Measuring the Power Consumption of Video Games

The optimization of video games towards energy efficiency on resource-limited devices like smartphones or handhelds is an ongoing challenge in research and industry. Platforms like PCs or consoles do not receive similar attention because such devices are more likely limited by the capabilities of hardware components than the amount of power available to them. Yet, there exists no dedicated method to measure the actual power consumption of video games, on which power optimizations could be based. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive method and provide a prototype implementation to measure the power consumption of video games. The method generates context-aware data usable by both developers and players while being independent of device type and concrete hardware configurations. This independence allows for power measurements on platforms reliant on energy efficiency, like smartphones, as well as underrepresented platforms like the PC. We extend the idea of a power model and use data from hardware sensors, operating system metrics, and video game profilers to calculate the power consumption of video games, their components, and individual functionalities. This method not only helps developers to achieve better energy efficiency in video games but also lays the foundation for future work towards green gaming that relies on the data generated by this method.