Windows 10's new Game Mode to boost PC game performance

Microsoft is apparently working on a new Windows 10 'game mode' that's designed to optimize the performance of PC games on a system-wide hardware and OS level.

According to Windows Central, the new Windows 10 'game mode' will "enhance the PC gaming experience by minimizing resources used by running apps to almost nothing and allocating freed up resources to the game, making it run faster, better and smoother overall."

We're not sure if Game Mode will be available across all PC games, or if it'll be an exclusive feature of Microsoft's UWP Windows Store PC games--likely the latter, as Microsoft is keen on pulling more gamers to its unified framework, and this will be a pretty hefty incentive if it's done right.

The new feature was found by Twitter user Walking Cat, who uncovered a new "gamemode.dll" file in the leaked Windows 10 Creator's Update (build 14997). Walking Cat says that game mode allows "Windows to adjust its resource allocation logic (for CPU/GFX, etc) to prioritize the game while running in game mode."

Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the game mode, but it has revealed other key features of Windows 10's Creator's Update including the new policy of bundling driver updates with all Windows Store games.

The Creator's Update is expected to drop in 2017, and we should see more info on game mode when the Win10 Creator's Update Insider Preview goes live.