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[LectureMaster]

Introducing Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview)—a seamless, full-featured in-game browser

88% of PC players use a browser while gaming to get help, track their progress, or even listen to music or chat with friends1. These actions require you to pull out your phone or Alt-Tab

blogs.windows.com

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88% of PC players use a browser while gaming to get help, track their progress, or even listen to music or chat with friends1. These actions require you to pull out your phone or Alt-Tab to the desktop on your PC, taking you out of your game. Unless you have multiple monitors, you also can’t see what’s happening in the game while you’re in the browser or reference a guide while you play.

We believe there’s a better way. Today, we’re excited to introduce Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview), the first in-game browser that delivers a rich gaming-centric browsing experience—including access to your browser data from your PC and mobile devices.

Game Assist is a special version of Microsoft Edge that’s optimized for PC gaming and can appear on top of your game in Game Bar. It’s game-aware and will suggest tips and guides for what you’re playing. It also shares the same browser data with Edge on your PC so the information you care about is always accessible while you play—including your favorites, history, cookies, form fills, and more. This means you don’t need to log into sites again, and it’s easy to get to what you care about. You can even quickly access your favorite services like Discord, Twitch, Spotify, or any other page or site in the sidebar. And, like other Game Bar widgets, you can pin Game Assist above your game so you can reference a guide or watch a video while you play.

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Getting started​

Ready to try Game Assist (Preview)? Here’s how to get started:

1. Make sure Windows 11 and Game Bar are up to date.
2. Game Assist requires the Beta or Preview channel of Microsoft Edge. If you’re running Windows Insider builds on your PC or have opted into Edge Preview, you already have Edge Preview and can skip to Step 3. Otherwise:
   1. Install the Microsoft Edge Insider Beta channel (you can also use the Dev channel for the latest updates, but things may be slightly less stable).
   2. Set Edge Beta as your default browser: go to Windows Settings > Apps > Default apps, search for Edge and, at the top of the page, click Edge Beta > Set as default.
3. To opt-into Game Assist (Preview) and install the Game Bar widget, in Edge, go to Settings and more (“…”) > Settings, then search for Game Assist in the search box, find the Game Assist option (above the Page zoom setting), and select Install widget.
   1. If you haven’t used Edge Beta/Preview before, in Edge, go to Settings and more (“…”) > Close Microsoft Edge, and then re-open the browser. You may have to repeat this step a few times for the Game Assist option to appear.

You can now use Game Assist (Preview) by opening Game Bar with Win+G. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

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Here are some of the games you can try today:

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Diablo IV
• Fortnite
• Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga
• League of Legends
• Minecraft
• Overwatch 2
• Roblox
• Valorant

Don’t see your favorite game on the list? Stay tuned! We’ll add tips and guides for more popular games throughout the preview and over time. In the meantime, you can still browse to your favorite guides in any game.

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[Elbereth]

Not for me, but a cool option nonetheless.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Not sure how great it works but I love that they're trying.

 

[adamsapple]

That's pretty nifty. Game Bar has certainly come a long way since launch.

 

[AmuroChan]

Cool for those who would find this helpful. PS5 has something similar but I never really found a need to use it.

 

[Optimus Lime]

 

[dorkimoe]

Looks awesome, very helpfup when i die in an online game and have to wait lol

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Because Steam's in-app browser doesn't already exist? This looks like Microsoft trying to get people to use a shitty overlay, but for browser windows only.

 

[drotahorror]

Or alt tab and use your favorite browser.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

On PC it's a solituion looking for a problem, especially when you have tablet or phone as a second display. Or two monitors. But even with 1 screen it's easier to just alt-tab and not trigger anti-cheat with unnecessary overlays.

 

[Rockondevil]

I could see it being maybe used if I only had one monitor. But I'll stick having a really low budget second monitor for that reason.

 

[reinking]

Didn't Opera come out with a "gaming focused" browser? I get that this adds a layer but I'm not sure gaming focused browsers are what we need on PC. Maybe this is a preview of what we are going to see on their next console when Microsoft is the "first" to bring it to consoles?

 

[xrnzaaas]

Oh boy, another overlay to create potential instability with how the game performs. Steam overlay is the only one I learned to accept.

 

[FunkMiller]

Ah yes. Microsoft PC gaming software. The epitome of seamless, efficient gaming .

 

[nemiroff]

Oh boy, another overlay to create potential instability with how the game performs. Steam overlay is the only one I learned to accept.

Ah yes. Microsoft PC gaming software. The epitome of seamless, efficient gaming .

Been using game bar for years, never had any issues with instability or performance (doesn't trigger anti-cheat either). It's a pretty good user experience overall.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Unless you have multiple monitors, you also can’t see what’s happening in the game while you’re in the browser or reference a guide while you play.

We believe there’s a better way.

Nope, that was already the better way.