Microsoft has brought arguably the most exciting feature from the Xbox Series S/X -- DirectStorage API -- to Windows PCs, by making it available for developers to begin implementing it on their PC games. This has the potential to fundamentally revolutionize the way PC games are loaded, and made. On fast enough SSDs, this could make it unnecessary for loading screens in any supporting game, and can even allow for content to load faster from system storage, ending awful pop-in effects, and potentially expanding draw distance for open world games extensively.
DirectStorage effectively lets high-speed NVMe SSDs utilize the full capabilities of their storage, rather than be restricted by the CPU or game engine, resulting in performance that is barely faster than a SATA SSD. In the future, this will get even better, with DirectStorage allowing GPUs to handle decompression of textures and other assets that need to be loaded into the game.
Microsoft hasn't revealed the names of the developers or games which will use this technology, but since it has been implemented so well in the Unreal Engine 5, it should see expanded use quite quickly throughout the PC space.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 will both support DirectStorage, but it will likely have the best performance on Windows 11.
Look out for Microsoft to talk more about this in detail at Game Developers Conference on March 22.
