Corden recently noted that to properly accommodate the Windows 11 “Full Screen Experience” and Xbox PC app, there will reportedly be “major updates” to the latter. You’ll still be able to run Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S titles, which also means support for one’s existing library, while accessing Steam, Battle.net, and so on.

This transition to a more unified platform has been the crux of Microsoft’s marketing strategy as of late, particularly with the “This is an Xbox” campaign. However, the next Xbox could be on the expensive side, not only because of Xbox president Sarah Bond promising a “very premium, very high-end” device but because of escalating RAM costs. Recent rumors even claimed that we could see it and the PlayStation 6 delayed past their rumored 2027/2028 release windows.

That’s not even getting into further price increases for the Xbox Series X/S and PS5. If Microsoft’s plans are indeed pushed forward, it will certainly have enough time to convince developers of its new PC-focused strategy.

While the hosts largely discuss the recent issues with the operating system, Alex Battaglia goes into quite a bit of detail about how gaming performance has been impacted for Windows 11 users. He also noted that the silent nature of the update happening automatically in the background added even more to users’ frustration.

Along with this, Battaglia also spoke about how the performance issues had largely gone unnoticed by many until Nvidia released a driver hotfix for its graphics cards that acknowledged the lower performance on Windows 11 and aimed to fix it. Interestingly the performance issues are most visible in a few games, including Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

“That KB patch silently destroyed performance in at least two games,” said Battaglia. “The one I tested for this segment is Assassin’s Creed [Shadows]. I loaded it up and I was like ‘oh this runs like ****.’ And I knew that something was wrong. So I double checked, and after having installed the hotfix driver you can see how big of an issue this is.” He follows this up by showing side-by-side video comparisons of the title’s performance before and after the hotfix driver’s installation.

Before Nvidia’s hotfix was applied, running Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the Windows 11 update in question with overpowered hardware – an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU – and visuals set to 4K and the max preset and DLSS set to Quality resulted in an average frame rate of around 34 FPS. After the hotfix driver, the frame rate went all the way up to 71 FPS, which is noted as being a performance boost of around 206 percent.

When it comes to just how this Windows 11 patch was released, Battaglia noted that there might be a few reasons, such as there being some sort of issue with how Nvidia’s graphics cards tap into the DirectX APIs. However, he said that Microsoft shouldn’t be releasing a stealthy operating system update that breaks things. Rather, the company should be telling Nvidia that there is a problem.

“If it wasn’t an Nvidia [DirectX] conformity issue, this means Microsoft is releasing patches to Windows that [the company] is not sure what [the patch] is doing,“ said Battaglia. “It is silently killing performance in games, and you are left with the user, or Nvidia after the fact, or AMD or Intel, having to figure this out via their own testing regimens. Hence why, more than a month later, we see an update here from Nvidia.”

“The timing is just really bizarre, and I don’t think it paints a really good picture here of how Microsoft stewards the operating system, regardless of who, at the end of the day, is responsible for the actual issue occurring. Because they’re the one updating their operating system, and maybe you should delay that patch until Nvidia actually has proper support for it in a driver to fix the conformity issue.”

Battaglia also spoke about future plans considering the current downward trajectory of Windows 11, and how maybe he will start investigating a move to Linux for his PC gaming needs instead.

Asus’ handheld, internally codenamed Kennan, is still planned for release later this year. Microsoft has seemingly decided to prioritise handhelds made by third-party hardware companies for the time being. These handhelds will still be considered Xbox systems owing to extra button, which will act as the Xbox Guide button we see on modern Xbox controllers.

As for the company’s own handheld, according to the report, it has decided to focus its teams on instead improving the gaming performance for Windows 11 instead. These improvements will likely end up affecting desktop users as well, but the priority seems to be to improve the operating system’s compatibility, performance, and power consumption for handheld systems, like Asus’ Kennan handheld.

The decision by Microsoft likely comes in the wake of Valve recently releasing its Linux-based SteamOS operating system for more handheld systems, essentially boasting compatibility with a wide variety of handhelds, like Lenovo’s Legion Go S. SteamOS has also been reported as offering better gaming performance as well as improved battery life when compared to Windows 11 on the same hardware.

It is also worth noting that, as an operating system, Windows has offered a notoriously sub-par experience for devices that rely heavily on power management, such as gaming laptops and handheld system, for quite some years now. One of the operating system’s key weaknesses – the lack of a consistent way to put the device to sleep mid-game and wake it up to continue playing – has been touted as one of the key strengths of devices like the Steam Deck.

According to Windows Central, the development teams working on improving the gaming experience on Windows 11 will be focusing on overall improvements between the operating system and handheld gaming systems. The improvements born of this maneuver will also likely end up paying dividends for Microsoft for when it ultimately does decide to enter the handheld gaming market with its own device.

As for Kennan, photos of the system were leaked through the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Going by the photos, Kennan is quite likely based on Asus’ own ROG Ally line-up. It does, however, sport an extra button between the left analogue stick and the display, which is likely the Xbox Guide button. The system also seemingly features grips on both sides similar to what we see in standard controllers.

The system is speculated to run on an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip with a TDP of 36 W, and LPDDR5-8533 memory that is likely shared between the main processor and the GPU present on the chip.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously acknowledged that Xbox should have its own gaming handheld, but has also noted that such hardware would still be a few years away for the company.

Ronald spoke about Microsoft wanting to tie in the gaming experiences on Xbox and Windows more closely. It certainly helps that the operating system on Xbox consoles is already built on top of Windows, which gives the company a leg up in its efforts at streamlining handheld gaming on Windows.

“I would say it’s bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together, because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it’s really locked to the console,” Ronald said. “What we’re doing is we’re really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem.”

One of the key ways Microsoft wants handheld gaming on Windows to be more intuitive and simple is by making the experience closer to that of console gaming and simplifying the interface.

“We’re focused on really simplifying that and making it much more like a console experience,” he explained. “Our goal is to put the player and their library at the center of the experience and not all the [Windows] work that you have to do today.”

It is worth noting that Microsoft has been actively updating Windows and the Xbox app to make the interface simpler to use. Ronald refers to these as investments that users are starting to see already. More will be revealed later this year, however.

“I think it’s going to be a journey and I think you’ll see a lot of investments over time that you’re starting to see already, but we’ll have a lot more to share later this year,” said Ronald.

Unlike Valve’s approach to its operating system, however, Microsoft isn’t looking to hide away the core Windows functionality. According to Ronald, the goal is to make gaming in Windows in general a better experience, regardless of the hardware it is running on.

“I think, at the end of the day, our goal is to make Windows great for gaming on any device,” he said. “The reality is the Xbox operating system is built on top of Windows. So there’s a lot of infrastructure that we built in the console space that we can bring to the PC space and really deliver that premium gaming experience on any device.”

However, the company is still working on changing the interface in a way where it will feel like a gaming system rather than a full-fledged desktop when it comes to trying to use it with analogue sticks. Windows, on its own, requires its users to have a keyboard and mouse or touchscreen available, for example, making navigation through the OS difficult on systems that might be lacking in those things.

“There’s fundamental interaction models that we’re working on to make sure that regardless of the operating system details it feels very natively like a gaming-centric device and a gaming-centric experience,” said Ronald.

Microsoft has stated in the past that it wants to make handheld gaming on Windows better, with potential additions like Quick Resume, and an improved Windows UI. Since the release of the Steam Deck, the space has seen several competitors to Valve, including Asus with the ROG Ally, MSI with the Claw, and Lenovo with the Legion Go.

Valve itself also recently announced that SteamOS wouldn’t be limited to just the Steam Deck anymore, announcing a partnership with Lenovo for the new Legion Go S.

Ubisoft titles have been uniquely affected by Windows 11 24H2, with even Microsoft acknowledging the issue and stopping the update from being released for Windows 11 users. Affected Ubisoft titles include Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

The 24H2 update for Windows 11 was originally rolled out back in November, with many other titles getting significant performance upgrades thanks to the update working particularly well with some of AMD’s processors. Ubisoft titles, however, seem to be facing compatibility issues with the update.

At the time of writing, the overall review aggregate for Assassin’s Creed Origins on Steam sits at “Very Positive”, with the recent reviews aggregate having fallen down to “Mixed”.

“It’s been pushing us on the platform side of things,” Sones said. “You know, how do we think about the idea of you start on your PC, and then you just want to take [the ROG Ally] with you, and you want to pick up where you left off, and you want to be immediately ready to go.”

The lack of a Quick Resume feature has been one of the complaints in quite a few early reviews of the Asus ROG Ally, as a handheld can make good use of a feature that can allow players to quickly suspend a game and resume it later with the press of a single button.

While such a feature is currently not available in Windows 11, Microsoft has been reportedly experimenting with bringing such features to the operating system. Back in April, a video from a Microsoft hackathon that took place back in September 2022 revealed a developer presenting an idea for a gaming-centric interface for the operating system on Steam Deck.

While Microsoft itself hasn’t made any real announcements, the fact that it is pushing for Xbox Game Pass with the Asus ROG Ally quite heavily could be an indication that we might see a few updates made to Windows 11 to bring some handheld gaming features down the line.

The video reveals some of the major problems with running Windows 11 on a platform like the Steam Deck, highlighting various aspects like the lack of proper controller support in the Windows UI, and the on-screen keyboard not being suitable for devices with smaller display sizes.

A prototype UI developed by Microsoft senior UX designer Dorothy Feng is shown off, featuring a launcher that can open games from a variety of different digital distribution platforms, including Steam, PC Game Pass, EA Play, and Epic Games Store.

While the presence of the prototype is by no means official confirmation that Microsoft might be working on bringing Windows 11 to the Steam Deck and other handheld gaming PCs, the presence of the prototype indicates that there is at least some level of interest at Microsoft in making Windows more accessible on handheld platforms.

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— WalkingCat (@_h0x0d_) April 13, 2023

Microsoft also announced it’s bringing the Xbox Cloud Gaming beta to Argentina and New Zealand. Along with playing Game Pass titles via the cloud on Apple and Android devices, Windows PCs, Xbox platforms and Samsung Smart TVs, Fortnite will also be accessible without a subscription.

Windows 11 is also getting some updates for gaming like optimization for windowed games to improve latency, auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rate (which the Windows Insider program is currently testing). An HDR calibration app for improved accuracy and a Game Pass widget to discover games are also coming. There will also be a Controller Bar for game launcher shortcuts, recent games played, accessing cloud games without a mouse and keyboard, and more.

Finally, Microsoft Edge is receiving some Xbox Cloud Gaming integration like a new personalized home page for gaming; built-in Clarity Boost when playing cloud titles in the browser; Efficiency Mode for improved performance on Windows 10/11 while ensuring reduced resource usage by the browser; and more. Stay tuned for more details when these features go live.

Microsoft has now launched the DirectStorage API for developers. As announced in an official blog post, a public SDK (Software Development Kit) is now available for all developers to integrate this technology into their games. While DirectStorage API is also supported on Windows 10, Microsoft recommends players to upgrade to Windows 11 (which is free) to make the best use of this technology.

Of course, fans will still have to wait a bit before the technology starts popping up in modern AAA games. Luminous Productions’ upcoming Forspoken is one of the very first games confirmed to be supporting DirectStorage API – read more on that through here.

As reported by PCGamer, users with older than 8th gen Intel CPUs or Ryzen 2000 series will not be able to run the operating system as intended. This is obviously enough, higher than Windows 11 by a quite a bit, which has now become of cause of concern online. Users falling under the minimum requirements have been also been receiving warning messages to install Windows 10 instead.

Windows 11 will be available as a free upgrade for all users of Windows 10 – that meet the system requirements, of course. There’s been a number of both major and minor changes to the experience which we have listed down in a recent feature – read more on that through here.