Microsoft launches its DirectStorage API for game developers

The DirectStorage API has optimized SSD NVMe accesses. It means that the loading time would be faster. Until now, you could perform only a single in/out access in games in one go. Although it didn't pose any problems for hard drives, today's PCs mainly consist of SSDs that can transfer GBs/sec with thousands of in/out accesses in a second (IOPS). It meant that gamers required a better technique and method. Now Microsoft launches its DirectStorage for the developers.

The DirectStorage allows NVMe SSDs to perform to their maximum by simultaneously allowing many I/O operations. It has improved efficiency by allowing assets to transfer to the GPU directly.

The assets in games are mostly compressed. It, in turn, means that you need to access the CPU beforehand. DirectStorage allows support for the compression of GPU files and tasks for decompression. It is what the memory and processing power of the GPU is made for.


Upon combining, DirectStorage will provide quicker level transition times and loading of games. It will also offer textures in excess and lesser pop-ups in games. Well, thank you for that one! It is a bit surprising that Microsoft did not reveal any games using this tech. We can, however, indeed say that Xbox games or Microsoft Studios would be the first ones to use it. Developers would require dedicated resources, and the fact that no games have yet been announced, it might take a while to launch for PCs for the general public.

Microsoft recommends using Windows 11 for best results, but DirectStorage would also be available for Windows 10. Microsoft plans to explain more about this latest tech in its conference on March 22.

Before this, Nvidia had spoken of RTX IO technology and launched it to be built on top of DirectStorage. They had also claimed a lot of similar tech advancements, such as Microsoft!

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