GAMES
An Update on Xbox Sustainability Efforts
Carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030, sustainability updates to our Xbox Series X|S consoles, empowering players with energy saver mode, and more
Summary
- Today, we’d like to share an update on how we’re progressing toward our commitments of being carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030.
- By 2030, we will design Xbox products and accessories, and all Microsoft product packaging, to be 100% recyclable in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
- Last year, we made improvements to the console’s Energy Saver sleep mode. Energy Saver mode consumes about 20 times less power than Standby mode when the console is not being used or receiving updates. Now, system and game updates can be downloaded during Energy Saver mode, further saving energy.
- We’ve also revisited the materials we use in our products by incorporating Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resins in Xbox Series S and our controllers.
- For more information on what we’re doing, keep reading and check out our new sustainability hub for Xbox: xbox.com/sustainability
At Microsoft – and, by extension, at Xbox – we’ve set ambitious commitments to meaningfully reduce the company’s environmental impact and operate as a carbon negative, water positive and zero waste company by 2030.
Our mission as Team Xbox is to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. While gaming brings joy to players, we also recognize that gaming has an impact on our environment. Our commitment to our players and the industry is to work tirelessly to reduce that impact in a responsible way and consistent with Microsoft’s corporate commitments.
Microsoft’s 2021 Environmental Sustainability Report
Today, Microsoft released its 2021 Environmental Sustainability report that provides an update on our sustainability journey – from pledge to progress – for the whole business.
Our products and services have an impact on the environment due to the choices we make in hardware design, manufacturing, and delivery, as well as during their usage and at end of life in terms of recycling and re-use options. As Microsoft President Brad Smith shared today, the impact of Xbox sales and usage on our Scope 3 emissions increased year over year because of the pandemic.
Progress isn’t always linear; it fluctuates based on a variety of factors. It will not be a straight path to 2030, but we’re committed to reducing our environmental impact across all business areas to achieve our ambitious commitments.
Today, I’d like to share an update on what we’re doing.
Moving toward being more sustainable
To reduce the Xbox carbon footprint and help Microsoft achieve its commitment of being carbon negative by 2030, we’re working on improvements to our console hardware, introducing more ways to improve energy efficiency through software updates, and reducing the environmental impact of cloud gaming through hardware and software updates.
Hardware updates
We’ve made updates to both Xbox Series X and Series S with sustainability in mind and without impacting performance or the experience.
- We embedded an enhanced power monitoring system in a small subset of consoles for expanded in-field, anonymous, telemetry collection. This is key because accurate, per unit telemetry helps us identify the best opportunities to introduce future improvements that will help us save power.
- Starting in late 2021, Xbox Series S became our first console to incorporate Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resins into the manufacturing of the body and various internal components. At a minimum, 28% of the mechanical component plastic by weight in the updated Series S console is post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin.
In addition to these changes, the Xbox team will continue to drive increased power efficiency and innovation.
Software improvements
Software updates provide an important way to improve energy efficiency for consoles that are already in the hands of our players.
- Last year, we made improvements to the console’s Energy Saver sleep mode. Energy Saver mode consumes about 20 times less power than Standby mode when the console is not being used or receiving updates. Now, system and game updates can be downloaded during Energy Saver mode, further saving energy.
- We also made Energy Saver mode the default option when players initially set up their consoles, which offers a significant opportunity to enable energy savings across the entire Xbox ecosystem
Cloud gaming
We’re exploring how we can reduce the environmental impact of our Xbox Cloud Gaming offering.
- Since most power usage occurs during game play, cloud gaming can take advantage of Azure’s significant renewable energy investments. By 2025, Azure datacenters will shift to 100% supply of renewable energy so cloud gaming can leverage this clean energy transition.
- Our custom designed Xbox server hardware is based on the same power efficient architecture as our consoles. Also, using this hardware in the cloud environment allows us to reach hundreds more players per server over its lifetime.
Reducing our waste
To help us reach Microsoft’s commitment of being zero waste by 2030, we’re rethinking the materials we use to design, build, and package our products.
Zero waste by 2030
In 2020, Microsoft committed to being zero waste by 2030 across our direct business. Here’s what we’re doing:
- By 2030, we will design Xbox products and accessories, and all Microsoft product packaging, to be 100% recyclable in OECD countries by 2030.
- Xbox Series X|S consoles were recently assessed to be 97% recyclable in OECD countries based on UL 2789 Environmental Claim Validation (ECV) Procedure, which is standardized metric for measuring electronic product recyclability by material type.
- We’ll continue innovating and assessing our consoles against emerging industry standards and benchmarks to continuously improve our efforts to reduce waste.
Using less plastic with our Xbox gift cards
- We have converted our Xbox gift cards from plastic to paperboard, reducing over 500,000 kg of plastic annually.
Incorporating PCR into more of our products
We’ve also revisited the materials we use in our products.
- Last year, we started incorporating PCR resins into our controllers while maintaining durability and performance quality.
- This started with Daystrike Camo and Electric Volt, followed by many more controllers, including color and special-edition series.
- The re-launch of our Xbox Design Labs has pushed the boundaries even further with the addition of 15 new colors that use PCR resins, with more coming in the future. Our overall PCR content across these 15 Xbox Design Lab colors is 25% at a minimum and we plan to increase the PCR content to 28% by May 2022.
Taking action together
We can’t do this alone. We must work together with our fans, developers, studios and the industry if we’re going to help reduce gaming’s impact on the environment. We’re committed to collaborating with our developers, partnering with organizations, and empowering players to make more informed decisions.
Empowering our developers
As a major publisher and developer, we want to empower the game designers of the future to develop in-game content and narratives around these themes to help educate and raise awareness.
- Minecraft released a free series of sustainability and climate themed lessons, Climate Futures, in 2021, available for Minecraft: Education Edition players and via the Minecraft Marketplace on Bedrock Edition.
- Forza Horizon 5 launched with a handful of electric vehicles, representing some of the most exciting, sustainable automobiles in the world, and the team will be increasing the number of EVs in the game in the year ahead.
We can do this in partnership with the industry
Microsoft also works closely with organizations like the United Nations to help tackle the world’s climate challenges on a broader scale.
- Microsoft is a leading partner of the UN’s Playing for the Planet Alliance, representing 34 game company members and 7 associate members which have made voluntary, ambitious, specific, and time-based commitments in service of people and the planet.
- Microsoft also supports and works with environmental organizations like The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund, and encourages the Xbox community to get involved and support these efforts through incentives like earning Microsoft Rewards on Xbox and more.
What you can do
We also want to empower players to make more informed decisions that help reduce your impact. Here are some tips that will help you reduce your impact:
- Energy Saver – To enable Energy Saver mode, please go to Settings->Sleep Mode & Startup->Sleep Mode->Energy saver. Check out this video to learn more.
- Microsoft Store Online Trade-in Program – Check to see if your used device – laptop, tablet, phone, or game console – is eligible for trade-in and to get cash back.
- Consumer Mail-back Program – If your used device is ineligible for trade-in, Microsoft offers a free mail-back program for consumers in many regions of the world to encourage responsible end-of-life management of consumer electronics products, related accessories, and packaging.
- Sustainability in Minecraft – Learn about the impacts of climate change, explore sustainable infrastructure, and build solutions in a series of Minecraft worlds.
- Xbox Wireless Controllers and Xbox Series S console – If you’re conscious about the materials used to create the products you love, look no further than our Electric Volt and Daystrike Camo controllers and most of our Xbox Design Lab controllers, which incorporate PCR resins. As does the Xbox Series S, our first console to incorporate PCR resins.
- Ground Shipping with Microsoft Store – When ordering eligible products from the Microsoft Store in the US, select the free ground shipping option at checkout, which is our shipping method that typically results in the fewest carbon emissions.
There will be more to come
This is only a part of a bigger story, and there’s more we’re going to do over the next year and beyond to help tackle this important issue.
Our ambitions are high, and we recognize we still have a long way to go, but we’re committed because it is critically important that we get this right for the planet. But the work is never complete. We’re committed to continuing to learn, improve, and grow. You are an important part of this journey. We’ll continue to share updates on how we’re progressing.
For more information on what we’re doing, check out our new sustainability hub for Xbox: xbox.com/sustainability.
GAMES
This Week’s Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
GAMES
The German Empire Marches to Italy in a Free Expansion Today
We have a new expansion for our WW1 Italian Front FPS game Isonzo releasing today! It’s the first part of our Caporetto season of free expansions, and features a whole new faction with the arrival of the German Empire on the Italian Front, and brings a new map for the Offensive game mode. There will be two more releases in the Caporetto season, each one with a new map to ultimately link together into a three map Caporetto Offensive.
The German faction comes with more than ten new weapons, as well as historically accurate uniforms and equipment. This first Caporetto map sees you taking part in the early stages of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, with German troops assaulting Italian positions on the road to Caporetto. Historically it was a military disaster for Italy which brought down the government – but maybe things can go differently with you on the battlefield?
The update sees new uniforms and equipment from the German Empire for Isonzo’s six classes: Rifleman, Assault, Engineer, Officer, Marksman and Mountaineer. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, each class has different weapon, gear and perk options that allow you to specialize your play style within the overall focus of the class. For instance, Marksmen are always sharpshooters, but a lot depends on your loadout. You could be a long-range sniper and observer identifying and eliminating high value targets with a scoped rifle, or you could equip body armor to take and hold a front line position with deadly accurate mid-range fire. Every class has choices to make in this regard.
In Isonzo’s signature Offensive game mode, one side must attack and break through multiple defensive lines. Thick layers of barbed wire, trenches, and whatever extra defenses the enemy engineers put together will stand in the way of a successful attack. Objectives can be taking and holding key points, or planting dynamite to sabotage enemy supply stashes or heavy artillery guns.
The new Caporetto map – the first of three in the season – is a huge battlefield based on the strategically important Monte Kolovrat. There are five defensive lines, where each line has two objectives for the attackers before they can advance further. While in the historical Battle of Caporetto both German and Austro-Hungarian forces were involved, in Isonzo we’ve chosen to focus on the German contribution, so the map recreates the stunning German advance from the town of Tolmein all the way to Kolovrat Ridge. It’s a damp, overcast day when the attack begins, and the attackers must first cut their way through lines of wire to break into a devastated town – including capturing a church defended by multiple heavy machine gun positions. Fortunately, in Isonzo there are many tactical options available to deal with such strong points: artillery barrages, smokescreens, snipers, rifle grenades, even poison gas. From there, it becomes a literal uphill battle for the German attackers as they begin to climb towards the peak of Kolovrat Ridge. They’ll need to sabotage bunkers and capture command posts while navigating rocky trenches and steep forested slopes. At the penultimate fourth defensive line there is a huge siege mortar to sabotage and a cluster of houses providing cover to the Italian defenders – then it’s one last climb to reach the final objective: Hill 1114. If the Germans can take it, the Italians will finally be the ones fighting uphill as their reinforcements stream in to try and counterattack.
Of course, things are no walk in the park for the defenders either – although it’s easier to maneuver when going downhill, and it’s much simpler for officers to deploy flares to call in support, the extensive trench lines can become a liability once the Germans get a foothold, providing cover as they advance. Some of the Italian defensive positions can be exposed against the sky, making it easy for German marksmen to pick off targets. Italian engineers should make good use of their construction abilities to put down additional sandbags and lay out extra wire to prevent German assault troops sneaking through the trees to flank trenches with their grenades or light machine guns.
As we mentioned before, historically the Battle of Caporetto was a disaster for the Italians. Appalling leadership led to poorly motivated and unprepared troops falling apart in the face of the combined Austro-Hungarian and German armies using cutting edge infiltration tactics. The Italian soldiers were not allowed to retreat until too late, and in the end hundreds of thousands would surrender. After Caporetto the top Italian general was fired and replaced by someone far more competent, who managed to turn the war around for the Italians. In Isonzo, it’s a more fair fight where both sides have an equal chance of winning, if they can use all the tactical options available better than their opponents.
The release will also bring other improvements to the game, including a prestige mode and higher level cap. Additionally, for those who want more options for visual customization of their character, the Royal Units DLC is releasing alongside the free expansion and contains uniforms from the German Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. Though part of the German Empire, these states had their own distinctive uniforms which we’ve carefully recreated with the same accuracy and attention to detail as with the other uniforms in the game.
The Battle for Caporetto Begins…
Isonzo is available right now on the Microsoft Store for Xbox, and the free Caporetto expansion is out today! Plenty of time to master the art of mountain warfare before the German Empire joins the action on the Italian Front. Follow us to get the latest development news as we add the finishing touches!
We’ll see you in the trenches!
Isonzo
BlackMill Games
$29.99
World War One expands to the mountains of the Italian Front – beautiful but deadly in equal measure. Inspired by the two year struggle for control of the Isonzo river valley and the Alps during World War One, Isonzo elevates the WW1 Games Series, figuratively and literally.
From the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg…
Take part in historical offensives from the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo to the Strafexpedition. Reflecting the course of the actual battles, as the attackers advance the fighting will shift through vastly different landscapes within a single offensive: from hillside fortresses to mountain trenches and fierce urban combat on city streets. Everything is recreated based on research and field trips, from sound effects and uniforms down to the houses, vineyards and trenches you’ll be fighting over.
The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front. Lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes as you choose your path to victory – cut paths through barbed wire, flank your enemies by following mountain trails, or man a mortar to blast a way through. Shape a dynamic battlefield by laying sandbags and wire, placing ammo crates, deploying trench periscopes or sniper shields, and more.
Call in support with a unique historically accurate flare system: flare guns can mark targets for artillery or biplane flybys, or different colored flares can be used to guide your team. Once the big guns have softened up the enemy, finish the job at close quarters with an Arditi dagger or mountaineer’s pickaxe. Man heavy machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns for more direct fire support.
Choose from six classes based on historical combat roles and build your loadout from a selection of weapons, equipment and perks linked to that class, giving flexibility and variety while staying grounded in what real soldiers might have carried. You’ll be operating wire cutters, bandaging yourself and wounded teammates, and blowing the whistle to start an assault. One shot can kill and even lighter injuries can lead to quickly bleeding out.
Being an effective soldier in Isonzo is not just about being a good marksman. Mastering the terrain is also key – the mountain can be a friend or foe. Learn how to navigate well to maintain cover and surprise your enemies or support your allies.
Finally… watch out for the dreaded poison gas. You’ve never experienced WW1 action quite like this!
Isonzo key features include:
• MOUNTAIN WARFARE: Assaulting mountain fortifications, battling through ruined towns, and fording rivers are just a few of the challenges you’ll face as you fight your way through numerous enemy positions
• TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER FPS: Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more
• WORLD WAR ONE GAMEPLAY: Historical Offensive game mode based on real battles and focused on the unique challenges of Alpine warfare. Fight with 30+ WW1 weapons, poisonous gas attacks, and intense artillery barrages
• BUILD FOR VICTORY: Place your own wire, sandbags, trench periscopes, and more! Whether you’re digging in or on the attack, shaping the battlefield to your advantage will be key to victory
• FACES OF WAR: Make every class your own by picking from a variety of historically class-appropriate uniforms, accessories and headgear. As a finishing touch, you can even pick your mustache from several famous period-accurate styles!
• AUTHENTIC WW1 ATMOSPHERE: Accuracy in everything from maps and weaponry to music and the uniforms – fight for the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
MORE GAMES IN THE AUTHENTIC WW1 GAME SERIES
Immerse yourself in more WW1 action with our other standalone titles Tannenberg and Verdun. Experience trench warfare on the Western Front in Verdun, or maneuver for control of key sectors in Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. These authentic WW1 shooters let players choose from a range of squads from across the war, as they fight for control of the ever-changing frontlines.
GAMES
Transport Fever 2: Console Edition is Bringing the Full Transport Tycoon Experience to Xbox
Today, we proudly share a sneak peek into the development of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition, and how we managed to bring the full transport tycoon experience to Xbox.
Transport Fever is a very popular and highly rated transportation tycoon franchise on PC. Its latest entry, Transport Fever 2, delivers a level of size and detail never before seen in the genre. The goal of the game is to build a successful transportation company by constructing railroads, streets, water and air lines. Starting in the 19th century, the player connects towns and industries to transport both passengers and cargo. In addition to a customizable free game mode, there is also a fully-fledged campaign mode with challenging missions set in real-world transportation history.
After the huge success of Transport Fever 2 on PC, it was only logical to bring the experience to consoles as well. Not only that, but no efforts were spared to give the console community the full experience that made the game great on PC. In order to achieve this, the engineers at Urban Games had to pull some rabbits out of their engineers’ hats.
Always providing the freshest layer of paint
One of the most cherished features of Transport Fever 2 are its highly detailed vehicles. The game comes with more than 200 lovingly hand-modeled trains, ships, and airplanes, each sporting multiple 4k textures and normal maps.
On PC, it is easily affordable to have all the models and textures in memory whenever needed, as a typical rig has 16 GB of RAM and a GPU with a dedicated extra memory. Consoles, however, are built differently. They have a unified architecture with an overall smaller amount but ultra-fast memory. The key to make it work on consoles is texture streaming, which allows to clear textures of models that are not in view anymore. Moreover, this technology is used in Transport Fever 2 to constantly load textures at the highest affordable resolution to present the stars of the show, like the classic Class A 3/5 steam locomotive, in their best coat of paint at all times.
Keeping the ground like a console pro
A trademark of Transport Fever 2 are its huge maps. During development of the game, it was always paramount to provide a real sense of scale. The engine should allow for maps where a high-speed train, such as the famous Japanese Shinkansen, can really make use of its superior speed. So, a lot of effort was put into designing a highly effective terrain rendering pipeline that can handle maps of more than 120 sq miles of size with a detail resolution of almost 1 yard. Central to this is a dynamic terrain tessellation algorithm on the CPU that, while costing a bit of extra memory, makes sure the engine can render these maps on a wide variety of PCs.
Now, enter the world of consoles with their incredibly well-designed GPUs and graphic APIs. Here, the hardware can be leveraged very well for terrain rendering by making use of the GPU tessellation feature. This feature generates the render mesh for the terrain fully on the graphics card, saving valuable processing time for the complex economy and city growth simulations. While generating more triangles, the hardware approach still costs less memory overall due to its efficiency. So vast maps can be viewed from a bird’s view high up in the sky and seamlessly zoomed in down to individual rocks on a riverbank.
Inspiring the inner architect
Finally, let’s talk about constructions, a central and defining part of the Transport Fever 2 experience. Constructions are large assemblies that consist of dozens of assets, street segments, ground decals and terrain modifications. Think of structures like airports, train stations, docks, highway crossings, and many more. Anything that is needed to build a vast transportation empire.
For a smooth construction experience, it is key that the player really feels that he has precise control over the building placement. On PC, constructions are typically built using the mouse. As the average PC user is very well adjusted to this method of input, it is sufficiently performant to calculate the entire construction each frame and place it under the cursor. However, on consoles, the best way of building constructions is to have them always kept in the center of the screen and move the camera along the map for placement. And moving the camera needs to be as smooth as silk.
So, for the console release of Transport Fever 2, the construction preview pipeline was overhauled. All dynamic calculations are now performed in the background while a static preview of the structure and its underlying ground plan are shown. Not only are constructions now completely stable in terms of FPS, but they also give feedback to the player on what environment features the construction would tear down when built.
Let’s get tycooning on console
We are very excited to bring the Transport Fever franchise to consoles for the first time ever with the release of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in February 2023, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did developing it.
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