Microsoft allows smoother gameplay by unlocking refresh rates on Windows 10.

Microsoft wants you to believe that Windows 10 is not only a stable business platform but is also a gaming platform as well. In a move designed to underscore its gaming capabilities, it has showcased Windows 10 optimized versions of games such as Forza 6.

The framerates of games which make use of APIs from the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) have now been unlocked from the refresh rates of their monitors, thus fixing a long-standing demand from developers and gamers, alike, who wanted to play games with higher framerates, but were prevented due to the underlying limitations of the OS.

Framerates, measured in frames per second (FPS), is a key benchmark in graphics power. High resolutions are meaningless unless supported by high FPS.

Case in Point: in order to consistently throw out 60FPS, Microsoft’s Halo 5 has in fact even sacrificed resolution on the fly and has ditched split-screen multiplayer gaming entirely.

In this Windows 10 update, Microsoft has also announced the support for NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD Freesync, which enable smarter refresh rates on monitors.

The unlocking of the framerate and the support for smart refresh rates from the video card manufacturing giants are exactly the kind of granular support that is required that will enable gaming titles to exploit maximum graphical capability.