Xbox has had a tough few years, steadily losing market share PlayStationNintendo Switch, and maybe soon, Steam Machine too. It's true that Microsoft's current hardware lineup leaves a bit to be desired, especially on the exclusivity front: there aren't any modern games that are Xbox-only, as Microsoft releases its first-party games on PC, and has also started bringing landmark franchises. hello and Gears of War on the playstation.
A lack of compelling exclusives has eroded Xbox's reputation over time, along with numerous PR failures such as Activision-Blizzard misconduct allegations, several major studio closures, and mass layoffs. Although these are certainly valid reasons to reject the Xbox brand in favor of the Switch or, possibly, the PS5, it would be absurd to claim that the Xbox has nothing to put it at the head of its competition. On the hardware front, the Xbox Series X is still an impressive and user-friendly bit of kit, with some great, practical features that are often overshadowed by other platforms' headline-dominating outliers. But it's worth pointing out where the Xbox is ahead of the rest of the console market, if only in the hope that its strong suits will be widely adopted.
For all its strengths, the PS5 is still missing the Xbox's quick restart feature.
Quick Resume is the crown jewel of the Xbox series console's feature lineup
The PlayStation has a lot of nice hardware-specific features, like reactive triggers and a gyroscope on the DualSense controller, but none of them compare to the usability and elegance of the Xbox's quick restart. Introduced on Series S and Series X devices, Quick Resume is exactly what it sounds like: a feature that allows users to swap between several different games on the fly. After users turn off the console and turn it back on, they can resume the game from where they left off.
Almost every Xbox game is compatible with this feature, and Xbox itself states that up to five modern games can be slotted into the quick resume queue at a time, making it a boon for anyone who likes to jump between favorite games. It works by saving the contents of the console's RAM to the hardware, essentially “freezing” a moment of in-game time. Then, thanks to the lightning-fast speed of the Xbox series' SSD, this moment of game time can be instantly recovered and booted up in moments. This is a very valuable and convenient feature with many meaningful use cases, from games that involve a lot of downtime to consoles used by different household members, playing different games.
Xbox's Quick Resume feature is convenient, but beware: glitches are starting to appear, and it's not the same as saving a game the old-fashioned way.
Quick Resume remains Xbox's biggest advantage over PlayStation
Naturally, some expected the underpowered Nintendo Switch to offer something similar to Quick Resume, but it's a bit surprising that PlayStation hasn't attempted to replicate the feature, given how similar it is to the Xbox series of consoles on the hardware front. The PS5 had something similar in the form of resume activity, although it appears to have been removed from the console as of 2024. However, the Resume activity can only work for one game at a time, leaving out the most important benefit of Quick Resume.
Quick Resume is a bittersweet side of the Xbox series console line. It's a great quality-of-life feature that really lends itself to the notion that the Xbox is a communal hub for gaming and entertainment, but given the poor sales of current-gen Xbox models, it's also a feature that few are able to enjoy. Hopefully, other platform holders will fold some form of quick restart into their hardware in the future.
