When the Xbox Series S and X launched, Quick Resume was one of the consoles’ flagship features. With Quick Resume, you can pause one or more games and switch between them without losing your progress, even after turning off your console. This works for most games, but if a game requires a consistent internet connection to work (like an MMO, for example), you’ll often be returned to the main menu, have to wait for it to reconnect, or be forced to restart if you try to use quick resume. With the ability to turn off Quick Resume for these games, you can now avoid that five-car pileup of small annoyances.
In addition to Quick Resume, Microsoft is expanding the number of game groups you can pin to your Xbox home screen, allowing you to set a custom color for the Xbox interface and making it easier to find your gaming history for a given game. On PC, the Xbox PC app will now let you use any game controller to move your mouse cursor, pin your favorite games to the “Go Back” or “Most Recent” menu, and add any installed app or game to your Xbox library, even if you didn’t download it from Microsoft. This is in addition to the new Auto Super Resolution feature that Microsoft is starting to test on ASUS ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.
This more frequent pattern of software updates is believed to be a deliberate effort by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to “reengage” Xbox and reevaluate the gaming brand’s strategy. Recently implemented changes include an Xbox Game Pass price cut, which lowered the most expensive Ultimate tier from $30 per month to $23 per month.
