Xbox consoles speed up download speeds while you play to reduce interference with your network resources or multiplayer performance. Although downloads are currently faster when the Xbox is in sleep mode, Microsoft will soon allow players to increase their download speeds while the console is still on with a new “Suspend My Game” option in the Xbox download manager.
According to Eden Marie, head of Xbox engineering, selecting “Suspend my game” pauses the bandwidth your games are using and instead allows your downloads to run at full speed.
You can resume the game at any time if you decide that you prefer to continue playing and leave your downloads in the background. Xbox Series X / S users can even use the console’s Quick Resume to resume at the exact moment the game was paused.
Suspend my game is available in the latest Xbox Insider Program panel update for Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One. You can download the Xbox Insider Hub app from the Microsoft store to join the Insider Program to test the feature as soon as possible, but it will be released on all Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One consoles in the coming weeks.
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How to suspend games on Xbox to increase download speed
Here’s how to use the new “Suspend my game” feature to increase download as soon as it’s available on your Xbox console:
- Press the Xbox button on the controller to open the guide menu.
- Go to My games and apps> See all> Manage> Queue.
- On the Manage Queue page, select “Suspend my game.” Your console’s download speeds will automatically increase.
- When the downloads are complete, you can resume playback from the point where you stopped.
Xbox Insiders may experience cool things like “Suspend my game” early, but Microsoft is constantly adding new features to its consoles for all users. The most recent monthly update adds a new FPS increase mode which increases frame rates for backward-compatible games on the Xbox Series X / S, fixes some long-running controller disconnect bugs, and more. Make sure your system is updated regularly.