Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference today the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit, which aims to help developers take power consumption into account in their game development process. This developer toolkit is the first of its kind according to Microsoft, a company that also played the teraflops race with its Xbox One X and Xbox Series X consoles.

“Our goal is to empower creators and developers by providing information and tools to better understand the energy and emissions intensity of their games, and to introduce energy efficiency strategies into game development,” explained Trista Patterson, Xbox Director of Sustainability. “The Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit includes analytical and visual systems, measurement tools, and resources to help creators make informed decisions about energy consumption and carbon emissions, associated with their game designs.”

By using the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit, developers will be able to measure the energy consumption of their games in real time. This will also allow them to optimize them to reduce power consumption when possible without impacting gameplay.

343 Industries and Ubisoft are among the first game developers to use the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit. The Halo Infinite developer has already experimented with lowering the resolution in the game’s Pause menu, which decreased energy usage by 15%. According to Patterson, “343i is now exploring potential for bigger energy savings.”

Ultimately, Microsoft will be using insights from developers to create a framework that studios can use to make their games more energy efficient. The Redmond giant also recently made the Shutdown (energy saving) option the default on all Xbox consoles, which also support carbon-aware downloads.