New Microsoft Toolkit Will Measure Real-Time Xbox Energy Use
The company says game-makers will be able to use its toolkit to experiment with ways to reduce games’ energy consumption.
Playing video games can be energy-intensive, but there have been few efforts to measure exactly how much electricity is used.
Photographer: Michael Ciaglo/BloombergHow much energy does it take to play Xbox? Microsoft Corp. is helping developers find out. At the 2023 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the company announced a new toolkit for developers to measure real-time energy consumption from Xbox games.
The toolkit, which Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft calls the first of its kind in the industry, will allow developers using the Xbox platform to monitor real-time energy use of the games they create — “down to the nearest millisecond,” the company noted in a press release. It will also help Microsoft establish a baseline for Xbox games, which could then serve as a benchmark for developers. The company hopes game-makers will also leverage the toolkit to experiment with approaches that reduce energy consumption.