Upcoming Xbox feature makes it easy to boost game download speeds

A new feature makes it easy to boost download speeds by suspending a game.

What you need to know

• Xbox Insiders can test a new feature that dramatically improves the download speed of games.
• The feature lets you manually suspend games from the page for managing your downloads.
• You could already suspend games, but this feature makes it easier to do so while managing downloads.

Microsoft has a new feature for Xbox Insiders to try out that helps dramatically increase the speed of downloading games. The new feature allows you to manually suspend games directly from the page for managing downloads. Suspending a game can increase download speeds more than tenfold. In our testing on a Gigabit connection, we saw a jump from 40mbps to 750mbps when we suspended a game.

It's important to note that you could already suspend games on Xbox consoles, including the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One. The feature in testing for Xbox Insiders just makes it easier to do so from a different location.

Eden Marie, engineering lead at Xbox, shared the new option on Twitter.

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

Placing an option to suspend games in the page for managing downloads should make it easy to boost game download speeds. Many of the best Xbox One games are quite large, so suspending a game to quickly finish a download can help you jump into a new game without having to wait long.

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