Conservative politicians and commentators in the US are complaining that Xbox game consoles are now “awake” following an announcement earlier this month that Xbox Series X/S machines will be updated with an “Energy Saver” mode that reduces their power consumption (opens in new tab) when enabled.
This particular descent into partisan madness began on January 11, when Microsoft announced that the Xbox would be “the first game console to offer carbon-conscious game downloads and updates.” Simply put, this means Xbox consoles can schedule updates for times when the power grid is using low-carbon energy sources.
It’s a smart idea — Microsoft said the new setting cuts power consumption by up to 20 times compared to normal sleep mode — and it’s not actually new: The “carbon-conscious” feature was rolled out to Windows 11 last year.
Of course, that didn’t stop right-wing commentators and their political facilitators from hailing the update as the next major transgression against freedom, and a new front in the culture wars, following equally idiotic sources of consternation such as M&Ms (opens in new tab) and gas heaters (opens in new tab). Retweeting a story about the update on a right-wing website Blaze news (opens in new tab)wrote Republican Senator Ted Cruz, “First gas stoves, then your coffee, now they’re hunting your Xbox.”
The tweet was so misleading that Twitter added some bonus “context” underneath it.
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Conservative youth organization Young America’s Foundation shared the same article, saying, “Lol, now the awakened brigade is after video games, all in the name of climate change.”
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Talk show host John Ziegler also felt compelled to comment, tweeting: “Could this be what is finally making some young people realize the negative impact of the #Climate scam?!”
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Republican Congressman Troy Nehls was perhaps the most on-fire of the bunch, equating Xbox consoles with guns.
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Leading conservative talk show Fox and Friends also felt the need to weigh in, taking a break from bemoaning the loss of a conventionally sexy, candy-coated peanut to complain that Microsoft is “after the kids”.
“They’re trying to recruit your kids into climate politics at a younger age,” said Fox Across America host Jimmy Failla. “Make them climate conscious now.”
Fox News is MAD that “wake up” Xbox is changing its power saving mode Earhardt: “Xbox also announced they are waking up because of climate change” Failla: “They’re trying to recruit your kids into climate politics at a younger age” E: “They’re going after the kids on” pic.twitter.com/8Vvd5j02SAJanuary 24, 2023
Climate awareness doesn’t strike me as the worst thing in the world to promote in children, although Failla predictably overlooked the fact that the vast majority of gamers are, in fact, adults. But facts and rationality have little bearing on high-tension political play, as evidenced by the fact that so much of this performative outrage is based on a simple lie: The Blaze report claims the update will “force gamers to turn off their Xbox consoles in to combat climate change”, but that is not really the case at all. Microsoft said the update has become the default for newly set up consoles, but “will not impact your console’s performance, gameplay, or ability to receive system, game, or app updates overnight.” And if you don’t want to use it, well, that’s fine too: “You can adjust your settings at any time and choose what works best for you.”
But even if you don’t care about climate change – which is very real for the record – there are simple, practical reasons to embrace this update. We noted a few years ago that PC gaming can burn with great force (opens in new tab), and so are game consoles. All that juice isn’t free, so using less will also save you some money. I don’t see how even the angriest anti-wokester could find fault with that.
Microsoft declined to comment on response to the update.