Microsoft wants to give PC gamers the best feature on Xbox: Quick Resume

News
By published

It might be time to step into the future, Windows PC gamers

Xbox home screen update
(Image credit: Xbox)

Microsoft is exploring ways to bring Xbox Series X's Quick Resume feature to Windows PCs.

In practice, Xbox Quick Resume lets you switch between games seamlessly and resume playing each one instantly and from exactly the same point you left off - even if you didn't save. The feature works with up to three full-memory games at once, allowing them to continue running in the background even when your console is powered off. It's one of my favorite Xbox Series X features and one which makes the PS5's Game Switcher seem downright primitive by comparison.

"How do we think about the idea of, you start on your PC and then you just want to take this with you and you want to pick up where you left off, and you want to be immediately ready to go," said Soanes. "Console has some of those capabilities with Quick Resume today."

Soanes doesn't get too deep into the logistics of how something like this might one day work on PC, but it sounds like Microsoft is at least interested in seeing if it could be made compatible with third-party applications that essentially compete with its own Game Pass platform.

"How do we think about integrating this into the Windows platform? How do we think about really working with developers and publishers - not just our own, but also more broadly with third-party?"

Microsoft has yet to unveil any official plans to bring Xbox Quick Resume or an equivalent to PC, but the fact that a senior hardware developer is talking about it publicly suggests some fairly high-level conversations are being had. Still, it remains unclear whether the feature will ever actually see the light of day on PC, and if it does, how quickly it'll be broadly integrated.

In the meantime, here are the best Xbox Series X games you can switch between to your heart's content.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.