Xbox Series X Update Adding Several New Features

A variety of new features are coming to the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S soon. No one feature is super noteworthy, but when combined, the update is worth your attention as it will improve the overall experience of using both consoles. Right now, the update is not available to the public, and there's no word when it will be made available to the wider Xbox audience. However, it's available for all Xbox Insiders, which is how we have all of the information below.

Most notably, the update is making changes to Quick Resume, one of the console's biggest features the PS5 has yet to match. More specifically, there will be a new group that will show all the active Quick Resume titles. The group manages itself, but can be manually edited as well. In addition to this, The Guide will now indicate if your running game supports Quick Resume.

Below, you can check out what this new Quick Resume overview looks like, courtesy of Xbox insider Klobrille:

This is what the new Quick Resume overview looks like.

The games in this group are all in the Quick Resume state and the group manages itself, although you can manually throw games out of the state.

The team is also looking into additional "Quick Resume management" features. pic.twitter.com/we73F7doj7
— Klobrille (@klobrille) April 20, 2021

On top of some changes and additions to Quick Resume, the update will give users the option to enable audio passthrough with their favorite media apps by going to "Settings>Audio>Advanced>Allow Passthrough" on the console.

The last feature isn't really a console feature, but a new addition, or more specifically, a new dynamic background:

A quick preview of the new dynamic background coming soon to Xbox Series X|S. My favorite one so far! https://t.co/AOqMlVPrjz pic.twitter.com/TbaASO8q9y
— Klobrille (@klobrille) April 21, 2021

As noted, this update is currently in Alpha Testing, and there's no word when it will release to all users, though it should be sooner rather than later. That said, by the time it is ready for the wider install base, things may be different based on feedback from Xbox Insiders.

The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are available for $500 and $300, respectively.