Having DirectStorage enabled in a game will also not preclude those still tied to hard drives from accessing any given title. 'Additionally, because Windows 11 was built with DirectStorage in mind, games running on Windows 11 benefit further from new storage stack optimizations.'īut developers will only need to implement the new feature once into the game, with the SDK itself controlling which aspects of DirectStorage are available to your system without either you or the developer having to do anything to have it running correctly for their setup. 'This means that any game built on DirectStorage will benefit from the new programming model and GPU decompression technology on Windows 10, version 1909 and up,' he reiterates. After all, the new OS started out life as a big feature update for Windows 10, so any barriers would seem to be purely arbitrary if enforced.īut the wider compatibility should mean more gamers have access to the feature, but the broader user base should also encourage developers and publishers to ensure that DirectStorage is considered for new and existing projects. It's a genuinely exciting bit of tech, one that's been baked into the new Xbox Series X/S consoles, and one we could see no reason should be ring fenced only for those who upgrade to Windows 11. The best NVMe SSD: this slivers of SSD goodnessīest external hard drives: expand your horizonsīest external SSDs: plug in upgrades for gaming laptops and consoles

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Windows features direct play