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Microsoft Wants to 'Virtually Eliminate Load Times' With Xbox Series X

Microsoft Wants to 'Virtually Eliminate Load Times' With Xbox Series X - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 March 2020 / 4,180 Views

Xbox partner director of program management Jason Ronald speaking with GameSpot discussed the solid state drive that will be available in the Xbox Series X. He is hoping that the SSD will "virtually eliminate load times."

"It's really about giving the developers the tools and the capabilities to use the hardware in the most efficient way possible," said Ronald.

"A good example of that is on the [solid-state drive] side--we've basically reached the limit of [what's] possible with the traditional rotational drive. We're basically at the upper bounds of the raw performance we can get there. So we've invested in MVME SSDs and we're also giving developers a lot of new capabilities on top of that to try to virtually eliminate load times.

Microsoft Wants to 'Virtually Eliminate Load Times' With Xbox Series X

"You know, whether that's a level-based game and I'm going from level one to level two, or if you think about a massive open-world game and actually want to fast-travel or teleport from one end of the world to the other, I shouldn't have to [have] this loading experience [that takes] me out of the immersion, and that's all possible with some of the investments we've made on the I/O side."

Ronald added that the Xbox Series X will also cut down on latency. 

"We partnered with HDMI Forum to bring gaming-centric features into the living room," Ronald said. "Things like 120Hz support, things like variable refresh rate, which has been available in the PC space for a while but it's never really been available in the living room--things like 8k capability."


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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21 Comments
VAMatt (on 22 December 2019)

Sounds good to me.

  • +12
Azzanation (on 22 December 2019)

Good to see both PS5 and SeXbox looking at pushing this forward. Load times suck.

  • +8
Jigsawx1 (on 26 December 2019)

Nice, but im not sure it they will eliminate them completly, perhaps we get a 3 or 4 second blackscreen before the game starts then^^

  • +1
method114 (on 23 December 2019)

I mean doesn't everyone want to eliminate load times...seeing as how PC has never been able to do it I doubt consoles will but who knows.

  • 0
hush404 (on 22 December 2019)

I guess that's going to be the fighting point this gen, eh? That and how quite machines are is mostly what Im hearing.

  • 0
JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)

sounds like their just repeating whatever sony said...

  • -10
Zoombael JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)

Chasing behind Sony is kind of their strategy.

  • -6
crissindahouse JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)

What's next? Sony showing their console design just because MS showed how their console looks? Or Sony giving us a PS5 trailer of one of their studios just because MS showed us a trailer?

How about the obvious thing that you mention and show what next gen means compared to this gen which obviously includes extrem short loading times?

  • +5
Azzanation JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)

Maybe because MS is actually trying to remove load times. This has nothing to do with Sony. It's what happens when changing from HDD to SSD etc.

  • +1
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JWeinCom JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)

Apparently Microsoft never noticed that people disliked load times, and were completely oblivious to SSD before Sony made an announcement.

  • +8
Zoombael JRPGfan (on 22 December 2019)
  • -13
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Mr Puggsly JRPGfan (on 23 December 2019)

What's that, making progress? C'mon MS, quit trying to copy Sony.

When every game MS makes is a story driven 3rd person experience. Them I will admit MS is copying Sony.

  • +8
Zoombael JRPGfan (on 23 December 2019)

@shikamaru317

Stop contruing words into something that was never there to begin with.

I told you to properly read what JRPFan has written: "sounds like their just repeating whatever sony said..."
That is what i was agreeing with nothing else. There is nothing in this sentence or in my words that says "MS copied Sonys SSD approach". Nothing! So either you admit you were wrong or keep it shut. This goes for anyone else.

  • -7
Jranation JRPGfan (on 23 December 2019)

Microsoft cant catch a break. Even when they do things right we see people shitting on them.

  • +5
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Zoombael JRPGfan (on 25 December 2019)

@shikamaru317

You're saying marketing doesn't matter? Not a "big whoop" to promote a product and demonstrate its capabilities way ahead of the competition?

It doesn't sound just silly. It is. Especially in the context of the information going around, partially confirmed by different sources. With the latest being Blizzard.

https://freegametips.com/ps5-according-to-blizzard-much-faster-than-the-new-xbox-current-pcs/

"The various statements from Sony, Microsoft and various developers are also interesting in this context. While Sony and the first-party studios confidently speak of the fact that there will be no more loading times, for example, Microsoft continues to speak only of trying to eliminate them as much as possible. In any case, it doesn't sound quite as confident."

So on one side we have relatively open showcasing of next gen hardware, with a tangebile concept of what to expect. On the other we got... talk. Nothing else. No demo, no leaked dev kit pics, no reports on (superior) performance. Nothing. Just... talk.


"If MS is just copying Sony now then why did Microsoft show off their next gen console and a next gen game before Sony did?"

I see, you still haven't carefully read the initial posts (including mine). They've shown the final design. Big whoop. And if i remember correctly there was also a next gen PS5 game (Godfall) at the VGA. There is even gameplay snippet. Not much, but more than a cutscene.

  • -2
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