles from different generations.

Put together, Quick Resume and faster loading times seem to be two game-changing experiences. If the slow hard drives in the Xbox One X has been holding the console down, the custom NVMe SSD in the Xbox Series will deliver a 2.4 GB/s bandwidth (4.8 GB/s compressed, with custom hardware decompression block), which is much faster than regular SSDs you can find on the market today.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.