Microsoft Reveals What You Can Expect With May’s Xbox Update

Written by Brandon Hofer on May 13, 2021

News: Some new features as well as further developing existing features is what the May update is all about.

Microsoft has revealed what the May update is going to look like and it appears to be a good one. Quick Resume is a very useful feature that made its debut with the Xbox Series X|S and now it is getting even better. Once May’s update is downloaded, Quick Resume will be more reliable, it will load games even faster than before, and you will have a new group that will organize the games that are currently utilizing Quick Resume. That means that if you have played Grand Theft Auto V recently and it is in the Quick Resume cache to have it load quicker, you can remove it from that group to open up some resources for another game. You can pin this new group to the Home screen as well so you can do what you need to do with only a few button presses. There will also be a new Quick Resume tag so it is easier for you to tell which games support this feature and which games do not.

If you are a bit of an audiophile, you will be happy to hear that there will also now be passthrough audio for apps. You can use it on apps such as Disney+, Apple TV, Vudu, Plex, and more. For those who might not be familiar with passthrough audio, it allows audio decoding from media apps on compatible HDMI devices to bypass the console for highest quality audio experience on your external sound setup.

If you like to watch a trailer before deciding on a game purchase then Microsoft has made this easier as well as you can watch trailers with Xbox Game Pass. Now games that are featured in the spotlight on the Game Pass hub will play trailers when you focus on them. What this essentially means is that you can see these trailers with fewer button presses. Also, thankfully, the audio from the trailers will not play unless you click on the tile. This update will also bring a brand new dynamic background for Xbox Series X|S. This month the new background is “Motes” and you can find it by going to Settings -> General -> Personalization -> My Background -> Dynamic Background.

There is also an addition that parents will appreciate. Beginning this month, parents will be able to approve multiplayer games for their kids to play. More specifically, they will be able to do it by specific title, directly from the console, or in the Xbox Family Settings app that is available for free on iOS and Android. So basically what this means is that you can allow your child to play Madden online with his friends but restrict him from playing Call of Duty if you feel he is too young for that game. If a title that he wants to play is indeed blocked, he can send a request to unblock multiplayer for that one game only. You will then receive a notification through the aforementioned Xbox Family Settings app giving you information about the game and then deciding on whether or not you want to allow access. If you have previously granted access but now want to take that game off the approved list, you can do that any time from either the console or your phone.

These are probably the most important additions and changes that the May update will be bringing to Xbox. What would you like to see them do in the future? Let us know in the comments below.