As the preview period for both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X comes to an end, reporters and influencers are observing that the PlayStation 5 lacks the Xbox Series X’s most beneficial feature – Quick Resume, which grants players the ability to save game states of a couple of games at once and swap between them with ease.
The number of game states depends on the kind of games loaded up, with older games taking lesser space than games released on the Xbox Series X. When Microsoft’s next-gen console loads up a save state, players can avoid menus, logos, and other startup elements and get right back to playing the game.
Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One currently have a feature the same as this, although it’s less extraordinary. Gamers who want to watch a TV series on Netflix in the middle of a quest can load the streaming app and have the console save on the spot for when they return. However, if they chose to load another game, their previous save state would be written over. Meanwhile, on the Xbox Series X, players will be able to load up between any games effortlessly. For the PlayStation, it’s sticking to what the PlayStation 4 has for now.
Critics noticed the lack of a Quick Resume-like feature on Sony’s next-gen console, confirming that the PlayStation 5 is still channeling on the PlayStation 4 tech in a lot of ways in its user interface and menus. Players will have to stick to a single game running at a time, although the enhanced load times for most of the games available at release day will mean that there won’t be a significant downtime between switching games. However, it will still be a huge differentiation between Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen strategies, and Xbox has been putting it in its advertisements as a huge feature.
It is worth noting that Microsoft will still have a lot of work to do when it comes to its Quick Resume feature. As of writing, there is no warning for players if a game is being removed from Quick Resume, which means that save states could be removed accidentally if too many games and applications are loaded up.
In addition, there have also been several console reviews that mention that the Quick Resume is unreliable, either it’s not working properly or disappearing without notification between various loads. Xbox is unyielding when it comes to its features and dashboard throughout the Xbox One generation, so Xbox Series X/S users are likely to get updates to make it more functional in the future.
In a console war that looks pretty divided evenly in the middle between the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, Quick Resume is one of the biggest features one system has over the other. If all the glitches can be fixed, it will make Microsoft’s next-gen console feel like a more forward-facing console compared to the PlayStation 5.
