For decades, Windows has established itself as the cornerstone of PC gaming, offering an open and flexible platform designed with players in mind. From the nostalgic days of classics like Diablo to the modern, immersive experiences enhanced by DirectX and AI-driven graphics, Windows has consistently collaborated with developers, creators, OEMs, and silicon innovators to propel both hardware and software innovations. This ongoing partnership continues to unveil new avenues for gaming, whether on robust desktops or specialized handheld devices.
In 2025, Windows 11 gaming evolved, becoming faster, more portable, and visually captivating. The introduction of the purpose-built handheld experience with the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, along with expanded gaming capabilities for Windows-powered Arm laptops, marked significant milestones. Additionally, advancements in DirectX led to a remarkable boost in ray tracing performance, achieving up to 2.3× improvements on supported hardware, and paving the way for neural rendering.
Our commitment remains steadfast: to make Windows the premier destination for gaming, regardless of where players choose to engage. Below, we delve into the innovations that have defined this year.
Handheld Innovation
The synergy of Windows, Xbox, and strategic partnerships with ASUS and AMD has birthed the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, both powered by AMD Ryzen Z2 Series processors. This collaboration has redefined handheld gaming, emphasizing performance, power efficiency, input latency, and seamless access to games. Many of this year’s innovations are a direct result of these efforts.
Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) for Handhelds
Launching alongside the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, the Xbox Full Screen Experience offers a controller-first, optimized gaming interface. This console-like environment centers around the games, minimizing background activity and deferring non-essential tasks. The outcome is smoother frame pacing and consistent performance, particularly when every watt matters. Currently, FSE is available on the ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X, and other Windows 11 handhelds.
Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD)
For gamers, the thrill of diving into a new title is unparalleled. Advanced Shader Delivery on the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds accelerates this experience by providing precompiled shaders at installation, significantly reducing wait times and stuttering during initial game launches. The statistics are compelling: in Avowed, first-run load times plummeted by over 80%, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 saw a staggering reduction of over 95%. Numerous titles on the Xbox PC app now support ASD, with more on the horizon, thanks to the collaboration between AMD and Microsoft.
System-Level Performance
The ROG Xbox Ally has driven us to enhance console-style performance on Windows 11, prioritizing responsiveness across the system in collaboration with game developers. Key improvements in 2025 included:
- Tuned power management and CPU frequency profiles for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, enhancing efficiency without compromising performance.
- More efficient unified memory behavior on Ryzen APUs, leading to reduced frame-time variance and memory contention.
- Lower CPU overhead across controller input, RGB lighting services, graphics drivers, and background processes.
These enhancements, developed in partnership with AMD and ASUS, have not only benefited handheld devices but have also positively impacted the broader Windows ecosystem.
Windows on Arm
In 2025, our focus shifted towards establishing a more diverse Windows gaming experience on Arm. This included enabling local game installations through the Xbox PC app, enhancing compatibility and performance in the Prism emulator, and delivering native anti-cheat solutions from partners such as Easy Anti-Cheat.
Local Gameplay with Xbox PC App (Insiders)
In August, we empowered Windows Insiders on Arm devices to download and play supported titles directly from the Xbox PC app, encompassing a majority of games available in Xbox Game Pass. This advancement allows for local play across a broader range of titles without relying on cloud streaming.
Expanded Prism Compatibility
The Prism emulator, which facilitates x86/x64 software on Arm, now supports AVX and AVX2 extensions to the x86 instruction set. Given that modern games increasingly depend on these extensions, this expansion significantly enhances both compatibility and performance for emulated games.
Native Anti-Cheat Support
Anti-cheat mechanisms have historically posed challenges for competitive gaming on Arm. This year, Easy Anti-Cheat introduced Windows on Arm support through a collaboration involving Epic, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Microsoft, joining the ranks of BattlEye, Denuvo, and XIGNCODE3. A variety of widely used anti-cheat systems now support Arm, including Fortnite.
These anti-cheat solutions, applicable across both Arm and x64 platforms, are fortified by Windows security features such as Virtualization-Based Security (VBS), Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and remote attestation. These measures establish a hardware-rooted, verifiable trusted state, ensuring that leading titles leverage these protections to maintain fair competition across the Windows ecosystem.
DirectX and Audio Leadership
For over thirty years, DirectX has been the backbone of PC gaming. The year 2025 marked a significant milestone, celebrating 25 years since DirectX 8 introduced programmable shaders and a decade since DirectX 12 enabled low-level GPU control. This year, we unveiled new capabilities that enhance ray tracing and lay the groundwork for the future of neural rendering, while also advancing Windows’ leadership in gaming audio, from spatial sound to next-generation wireless technology.
DirectX Raytracing 1.2 (DXR 1.2)
DXR 1.2 introduced two pivotal features:
- Opacity Micromaps accelerate ray traversal through alpha-tested geometry, such as foliage and fences.
- Shader Execution Reordering enables the GPU to regroup similar rays for improved coherence and utilization.
On compatible hardware, these features can yield up to 2.3× performance gains in supported scenarios, making advanced ray tracing more feasible in real-world applications.
Neural Rendering (Preview)
We are laying the groundwork for integrating efficient machine learning models directly into the rendering pipeline, facilitating tasks such as denoising, upscaling, and material enhancement. These capabilities are currently available in preview through cooperative vectors in Shader Model 6.9, with plans to expand toward a broader linear algebra feature set to reach a wider audience in the future.
Bluetooth LE Audio
Since incorporating support for the modern LE Audio standard into Windows 11 in 2023, we have enhanced audio quality and accessibility for gamers.
- Lower-latency audio minimizes the delay between on-screen action and audio feedback compared to Bluetooth Classic A2DP audio, ensuring that players can hear crucial cues and react in real time.
What’s Next for PC Gaming with Windows 11
The enhancements and innovations introduced this year are shaping the future of gaming. We are dedicated to creating experiences that empower players to enjoy their favorite games with whom they choose, wherever they are—and we are eager to unveil even more in the upcoming year.
Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) for Windows 11 Form Factors, Available in Preview Today
Initially launched on handhelds, FSE is now expanding to encompass a wider array of Windows devices. Currently available in preview, Windows and Xbox Insiders can experience it on Windows 11 PCs, including desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1s. This experience offers a controller-first interface for navigation, intuitive game launching, and minimized distractions, creating a gaming-centric full-screen environment where players can effortlessly browse and launch titles from their game library, including popular PC storefronts. We eagerly await your feedback.
Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) Expansion
ASD preloads game shaders during download, allowing select titles to launch more swiftly, run more smoothly, and consume less battery during initial play. We are actively working to extend ASD support to additional games on the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, and we have commenced early integration efforts to accommodate further hardware and storefronts.
Auto Super Resolution (Auto SR) Preview
Auto SR represents our OS-level AI upscaling feature, delivering enhanced visuals and smoother framerates in DirectX games running at lower resolutions, all without requiring developer intervention. Initially launched on Copilot+ PCs equipped with Snapdragon X processors, we plan to offer a public preview on the ROG Xbox Ally X, powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI NPU, in early 2026.
Performance Fundamentals
Our commitment to making Windows the optimal platform for gaming remains unwavering. We will continue refining system behaviors that are crucial to gaming, including background workload management, power and scheduling enhancements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers.
Explore What’s Next
Stay updated with the latest Windows 11 build, join the Windows and Xbox Insider programs for early access to the full-screen experience on PC, and look out for ASD-enabled games that promise faster first-run load times. Auto SR will debut on the ROG Xbox Ally X early next year. For those attending GDC in March, keep an eye on the schedule—we look forward to sharing more as we continue to shape the future of PC gaming.
