PS5: Criticism about supposedly too high power consumption

The two next-gen consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X have been on the market since November last year. After the initial euphoria due to the powerful technology, the two platforms have now come under fire – in terms of their power consumption.

This emerges from a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the USA. This institution has the PS5 (buy now ) and the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S took a closer look and examined them primarily with regard to their ecological footprints. The NRDC came across a number of points that could be improved. It starts with the general consumption of the consoles, which is between 160 and 200 watts during operation – and thus above the consumption of the respective previous consoles. However, this is not surprising given the built-in components.

There is more concrete criticism for the Xbox Series S. Here the NRDC criticizes the fact that the console is not trimmed in the factory setting to switch to an energy-saving mode that consumes well below one watt after a long idle period. There is an alternative instant-on mode in which the console is ready for use again relatively quickly, but at the same time consumes more power than a classic energy-saving mode. Incidentally, this does not apply to European models, since the EU requirements require a preselection of an energy-saving mode.

In addition, the NRDC criticizes the power consumption of the consoles when streaming. This is between 31 and 70 watts, and it remains at this level for an hour even after streaming if the user does not switch off the console. Finally, the council recommends stricter pre-settings for an energy-saving mode as well as the installation of an energy-saving processor that is to be used exclusively for streaming.