Gaming
'Quick Resume' on the new Xboxes is broken right now
A marquee feature of the new Xbox Series X and S is a mixed bag at launch. And by "mixed bag," we mean "not working."
Both the new Xbox Series X and Series S, as well as Sony's PlayStation 5, are out in the wild, so you may be wondering, which one you can buy... assuming you can find them at all, that is, as they've been flying off virtual shelves. Fortunately, we have a comprehensive guide that breaks down the differences between all the consoles. However, there's something you should know: one of the defining features of the new Xboxes — "Quick Resume" — is currently showing some teething problems.
Xbox exclusive — Quick Resume is a feature that's exclusive to the new Xbox systems. Sony's PlayStation 5 has no equivalent, so it's one of the aces up Microsoft's sleeve. It essentially uses the system's ultra-fast memory to allow you to run multiple games at once, allowing players to jump right to where they left off with a game, even after booting up another one. Some reviewers even managed to get up to eight games running simultaneously.
However, right now, the feature is disabled for quite a number of titles, and it's unclear as to which games currently support it and which don't. Some outlets are saying it currently works with Gears 5, but no matter what I do, switching from it running to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and back consistently causes it to completely restart.
According to Xbox's head of program management Jason Ronald, the feature is meant to be working for thousands of titles, with only "select titles" temporarily having it disabled. However, out of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, NBA 2K21, Fortnite, and Gears 5, Valhalla is the only game I can get it to work with.
No timeline for a fix — Fixes for this issue are reportedly being worked on, but there's currently no timeline for when they might be deployed, nor if this problem will be fixed for all the titles that are meant to have it simultaneously, or if it'll be rolled out game by game.
To my mind, it's kind of baffling that one of Microsoft's own titles is currently having Quick Resume issues, especially as it is touted as one of the must-see games with enhancements being implemented for the new consoles.
We're only a few days out from launch day, so some software hitches are expected, although it sounds like there might be some hardware problems as well. When Microsoft is competing with Sony for gamers' dollars this holiday season, it doesn't bode well for Xbox that one of its major selling points is substantially flawed right out the gate.
