Windows Store Will (Finally) Let You Choose Where Games Are Installed

PC gamers using the Windows Store and Xbox Game Pass for PC, rejoice. Your long national nightmare is over. Microsoft has announced in a PC Community Update video that it’s bringing some huge and very welcome changes to gaming on the Windows platform. Chief among them is the ability to choose where games downloaded from Xbox Game Pass for PC and the Microsoft Store will be installed, as well as the ability to do whatever you want with the files. Previously Microsoft usually put games in a locked folder.

The update, which will be available exclusively to Xbox Insiders soon, is expected to roll out to the rest of the customer base in the near future. Not only will it allow you to change the location of where games are installed, you can also install any game in any location, including on a different drive than C:/, which can be helpful if you’re the type of person who likes to keep important data off your Windows partition since it sometimes needs to be nuked and reinstalled. In addition to custom install locations you will be able to see which games allow mods, and access the files themselves with no limitations, so you can swap save files with friends, edit config files, and do what users of other game downloading services have been doing for quite some time now.

The update will also let users decide if they want Windows 11’s Auto-HDR feature to be enabled or not, as some users might prefer playing their older games in their original, non-HDR glory. Also, according to The Verge, which broke the story hours before Microsoft released its video, you will also be able to repair games, verify files, and make backups of your folders as well, which is another extremely welcome update.

On the surface this seems like one of those changes that should have been made ages ago, as it’s such a simple thing to do, and Microsoft’s competitors in this area have let you perform these rudimentary tasks since forever. We applaud Microsoft for listening to its customers and actually giving them exactly what they want. A revolutionary concept, we know.

As far as when it will be available for the masses, Microsoft has not confirmed those details as of this writing, but surely millions of gamers around the world are patiently waiting for it with bated breath.

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