After over a year of anticipation, Microsoft has launched DirectStorage, increasing the capabilities of video game performance.

DirectStorge from Microsoft has arrived. The software development kit is intended to boost performance for gaming on PC. This is done by streaming large amounts of data from a solid state drive, instead of using a central processing unit to decompress the data first. In doing this, DirectStorage is able to load data in more detail and faster than before. 

“Starting today (March 14), Windows games can ship with DirectStorage. This public SDK release begins a new era of fast load times and detailed worlds in PC games by allowing developers to more fully utilise the speed of the latest storage devices”, Microsoft said in an official statement. 

The software development kit is compatible with both Windows 10 and 11, despite the latter being Microsoft’s “recommended path for gaming”. One noteworthy point is that games for this type of software have yet to be developed. However, one of the biggest titles that supports the technology, Forspoken, is due to release later this year.

Developers have been able to preview DirectStorge since July last year, so gamers can expect many more titles for 2022 and beyond.