Microsoft doesn’t want gamers to have to sit around in lobbies and wait for a game to find a multiplayer match, so the company developed asynchronous matching for the Xbox One.
In a podcast interview with Microsoft spokesperson Larry Hyrb, Xbox One chief hardware architect Marc Whitten explained how asynchronous matching runs in the background at all times so that players can immediately jump into a new online game.
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Asynchronous matchmaking has the Xbox One always searching for the next best game to put a player into no matter what they are doing.
“We can shrink the amount of time of not playing and replace it with really great gameplay. Asynchronous match allows you to be [finding a new multiplayer instance] both in the game or while you’re doing something else — playing another game.”
Hyrb explained that players can watch live TV and receive a popup notification that a multiplayer game is ready and switch instantly to that match with the push of a button.
“That ability to move between experiences — to feel like you never miss a moment — that when your friends are ready you can drop right back in to a game has been really key for us,” said Whitten.