Shipped: April 2024 (opt-in), March 2025 (Smart Eco Mode as default)
Contributors: Abhishek Porwal, Nicolas Mivielle For Honor has been live for 8 years with a large community. During ongoing performance-mode development, Ubisoft Montreal explored the inverse question: what happens if we tune settings against peak performance for energy efficiency? The result was Eco Mode, targeted specifically at current-generation consoles like XBOX Series X|S. Eco Mode dynamically tunes graphical parameters without compromising gameplay, ensuring a minimum framerate of 30 FPS.
Eco Mode options
Accessed via game settings:- Off — disables Eco Mode entirely.
- Minimal — Eco Mode active only within menus.
- Smart (default) — automatically engages after 2+ minutes idle.
- Full — Eco Mode enforced consistently across the game.
Measured impact
Using the XBOX Sustainability Toolkit measurement tooling, the team measured a 25–30% reduction in energy consumption in For Honor with Eco Mode active. Testing across hundreds of parameters focused on preserving player experience — the GPU was the dominant power consumer, requiring careful balance.Adoption: defaults win
Setting Smart Eco Mode as the default moved adoption from 5% to 95% with no other change to the feature. Eco Mode remains optional and can be turned off at any time in Settings.
Recognition
In 2024 the initiative won Best Green Tech from the Playing for the Planet Alliance, positioning Ubisoft as a pioneer of sustainable game development.Ubisoft Play Green
Eco Mode supports Ubisoft’s Play Green strategy and complements industry efforts like XBOX’s energy-aware updates and the Playing for the Planet Alliance.Takeaways for other studios
- Default-on adoption dwarfs opt-in adoption. 5% → 95% with no feature change.
- Guarantee a minimum framerate. Eco Mode preserves 30 FPS — players never fall below a playable floor.
- Live games can retrofit sustainability. For Honor was 7+ years old when Eco Mode shipped.
- Communicate the mode. A HUD indicator lets players see when Eco Mode is active.