Microsoft rolls out Advanced Shader Delivery to everyone on Windows 11
Microsoft has ended the testing phase and opened Advanced Shader Delivery to all users of the Xbox app on Windows 11. The feature promises to cut loading times and eliminate stutters caused by real-time shader compilation – a chronic problem in PC games for years.
What changes in practice
The idea is simple: instead of compiling shaders the first time a game runs, the system downloads pre-compiled versions along with the title’s download. The result is immediate. Microsoft used Forza Horizon 6 as its central example: with pre-compiled shaders, the game loads in four seconds. Without them, the wait stretches past a minute and a half. It’s an absurd difference.
AMD also moved in parallel. The manufacturer announced the expansion of support for the feature to all GPUs of the RDNA architecture, including the first generation, launched in 2019. This considerably broadens the base of players who can take advantage of the functionality.
The compatible catalog is already extensive
The list of supported games at launch is not small. Among the confirmed titles are Forza Horizon 5, Forza Motorsport, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Final Fantasy XVI, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, in addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Hades 2, Avowed, South of Midnight and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remaster, among others.
Some titles on the list haven’t been released yet – cases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Grounded 2, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Silent Hill f – which indicates that Microsoft is already integrating the feature into the pipeline of new releases, and not just legacy games.
Who really benefits right now
For now, the most direct impact is for those who use Game Pass or play titles with Xbox Play Anywhere support. It makes sense: these are exactly the players who go through the Xbox app on PC to download and run games. The integration is native, with no extra configuration.
Shader-compilation stutter has become synonymous with a poor PC experience in recent years. Titles like The Last of Us Part I became a symbol of the problem when they arrived on Windows. With this move, Microsoft is trying to deliver an experience closer to the console – where the problem simply doesn’t exist in the same way. If it works at scale, it changes the standard of what PC gamers expect from a launch.
