It’s 2026 (Almost) and PS5 Still Doesn’t Have the Best Feature on Xbox

Xbox has had a tough couple of years, continually losing market share to PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and perhaps soon, even the Steam Machine. It’s true that Microsoft’s current hardware lineup leaves a bit to be desired, especially on the exclusivity front: there are virtually no modern games that are Xbox-only, as Microsoft releases its first-party games on PC, and has even started bringing landmark franchises like Halo and Gears of War to PlayStation.

This lack of compelling exclusives, alongside numerous PR debacles like the Activision-Blizzard misconduct allegations, multiple major studio closures, and mass layoffs, has eroded Xbox’s reputation over time. Although these are definitely valid reasons to reject the Xbox brand in favor of a Switch or, more likely, a PS5, it would be disingenuous to claim that Xbox has nothing to hold over its competition’s heads. On the hardware front, the Xbox Series X is still an impressive and user-friendly bit of kit, with some great, practical features that are often overshadowed by the headline-dominating exclusives of other platforms. But it’s worth pointing out where Xbox is ahead of the rest of the console market, if only in the hopes that its strong suits become more widely adopted.

For All Its Strengths, the PS5 Is Still Missing Xbox’s Quick Resume Feature

Quick Resume Is the Crown Jewel of the Xbox Series Consoles’ Feature Lineup

PlayStation has a lot of cool hardware-specific features, like reactive triggers and a gyroscope in the DualSense controller, but none of them compare to the utility and elegance of Xbox’s Quick Resume. Introduced in the Series S and Series X devices, Quick Resume is exactly what it sounds like: a feature that allows users to swap between multiple different games on the fly. Users can even resume a game from exactly where they left off, after turning the console off and back on again.

Nearly every Xbox game is compatible with this feature, and Xbox itself has stated that up to five modern games can slot into the Quick Resume queue at a time, making it a boon for anyone who likes to jump between games as they please. It works by saving the contents of the console’s RAM onto the hardware, essentially “freezing” a moment of in-game time. Then, thanks to the lightning-fast speeds of the Xbox Series’ SSD, this moment of game time can be quickly retrieved and booted up in moments. It’s quite a valuable and convenient feature with a number of meaningful use cases, from games that involve a lot of downtime to consoles used by several different household members, playing different games.

Quick Resume Remains Xbox’s Greatest Advantage Over PlayStation

Naturally, few expected the underpowered Nintendo Switch to offer something akin to Quick Resume, but it’s a little surprising that PlayStation hasn’t tried to mimic the feature, considering how similar it is to Xbox Series consoles on the hardware front. The PS5 had something similar in the form of Resume Activity, though this appears to have been wiped from the console as of 2024. Even then, Resume Activity could only work for a single game at a time, omitting the most significant perk of Quick Resume.

Quick Resume is a bittersweet aspect of the Xbox Series console line. It’s a great quality-of-life feature that really leans into the notion of the Xbox being a communal hub for gaming and entertainment, but given the poor sales of the current-gen Xbox models, it’s also a feature that few have been able to enjoy. Hopefully, other platform holders will fold a form of Quick Resume into their hardware in the future.