How Microsoft’s DirectStorage API Will Impact PC Games

Microsoft announced it has released the DirectStorage API to game developers, but how will this affect PC games?

Microsoft’s DirectStorage brings IO technology advancements to PC games that are available on Windows 10 and 11.

Announced on March 14th, 2022, Microsoft confirmed Windows games can ship with DirectStorage, leveraging NVMe SSD’s high bandwidth capability to reduce loading times and generate more detailed and expansive games.

What Is Microsoft’s DirectStorage?

Microsoft’s DirectStorage API enables developers of Windows games to use faster storage devices, like NVMe technologies, to reduce bottlenecks. Microsoft announces in its DirectX Developer Blog:

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.

This API is part of the DirectX family, designed for the Xbox Series X’s Velocity Architecture. This technology allowed Microsoft to implement the Quick Resume feature into the Series X.

With the GPU interacting with the SSD, games stay in a pause-like state, allowing players to resume their gameplay from where they left off, without time-consuming loading screens and menus.

Although DirectStorage will be able to support older hardware like HDDs, faster IO requests and data transfers will hugely benefit from using an NVMe SSD.

Microsoft also said that DirectStorage would be available for Windows 10, but it would be optimized for Windows 11, so it might be worth considering an upgrade sooner rather than later.

What Does This Mean for Gamers?

Windows PC gamers who have a compatible motherboard and NVMe M.2 SSD will be able to play DirectStorage games when they are released.

In its September 2020 DirectX Developer Blog, Microsoft said:

There are two primary areas this new API is going to improve: reducing frustratingly long load times of the past and enabling games to be more detailed and expansive than ever.

While it’s not completely clear the effect the DirectStorage API will have on PC games, users can expect faster texture decompression and loading times thanks to fewer steps between the game’s IO request and interaction with NVMe storage.

Considering what Microsoft has been able to do with the Xbox Series X, which is somewhat limited by its default hardware, PC games should be able to make the leap that’s necessary to truly set them apart from next-gen game consoles.

Look Forward to High-Performance Gaming

Releasing DirectStorage as an API means this technology is available to the entire PC gaming industry. Developers can take advantage of this to release high-performance games that could easily bypass the competition.

Although there are no games released with Microsoft’s DirectStorage just yet, it’s expected users will see supported titles later in 2022 and early 2023.

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