The console manufacturer is the first in the world to start monitoring energy consumption and the carbon footprint of gaming. According to the company, this also affects households.
The Xbox X console was released in late 2020. Fabian Sommer
The gaming world and the climate crisis don’t usually go hand in hand, but change is happening in the gaming industry as well. Microsoft console manufacturer Xbox announced in a blogthat they start measuring their energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The decision makes Xbox the first console manufacturer in the world to do so.
In practice, this is implemented by measuring the consoles’ energy consumption with a separate developer sustainability toolkit (Developer Sustainability Toolkit). The tool measures the energy consumption of consoles, which could be used to calculate the carbon emissions of gaming.
Games could also be optimized to be more energy efficient with the help of the data obtained with the tool. In the future, game developers could eliminate features that require power, and thus increase the energy consumption of games without affecting the gaming experience.
– The developers of the game are thinking about how energy consumption could be reduced while playing, the company said in a press release.
According to the company, energy consumption could be improved in, for example, heat load, frame rate or the size of content downloaded from the Internet.
According to the company, energy-efficient games could also reduce household electricity bills.
Currently, the tool is in the trial phase. Game manufacturers use this at Ubisoft and 343 Industries.