What's New in Microsoft Game Development Tools and Services

Announcing the Handheld Compatibility Program 

At Xbox, we believe great games should play great—no matter where you are. That’s why we’re excited to introduce the Handheld Compatibility Program, designed by Xbox to make more of your games ready to play on supported Windows handhelds.

The Handheld Compatibility Program is a new initiative that evaluates how PC games will scale to a handheld.  This includes:

• Handheld Compatibility: Focuses on how well your game supports the handheld form factor—covering controller input, iconography, text input, display resolution, and legibility.

• Windows Performance Fit: Uses real-world data to assess how well your game performs on your specific device, based on framerate benchmarks across similar hardware.

You can find an overview of the program here: Introducing Handheld Compatibility, and program guidelines and test cases here: Handheld Compatibility program guidelines and test cases - Microsoft Game Development Kit | Microsoft Learn.

Windows Handheld Best Practices Samples 

We have created samples to provide examples and education material that builds on our checklist for games on Windows handhelds. These samples provide best practices and code examples that can be integrated into your games when considering Windows gaming handheld scenarios.

More info: New Windows Gaming Handheld Code Samples Released

To acquire these samples, please see:

• Native C++ Sample: https://aka.ms/hhexpsample

• Unity Managed C# Sample: https://aka.ms/hhexpsample_unity

Advanced Shader Delivery Debuts on the New ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X 

Advanced shader delivery addresses one of the most frustrating challenges for PC gamers today – long load times and disruptive stuttering during a game’s first launch. These delays are caused by the need to compile graphics shaders and cache them for future use. Our initial launch of advanced shader delivery requires no work from game studios to integrate. 

Learn more here: Introducing Advanced Shader Delivery - DirectX Developer Blog

AgilitySDK 1.618 Release: 
We have also introduced the first set of tools that enable you to start integrating advanced shader delivery into your titles. These tools are the foundation for solving shader compilation stutter and improving load times, especially for handheld devices like the ROG Xbox Ally.

Learn more here: Agility SDK 1.618: Advanced Shader Delivery and 1.716 out of preview - DirectX Developer Blog

Balancing Performance and Power Efficiency

As a platform, Xbox has evolved to bring players from consoles to every screen – Xbox on PC, Smart TVs, streaming devices, mobile devices, and web browsers. This includes millions of gaming devices powered by batteries. We are dedicated to minimizing the environmental impact of gaming, aligning with our core values and commitment to both our players and the broader industry. With an expansive global gaming community of over 3.1 billion, Microsoft and game developers are uniquely positioned to spearhead meaningful environmental progress.   

For more information: Windows Gaming Handhelds: Balancing Performance and Power Efficiency
 

Microsoft GDK Templates

We have released new Visual Studio 2022 Templates for Windows desktop and handheld using DirectX 12 and Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK) via the vc Package Manager (vcpkg). These project templates make it significantly easier to get started developing for the GDK.  Now you can build a GDK game without having to install the GDK at all.

Download here: Microsoft GDK Templates - Visual Studio Marketplace

GDK 2504 QFE Launched

We released the April 2025 GDK Update 3, which includes multiple fixes across PIX, audio, graphics, and networking.

The release notes can be found on the Xbox Developer forums here: April 2025 Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK) release notes (Update 3) - Developer Forums or on GitHub here: Release April 2025 GDK Update 3

DirectStorage 1.3 is now available

This update includes a new API and several refinements based on your feedback. The package is now available for download via NuGet here: NuGet Gallery | Microsoft.Direct3D.DirectStorage 1.3.0. 

Learn more about what’s new with DirectStorage 1.3 here: DirectStorage 1.3 is now available - DirectX Developer Blog

Optimize Games with the Simplygon Autumn Release

The autumn release of Simplygon brings you a host of new features, improvements, and bug fixes. 

Clustered meshlet optimizer 

Simplygon has added a new tool called Clustered Meshlet Optimizer. The tool takes an input PackedGeometryData object, splits it into meshlets of a set size, and iteratively merges, reduces, and splits these initial meshlets into a set of many levels of detail. Learn more here: Clustered Meshlet Optimizer | Simplygon 10.4.232.0

More improvements 

Some additional improvements include: 

• Improved high-density reducer with support for triangle count and triangle ratio as reduction target. 

• Better handling of normals in quad reducer and high-density reducer resulting in better output quality especially for shiny surfaces. 

• Unreal Engine 5.6 support and improvements to Simplygon subsystem API. 

• Unity 6.0 LTS support. 

For more detail on all these features, read What's new in Simplygon Autumn 2025. For more information about game optimization with Simplygon head over to the Simplygon website. 

GameInput PC v2.2 Adds Support for Haptics, Motion and More

This past March, we introduced GameInput v1.0 with a variety of improvements targeted to the PC space. Now, we are excited to discuss extensions and improvements we are bringing to the API to further represent the varied PC ecosystem.

This release brings support for:

• Advanced Haptics: The API can now represent haptics information for audio-driven devices, including audio endpoint and channel information.

• Motion: The API adds support for gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and orientation devices that enumerate via the Windows sensors stack. 

• WINE support: The new GameInput redistributable MSI and DLL can operate in Linux-based platforms via WINE-based emulation layers.

• Other assorted improvements: Support for Escape calls for FFB devices, background input support for all XInput devices, container ID information for GameInput devices, among many others.

Further, this GameInput release is ready to redistribute, and you can expect it to be packaged and redistributed with the next Gaming Runtime Services (GRTS) release.

Learn more here: GameInput PC v2.2 Adds Support for Haptics, Motion and More

Unity Now Supports the April 2025 GDK

For developers using Unity, you will now see support for the April 2025 GDX. It is updated in 2021.3, 2022.3, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2 & 6.3 versions of engine. Also, engine versions can now detect if a Unity game is running on handheld device.

Microsoft GDK Packages for Unity Update v1.4.5 Released

You will now find added support for GDK discovery, allowing for more flexible selection of which GDK is used with the project and within the Editor. We have also added support for using the GDK in “build without install” scenarios within Unity. We’ve also added improved GDK support for Play Mode, enabling you to test your Xbox integration features directly within the Editor.

Learn more here: Microsoft GDK API package | Microsoft GDK API | 1.4.5

GameMaker Studio 2 GDK Extension update v3.0.1 Released

The latest update to GameMaker Studio ports the new Microsoft GDK library functionality to GameMaker Studio.

Learn more here: GameMaker Studio v3.0.1
 

PlayFab Game Saves Public Preview

For more than a decade, Microsoft has set the standard for player progression and reliability with Xbox Game Saves, powering the gaming experiences enjoyed by millions worldwide across console, PC, and cloud. That industry-leading foundation is now the launchpad for our latest innovation: PlayFab Game Saves. Drawing on years of operational excellence and feedback from game creators and players, we’re excited to bring these capabilities to cross-platform developers through PlayFab, starting with support for the Xbox and Steam ecosystems. 

Learn more here: Introducing PlayFab Game Saves

To request access, select your title in PlayFab Game Manager, navigate to Progression | Game Saves (Preview) and join the waitlist. 

Review our documentation to begin to familiarize yourself with our approach.

PlayFab Update for Battle.net Login

PlayFab now supports native Battle.net player logins. With this update, your titles can leverage Battle.net logins to bring even more players to your game, joining the other platform-specific logins available within PlayFab.

Follow the LoginWithBattle.net tutorial guides: Set up Sign In with Battle.net for PlayFab - PlayFab

Additional details are available on the Battle.net developer portal (Battle.net developer account required).

Optional PlayStream and Telemetry Integrations for Leaderboards and Statistics

The new Leaderboards and Statistics services now have optional PlayStream and Telemetry events, allowing you to decide which level of real-time event is right for your games. Use PlayStream events for powerful real-time event ingestion and customizable actions, use Telemetry for analytics, or leave it off entirely to reduce the event volume for a title. 

This feature introduces new flexibility to support custom event-driven actions such as rewarding items or validating scores to check for cheaters. The opt-in also allows for a truly modular PlayFab experience, allowing you to decide whether to use PlayStream or Telemetry when you use PlayFab Leaderboards and Statistics.

For more information:

• Leaderboards with PlayStream and Telemetry - PlayFab

• Statistics with PlayStream and Telemetry - PlayFab

Rate Limits

PlayFab Game Manager now includes a dedicated view that displays a title’s API rate limits. With this update, developers can easily reference the maximum number of allowed API calls per product area, helping teams plan integrations and scale backend operations with confidence. This feature provides greater transparency into system thresholds, especially useful during development and live ops planning. Visit Game Manager and navigate to the new API Rate Limits page under Settings > Limits. Learn more about throttling in PlayFab here: Throttling in PlayFab - PlayFab | Microsoft Learn

Community Stats 

We’ve added Community Statistics to PlayFab, a feature that makes it easy for you to create shared player goals and real-time community progress without building custom data pipelines. With Community Statistics, you can aggregate individual player stats into title-level totals automatically, enable collaborative goals, and display real-time progress in your UI, LiveOps dashboards, and in-game messaging.

Integration is seamless as community stats work with existing player stat updates. There are no breaking SDK changes.

For details, please see our documentation here: Community Statistics - PlayFab

PlayFab “Delete Studio” Button Now Available 

We’ve added a new Delete Studio button to make it easier for studio admins to manage their PlayFab studios. With this update, studio admins can now initiate the deletion of their studio directly from the Studio Settings page.

For step-by-step instructions and important details on account management, including deleting a studio, please see our documentation here: Account Upgrades - PlayFab 
 

Announcing the Certification Fastlane Program

Xbox Certification has launched the Fastlane program, an expedited service offering as a paid option for partners. Managed partners can learn more here: Certification Paid Services Program.

Accessibility Feature Tags Hit a Major Milestone

We’re excited to share that we now have over 10,000 Accessibility Feature tags across titles in the Xbox storefronts, making it easier for players to find games that fit their accessibility needs. Every one of these tags has been validated by the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) team, ensuring accuracy and consistency so players can trust the information. And the impact is clear: after discovering a game through the Accessible in Games marketing channel, more than 10% of visitors go on to purchase that title. This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to empower every player to enjoy gaming their way.
 

Automated Character Optimization

In a new blog, Simplygon shares the four fundamental tools of building an automated character optimization pipeline. 

Learn more here: The Four Fundamental Simplygon Tools for Automated Character Optimization