DirectStorage is released by Microsoft, ushering in a new era of rapid load times and detailed worlds in PC games

Microsoft said 18 months ago that one of the most significant breakthroughs in its new Xbox Series X console would be coming to PC – the ability to transport massive amounts of data directly from a blazing fast NVMe solid-state drive to your GPU, rather than decompressing it first. The so-called “DirectStorage API” would enable games to load more detailed worlds at a faster rate than previously possible.

Microsoft has now announced the availability of the DirectStorage API. “Beginning today, Windows games can include DirectStorage support. This public SDK release ushers in a new era of fast load times and vivid environments in PC games by enabling developers to take full advantage of the performance of the latest storage devices,” the business writes on its blog.

 

 

However, before you run out to locate a game that takes full advantage of your fast NVMe 4.0 stick drive and compatible motherboard, you should be aware that the titles are not yet available. While developers have had access to the technology since July, today is simply the tip of the iceberg for those who may dig in. Indeed, the true kickoff may not occur until March 23rd at the Game Developers Conference, when AMD and developer Luminous Productions will demonstrate how they integrated DirectStorage into Forspoken, one of the first showcase games for the technology. By the way, you won’t be able to experience Forspoken until October 11th, as the game was only postponed last week.

You may also have some reasonable doubts that developers will fully exploit NVMe storage anytime soon, given that many PC gamers have yet to upgrade to fast NVMe SSDs and that games that promoted SSDs, such as Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on the PS5, were found to be underutilizing their capabilities. (Indeed, the Steam Deck implies that some game developers may continue to target UHS-I microSD cards with reading speeds of less than 100MB/sec, rather than the 4,000-7,000MB/sec of a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.)

Still, if Windows games can theoretically perform the same SSD tricks as the PS5 and Xbox Series X, that’s one less component of the PC sapping the potential of next-gen gaming — and we’re eager for that largely unfulfilled promise to be realized.