Xbox owners wishing for a way to speed up their game downloads while playing other titles now have their prayers answered via a new update to the Xbox dashboard. Microsoft announced a new “suspend my game” feature that will help speed up downloads for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. 

For now, the feature is only visible to members of the Xbox Insider Program, Microsoft’s platform for testing new updates before they’re released to the wider public. The update allows users to speed up any active downloads while suspending games in the background. The best part is you’ll be able to resume playing that suspended title exactly where you left off once the download concludes. For Xbox Series X or S owners, jumping back in is even quicker thanks to Quick Resume. 

Hey Xbox Insiders! Did you notice these changes rolling out now? Suspend in the queue will let you download at full speed while making sure your game remains resumable (or quick resume-able on Series X|S). New banners in the Full Library will take you to more useful categories! pic.twitter.com/L49winRpM0

— Eden Marie (@neonepiphany) March 16, 2021

Eurogamer points out that the reason this wasn’t the case before is because the Xbox reserves a portion of your internet bandwidth for online uses (like multiplayer gaming) while games are running. Once you quit or suspend a title, that connection is unlocked. 

The update should now be available for Xbox Insider Alpha and Beta tier members to test. There’s currently no word on when it will launch for all users. The update also adds a nifty banner that clearly displays both incoming and outgoing Xbox Game Pass titles. 

This latest technical perk comes after a series of performance enhancing upgrades for Xbox Series X. With Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Zenimax, certain Bethesda games have been boosted with improved framerates. There’s also new gameplay benefits for backwards compatible titles. 

Are you looking forward to the new update? If you’re a member of the Xbox Insider program, have you had a chance to try this out? If so, what do you think? Hit us up with those thoughts in the comments! 

[Source:

Hey Xbox Insiders! Did you notice these changes rolling out now? Suspend in the queue will let you download at full speed while making sure your game remains resumable (or quick resume-able on Series X|S). New banners in the Full Library will take you to more useful categories! pic.twitter.com/L49winRpM0