Microsoft has announced that a range of new gaming-focused features are now available for its Edge browser. These features were announced just a few weeks ago, but they’re now available to those using the stable release of Edge, aligning with the launch of Edge version 103 this week.
One of the new features is the new gaming homepage, which is essentially a new section in the default New Tab page in the browser. Switching to the gaming homepage means you’ll be able to see information about your recently-played games, ongoing competitions, and games being streamed live at that time. You can also see recent and upcoming game releases, plus general gaming news, and other information.
If you’re using Xbox cloud gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can also enjoy the new Clarity Boost feature that’s exclusive to Microsoft Edge. This improves the visual quality of games you play through the cloud, thanks to some scaling improvements applied in real-time. This should help bring the experience a bit closer to playing on an actual console. You can enable Clarity Boost using the … menu in the top-left corner of the game itself (not the browser window).
Next up, there’s a new capability in efficiency mode. This is a feature that already exists, and it allows you to set Edge to use fewer resources when possible. Now, there’s an option to reduce resource usage when you’re playing a PC game, so the impact on performance is minimal and you can enjoy your games without having to exit the browser entirely.
Finally, for the more casual gamers, there’s a new Games menu, which lets you quickly access the Microsoft suite of PC games like Solitaire, Minesweeper, and others. This menu was actually already available through the Edge sidebar, but you can now access it directly through the Edge menu.
In order to get these gaming features, you’ll want to update your version of Microsoft Edge to 103. To do this, simply open the Edge menu (the ellipsis icon near the top-right corner) then go to Help & feedback and then About Microsoft Edge to check for updates. The update will also install automatically sooner or later.