Xbox using machine learning to load Game Pass titles 'twice as fast'

Xbox has developed a new 'FastStart' tool that will let Xbox Game Pass subscribers jump into the service's digital roster "twice as fast."

The new feature uses machine learning to understand how people play, allowing it to identify which files are essential when starting a new game.

It then prioritizes the download of those all-important files, enabling Game Pass users to quickly jump into full-fidelity gameplay while rest of the download takes place in the background. 

"While FastStart does not speed up download times, by identifying which files are needed to begin gameplay and prioritizing the download of those files first, you can expect to jump into your game, on average, twice as fast as you did previously," explains a post on the Xbox Wire blog.

"That means if a game previously took 30 minutes to download and play, you will now be able to begin gameplay after just 15 minutes. In addition, since FastStart takes advantage of machine learning, we will continue to improve our algorithm over time getting players into the fun as soon as possible." 

Even with FastStart, games will still only download based on a user's local bandwidth, so Game Pass subscribers will need a connection with at least a 20mbps download speed to make use of the new feature. 

FastStart will launch soon as part of the June update, and will initially only support a select number of popular titles, with more to be added over time.