Microsoft promises to make Windows 11 the best operating system for gaming — says it will focus on background workloads, power and scheduling, graphics stack, and drivers

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Microsoft has announced that it will continue to deliver significant updates for Windows 11 in the coming year, in an effort to make the platform more optimized for gaming. “We’re committed to making Windows the best place to play, and we will continue refining system behaviors that matter most to gaming: background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers,” said the company in a Windows blog post.

Throughout this year, we saw Microsoft being more committed towards gamers with the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, their first handheld consoles made in collaboration with Asus. These consoles came with exclusive features, including the Xbox full screen experience (FSE) and Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD). Microsoft also improved the Windows gaming experience on Arm devices by enabling local game installs through the Xbox app, expanding compatibility and performance in the Prism emulator, and providing native anti-cheat solutions.

With 2026 fast approaching, Microsoft has announced that it will be expanding Xbox FSE to Windows PCs, including desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1s, next year. The feature is currently being tested in a preview and can be accessed by updating to the latest Windows 11 build and signing up for the Windows and Xbox Insider programmes.

Xbox FSE is a controller-first interface that essentially allows you to launch games faster, with minimal distractions. It can also consolidate all of your game libraries from various online stores, including Microsoft Store, Steam, Epic Games, and Battle.net, into one place. Additionally, one can expect a boost in gaming performance as booting into FSE instead of Windows Explorer results in less RAM usage.

Microsoft also plans to expand Auto Super Resolution to handheld gaming devices next year, starting with a preview for the ROG Xbox Ally X. Auto SR was first introduced on Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X processors, with an aim to deliver sharper visuals and smoother framerates in DirectX games running at lower resolution.

Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) is also set for an expansion to more Windows 11 devices that allows the system to preload game shaders during download, thus allowing supported games to launch faster, run smoother, and consume less battery when you first launch the game. Lastly, Microsoft says that it is working on improving system behaviors that matter most when you are gaming, including background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers. The company will be sharing more information during the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) scheduled in March 2026.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

TOPICS

Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.

22 Comments Comment from the forums

hotaru251

"We’re committed to making Windows the best place to play"

still won't touch win11.

and given how MS is all in on agentic Windows I will die on 10 & move to linux.
Reply
King_V

We’re committed to making Windows the best place to play
For who, exactly? Copilot and its advertisement buddies?
Reply
drea.drechsler

Windows 10 has a growing problem with security, which will cloud any experience with it as time marches on.

Linux has to be put through hoops to run many games, and some don't run at all if I'm not mistaken. Doesn't MacOS have the same problems as Linux? So neither can run the full library of games that do run on Windows 11/PC's. Neither of these don't seem the "best OS for gaming" even if the ones they do run does so flawlessly and fast.

Gaming consoles (and handhelds) have in-built limitations which the "best OS for gaming" should not have; like lower gaming resolutions and/or lower graphical detail.

I actually am left wondering what is "better" than Windows 11 even right now for gaming? It doubtless depends on individual perspective and what is valued with their gaming experience.
Reply
habermas

drea.drechsler said:
Windows 10 has a growing problem with security.

Linux has to be put through hoops to run many games, and some don't run at all if I'm not mistaken. Doesn't MacOS have the same problems as Linux? So neither can run the full library of games that do run on Windows 11/PC's. That doesn't seem the "best OS for gaming" even if the ones they do run does so flawlessly and fast.

Gaming consoles (and handhelds) have in-built limitations which the "best OS for gaming" should not have; like lower gaming resolutions and/or lower graphical detail.

I actually am left wondering what is "better" than Windows 11 even right now for gaming?
As I see it, the point of the article is that SteamOS is providing enough competition in the "PC gaming space" that Microsoft is suddenly feeling compelled to message a shift in their approach to development of Windows 11.

Your out of hand dismissal of "Linux for gaming" in this context seems counterproductive. Anyone interested in maintaining competition about providing the best and most focused platform for gamers should be encouraging the competition that Valve and SteamOS have facilitated through their strong contributions over the past decade toward making Linux a viable competitor to Windows in the gaming area.

If you want to see this development continue (or if you are discouraged from Windows 11 by say Copilot, Recall, ads+tracking in the OS or other dystopian features) would do wisely to take a second look at how viable various Linux platforms have become for gaming in recent years. Personally, I switched less than 6 months ago from Win11 to Ubuntu and have found it works so well for my games portfolio with my Nvidia GPU that I am now exploring if switching to Bazzite or CachyOS can give me even more gaming optimized performance.
Reply
Shiznizzle

Microsoft promises to make Windows 11 the best operating system for gaming
They are worried now. Look at them. They are actually worried now.

Here is the thing about gaming these days. You do not need to use windows to play your games. I am typing this on a gnu/linux nobara distro.

20 min ago i was playing World of Warcraft. Before that i played Assassins creed 3 again. I can play %99 of my steam library using just proton.

I have my Win 10 install still on slot 2, M2. For one single game. DCS. When i figure out how to play that on linux, the 10 install will get deleted and the M2 repurposed

There is no Windows 11 for me. I am done with windows. I am now on Linux. I paid for my windows serials over the years. I will do the same for my linux OS, already have donated. App makers that make it possible to play are also going to get my funds.

Others can subject themselves to all that microsoft has planned for them. Be that stealing your machine resources to help built their AI aims. Be that to spy on you via "telemetry". Be it disrespect in the form of ads, or the changing of settings since they cant be bothered to respect your machine and change settings back.

Windows 10 must have more than a dozen ways to serve you up ads. I wonder what 11 is like.

You signed a TOS/EULA so you think disabling telemetry will stop action on your decision to allow them to do whatever? Dream on. Hard coded Ip's will be used to send data that not even you can block as the data will be impossible to block or even identify, let alone distinguish from other data that is sent to M$.

Here is another thing about windows. It is failing to do its job more and more.
Reply
drea.drechsler

habermas said:
The point of the article is that SteamOS is providing enough competition in the "PC gaming space" that Microsoft is suddenly feeling compelled to message a shift in their approach to development of Windows 11.

Your out of hand dismissal of "Linux for gaming" in this context seems counterproductive. Anyone interested in maintaining competition about providing the best and most focused platform for gamers should be encouraging the competition that Valve and SteamOS have facilitated through their strong contributions over the past decade toward making Linux a viable competitor to Windows in the gaming area.

If you want to see this development continue (or if you are discouraged from Windows 11 by say Copilot, Recall, ads+tracking in the OS or other dystopian features) would do wisely to take a second look at how viable various Linux platforms have become for gaming in recent years. Personally, I switched less than 6 months ago from Win11 to Ubuntu and have found it rounds so well with my Nvidia GPU that I am now exploring if switching to Bazzite or CachyOS can give me even more gaming optimized performance.
You seem to have misconstrued my post.

I'm not discouraged from Windows11... I kind of like CoPilot in particular (it's been very helpful). I don't like the ads+tracking but I'm not of the tin-foil-hat persuasion about it. I try to be reasonable and allow that Microsoft needs to profit somehow for what must be an expensive endeavor and that I have paid very little for.

I haven't outright dismissed Linux: I've qualified my dismissal. If you are telling me it can be installed and run every game in my Steam library by a computer naif and with no need to hunt down and install patches then tell me so.

Simple 'viability' isn't enough; it must be done so as easily as you can with a Windows 11 installation.So, install Linux, install GPU driver, install Steam, download game, play. Nothing else need be done.

SteamOS is something I'm not really familiar with and haven't explored much. Is it suitable for running on PC's? I though it was suitable only for hand-held gaming only devices, so if it's also a general purpose OS suitable for PC's it might be something to look into.
Reply
vanadiel007

Windows is not a gaming OS and never will be a true gaming OS.
MS generates a ton of revenue from corporate Windows use, and corporate clients do not care about gaming performance.

They are making this statement just to make it look like they care about gaming on Windows 11.
Reply
habermas

drea.drechsler said:
You seem to have misconstrued my post.

I'm not discouraged from Windows11... I kind of like CoPilot in particular (it's been very helpful). I don't like the ads+tracking but I'm not of the tin-foil-hat persuasion about it. I try to be reasonable and allow that Microsoft needs to profit somehow for what must be an expensive endeavor and that I have paid very little for.

I haven't outright dismissed Linux: I've qualified my dismissal. If you are telling me it can be installed and run every game in my Steam library by a computer naif and with no need to hunt down and install patches then tell me so.

I have not misconstrued your post. I am framing it in a wider, societal context and arguing that your choice can and perhaps should be affected by wider concerns than the immediate temperature of "the water that is about to boil the frog."

That you like Copilot is what it is. Other people - perhaps especially people with a professional background in IT - prefer to choose their own AI tools rather than have them pre-installed and forced upon you but to each their own.

As to your question, I think it is sufficient to say that the Linux-based SteamDeck has proven that yes it is in fact an out of the box experience with many Linux distributions to achieve 90 pct. compatability with the titles in your Steam library and at about roughly the same frame rate (depending on your graphics hardware).

So, install Linux, install GPU driver, install Steam, download game, play. Nothing else need be done.
This accurately describes my experience installing Ubuntu for gaming except that the "install GPU driver" step was rolled into the "install Linux" step.
Reply
thesyndrome

This feels like it's in response to Linux growing at a rapid pace since W10's EoL and W11 introducing more AI features that no one wants and just slow it down
Reply
ezst036

King_V said:
For who, exactly? Copilot and its advertisement buddies?
I keep desperately hoping we get some brave Microsoft insider who leaks information.(would put their job on the line doing this) Full lists of who their ad buddies actually are, how far does Microsoft actually go in selling user data, the role of bundling, etc etc etc.

In turn when the leaker leaks the information that we require, I keep hoping Tom's Hardware is brave enough to make it a news item we can read and learn the information.

Microsoft transforming Windows into an adware is highly toxic and that toxicity in turn has many of us infighting for absolutely no reason. Other than Microsoft's bank account, of course.
Reply

Show more comments