Enlarge / The announcement of the Creators Update in October 2016.

Mike Ybarra, head of platform engineering for Xbox, has revealed some of the gaming-oriented improvements coming to the Windows 10 Creators Update later this year.

Chief among the changes is a new “Game Mode” that will improve the performance of games—both traditional Win32 games and new UWP (Universal Windows Platform) games from the Windows Store. Hints of this mode have appeared in recent Insider Preview builds of Windows, but it’s still not clear what the mode actually does or how it does it. Ybarra’s post confirms that the feature is coming, saying that it’s a “big update” for Windows, but he doesn’t reveal what the mode will actually do to improve performance.

On the Xbox One, the Guide is being made instantly accessible with just a single press of the Xbox button. It’s also being enhanced, including the ability to start recording GameDVR clips and change the recorded length. Background music controls are being added, and Cortana will have a new design.