Reporting on Xbox Wire, Microsoft said that these changes are all part of their goal to become a “carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste company by 2030.” Microsoft claims that this new Shutdown feature will be able to reduce power usage by “up to 20X when it’s off compared to Sleep.” Additionally, the one-time update won’t change the console’s performance, gameplay, or ability to get updates to the system, games, or apps overnight. Microsoft will also roll out another energy setting update this week labeled ‘Active Hours.’ This new feature will allow Xbox users who select the Sleep power option to adjust their console’s active hours. This will effectively boot their consoles quickly and make them available for remote wake during their selected active hours. Once the active hours are over, the console will shut down and draw 0.5 W versus 10-15 W while active. Shutdown will allow Xbox One consoles to receive system, game or app downloads overnight, just like Xbox Series X|S. With Shutdown (energy saving) selected, Xbox One consoles will experience a slower boot time. Remote features are still supported while the console is powered on. Xbox Series X|S active hours will be automatically enabled and scheduled based on when the console was used before, but Xbox One owners will be able to set their own active hours, which will be set to “always active” by default unless changed.
