Microsoft brings new Xbox, PC gaming performance features to Edge

SAN FRANCISCO: Tech giant Microsoft is making its Edge browser a little more gamer-friendly as it is adding new Xbox and PC gaming performance features to the web page.

Apart from a new gaming-focused homepage and casual games integration, the web browser is also getting a Clarity Boost to improve Xbox Cloud Gaming streams and an efficiency mode to prevent Edge from taking PC resources when a game is being played, reports The Verge.

The new efficiency mode is the most interesting addition for PC gamers. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 users will be able to benefit from enabling this efficiency mode in Edge, and it will stop the browser from taking resources when a game is opened.

“With this feature, you do not need to close the browser to play and reopen it when you are done,” Liat Ben-Zur, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s consumer services and software products, was quoted as saying.

“As soon as you close the game, Microsoft Edge will exit Efficiency mode and get you right back to where you left off,” Ben-Zur added.

Microsoft is also adding a Clarity Boost feature for Xbox Cloud Gaming. It is a spatial upscaling feature designed to make Xbox streamed games much clearer and sharper.

The tech giant has also created a gaming homepage for Edge, which includes gaming news, live streams, Xbox content, and quick access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

All of Microsoft’s new gaming features are now available in the latest version of Edge, version 103.