(Credit: Joseph Maldonado/PCMag)
Microsoft's plans for Windows in 2026 will involve a lot of optimizations, many of them related to gaming. As TechPowerUp reports, this will include updates to power management and system scheduling, as well as reducing the overhead of background applications, and pre-loading game shaders during game downloads, so gamers don't have to sit through that extra loading screen when they first boot it up.
Windows has been the premier and, essentially, only platform for PC gaming for the past few decades, but in recent years, Linux, specifically SteamOS, has started to show some serious potential. We've seen better gaming performance with SteamOS versus Windows 11 on some gaming handhelds, prompting some to wonder whether Windows' time as the main operating system for gaming might be drawing to a close.
Microsoft does not want that to happen, however, so in a recent blog post, it highlighted the gaming improvements it's made over the last year and how it plans to build on that for the future.
"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," it said.
The Xbox Full Screen experience (FSE) for handhelds has already shown how Microsoft can deliver performance improvements when gaming is prioritized. As TechPowerUp highlights, this can result in a nearly 10% reduction in memory usage and a more than 8% increase in frames per second. Microsoft will build on this to improve its scheduling and better utilize modern processors. Smart power optimization for various components could further enhance performance.
Microsoft will also improve access to Advanced Shader Delivery, which stops gamers from having to sit through shader pre-loading the first time they start the game. Microsoft wants to handle that during the game's original download and installation. Even if that means the process will take slightly longer, it should contribute to a more console-like gaming experience for Windows gamers, where they can simply start up the game and play when they want to.
Auto Super Resolution will also be available in more games, offering enhanced upscaling where DLSS, FSR, or XeSS aren't already available. This is particularly useful since it doesn't require developer input and could be applied to heaps of older games that debuted before dynamic upscaling was more readily available, or for indie titles that might not have the resources to implement the alternative solutions.
First introduced with Snapdragon X Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft plans to release the first public previews of this early in the new year. If you'd like the earliest access to these features, join the Windows or Xbox Insider programs.