Get Ready for Faster Game Load Times With DirectStorage for Windows

Microsoft today finally launched a new Windows feature that promises to speed up and even eliminate load times for PC games.

With the software developer's kit for DirectStorage, game companies can begin incorporating the tech into their latest titles. "Starting today, Windows games can ship with DirectStorage,” Microsoft says. “This public SDK release begins a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games by allowing developers to more fully utilize the speed of the latest storage devices.”

The feature is based on Microsoft’s game-loading Velocity Architecture technology found in the Xbox Series X. DirectStorage is designed to fully leverage the higher bandwidth on today’s NVME SSD drives, which have become common across consumer PCs.

According to Microsoft, the existing storage APIs for PCs are outdated and can create bottlenecks in the loading experience, even if the game is installed on an NVME SSD drive. As a result, the company created a new DirectStorage API, which has been optimized to streamline the data processing for faster load times while also freeing up the CPU.

Microsoft adds that DirectStorage can accelerate the load time potentially over “any kind of storage device," such as an HDD. But the biggest improvements will occur when the applicable game is installed on NVME SSDs starting with PCIe Gen 3.0.

Microsoft also notes DirectStorage works better on Windows 11 than on Windows 10 due to “legacy storage stacks” in the older OS. “Stay tuned to learn about games that will be shipping with DirectStorage in the future!” the company added. In the meantime, the upcoming Square Enix title Forspoken has already tipped it'll use the API.

Interested software developers can download the DirectStorage SDK from Microsoft’s website. As for the future, Microsoft adds: "GPU decompression is next on our roadmap, a feature that will give developers more control over resources and how hardware is leveraged.” The company is also working on more ways to offload resources to free up the CPU during gaming sessions.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
Xbox 360 FTW
The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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