Check your Xbox now! Some consoles are bleeding your wallet dry

With food, fuel and energy bills going through the roof, it’s fair to say that we could all do with a little help when it comes to saving money and beating the cost of living crisis. Gaming hardware isn’t always the cheapest to run, especially during marathon sessions of FIFA, Call of Duty or World of Warcraft. You certainly don’t want to be wasting money for absolutely no reason, which is why Xbox Series X/S owners are being urged to check one particular setting.

Indeed, if you cast your mind back a few weeks, we told you how you could save cash by switching the Xbox console’s “Instant On” setting to “Energy Saving” mode.

The “Instant On” feature essentially keeps the console on standby, letting you get back into the action immediately when you turn your Xbox on.

The “Energy Saving” mode, on the other hand, shuts your console down completely, and requires a full reboot when you switch it back on. While it takes a little longer to get back online, the “Energy Saving” reboot is still quick enough not to cause too much frustration.

It’s certainly not worth paying an extra £5 a month for, which is how much it’s estimated to cost since energy prices went up in October.

What you might not realise is that older models of the Xbox Series X and Series S have “Instant On” set as default, while newer models are set to “Energy Saving” out of the box.

Switching from “Instant On” to “Energy Saving” is as easy as visiting the ‘Profile and System’ section of the Xbox dashboard, and selecting ‘Settings’.

From the ‘Settings’ menu, go to ‘Sleep Mode and Start-Up’, select the ‘Sleep Mode’ option and set it to ‘Energy Saver’.

As a reminder, Xbox Series X/S consoles purchased before 2022 won’t have this setting turned on by default, so it’s highly recommended you check either way.

If you want to save even more money with your Xbox, then a Game Pass subscription is a must.

Xbox Game Pass costs £7.99 a month for consoles only, or £10.99 for Ultimate, which covers consoles, PC and Gold.

Upcoming Game Pass titles include blockbuster hits like Scorn and A Plague Tale: Requiem. 

“Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and somber tapestry,” reads the official description.

“It is designed around the idea of “being thrown into the world.” Isolated and lost inside this dream-like world, you will explore different interconnected regions in a non-linear fashion.”