New Windows 10 Creators Update gaming features arrive this week for Windows Insiders

It’s a big update week for PC and Xbox One gamers who are part of the Xbox and Windows Insider Programs. Starting this week,* these gamers will see and experience new features from the Windows 10 Creators Update on PC, with additional features expected to hit console in the coming days. Earlier this week, select Insider members saw new features such as the updated Home, Guide and refreshed multitasking for Xbox One.

Here’s a look at what’s new for select Windows Insiders starting this week:

Built-in Beam streaming

Beam is the easiest and quickest way to stream gameplay, and it’s part of Insider builds starting later this week on your Windows 10 PC, with Xbox One functionality releasing to preview soon. For the creators out there, we wanted to make it easier for you to start your live game streams without any delays so you can quickly connect and engage with your viewers no matter where they are. On Beam, streams have under one second of delay; using our brand new streaming protocol dubbed “FTL”, you can interact with livestreams as if you were in the same room as the caster. What’s more, any stream can incorporate simple interactive features such as sound boards. Starting later this week on Windows 10 PCs, you can start Beam broadcasts by pulling up the Game bar — Windows key + G. And coming soon on Xbox One, you can also begin streaming directly from inside the Guide. The ability to manage your Beam broadcasts and interact with fellow gamers on chat will appear as overlays.

Gaming section in System Settings

Later this week, inside the main Windows System Settings, a new section is being added: Gaming, identified with the Xbox logo. Starting later this week, you’ll find settings for Game bar, GameDVR and broadcasting in this new Gaming area, with Game Mode coming in a future update. We’re also beginning to consolidate some system and user settings for gaming in this unified location, where PC users are accustomed to accessing their settings. We’ll continue to develop and deploy Gaming settings over time, as we continue to gather gamer feedback.

Game Mode

Last year, we set out to make Windows 10 the best Windows ever for gaming. With Game Mode, it’s our goal to now take things a step further to make the gaming experience on Windows even better. Our vision is that Game Mode optimizes your Windows 10 PC for an improvement in overall game performance. This week’s Windows Insider build represents the first step on our journey with Game Mode. To enable Game Mode for your Win32 or UWP game, pull up the Game bar (Windows key + G) and click on the Settings button. There you’ll be able to opt the running game into using Game Mode. We’ll have additional details about Game Mode to share throughout Insider testing, so stay tuned.

To read more about what’s next for gamers on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, head over to Xbox Wire!