Here’s how Windows 10 Game Mode works

Windows 10 has been a divisive OS for gamers, and especially so when it gets down to the Windows App Store. There’s a whole bunch of meddling that Microsoft have restricted savvy gamers from in the settings, one of which is the ability to route all of a PCs power towards a single application. This has some slight ramifications on games and their performance. Which is why Microsoft is seeking to address it with a new Game Mode – which will be out for testing very soon.

Forming part of the new Creators Update coming to Windows 10 soon, Game Mode will essentially do what Windows 10 should be doing already as soon as a game is launched. To get the most out of your rig and boost framerate numbers, Game Mode will prioritise a single application and send more GPU and CPU resources to it while it’s in the foreground. That means less performance wasted on background applications and more for your demon slaying in DOOM, and serious drifts in Forza Horizon 3.

How this all works is still unclear, but Windows Insiders will be able to start testing the new feature as early as next week. You can do so by bringing up the Windows Game Bar while in a game (that’s Windows+G), and selecting settings. There you’ll be able to enable Game Mode, which won’t be done automatically for many titles before it’s officially out. Microsoft even says that some games will not work at all with the feature just yet, but that comes with the turf of testing.

By the time the update rolls out for everyone, Microsoft is hoping to have most games supported and the feature turning on automatically for them as soon as the game boots up. That’s still a while away though, with the Creators Update still only having a very vague “early 2017” release window. So by April at the latest. Until then, just remember to close Facebook on your PC before attempting any rigorous gaming.

Last Updated: January 26, 2017