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

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.

PC gamers so far don't have an equivalent feature supported by the most popular game launchers, i.e. Steam, Game Pass, Epic Games Store, etc., but it's something Microsoft is looking into. In a recent interview (via The Verge's Tom Warren), Xbox hardware engineering lead Roanne Soanes shared Microsoft's ambition to bring a similar feature to Windows PC.

Microsoft dropping hints that it’s thinking about bringing Xbox Quick Resume or something similar to Windows. This would be great for PC gamers. Here’s Roanne Soanes, head of Xbox hardware, discussing improving the Windows experience here pic.twitter.com/8eT87PhYoyMay 11, 2023

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"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.