Windows will get HDR support for games next year

Microsoft will integrate HDR support into preview versions of Windows 10 at the end of this year and the display capability will come to end users in 2017. The company is urging game developers to integrate HDR display into their games.

Microsoft announced the arrival of HDR playback for games in Windows 10 during the GDC in San Francisco, a presentation about DirectX 12 that DualShockers attended. The HDR adoption will go faster than with 4k, Microsoft expects, partly because the effect is impressive and users would immediately see the benefit. Because game developers will soon be able to distinguish the brightness of objects, gamers would be able to distinguish better whether it concerns the sun, a reflection or a glow. This would increase the degree of perceived realism.

OLED and laptop screens are still lagging behind in terms of maximum brightness, Microsoft thinks. For example, the brightness with those screen types is a maximum of 450cd/m2 this year, while that is already 1000cd/m2 with ultra-HD premium TVs with HDR support. By 2020, those values ​​should be 725 and 3000cd/m2, respectively.

The maximum brightness is then limited by screen manufacturers and not by Windows, the company emphasized at the presentation. The standard that Windows 10 will support sets the theoretical maximum at 10,000cd/m2. By 2025, a format with a maximum of 5 million cd/m2 could then be implemented.

This year developers can get started with HDR support: Microsoft recommends that they join the Windows Insider Program for preview access and buy a TV with HDR support.