The download speed on consoles is notorious, especially if your internet is not fast at first. A new feature now being introduced on Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S for Xbox Insiders aims to improve it by making it easier to suspend existing games while downloading new ones.
“If you get suspended in the queue, you can download at full speed while making sure your game stays resumed (or can be resumed quickly in Series X | S),” said Eden Marie, Xbox chief engineer wrote on Twitter yesterday. She also shared a screenshot of what this new suspension functionality will look like when it finally arrives for the rest of the platform users:
Currently, downloads are much slower when opening a game, because Xbox consoles retain some of their connectivity for the potential online functionality of whatever is being played. With the new suspension option, you can postpone your current game without opening a new one to get the faster download speed.
This is a pretty nice change, but also a very welcome change, especially if you, like me, basically always keep games waiting in the background. PS4 does not currently have a similar option, and through Switch you can completely close a game to download anything. In the meantime, I’m constantly removing old games on my Series S and downloading new games via Game Pass. Given the variety of great games recently available on the Netflix-style subscription service, it will definitely come in handy when it is available to everyone.
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