Microsoft has something important to share with you: “88% of PC players use a browser while gaming to get help, track their progress, or even listen to music or chat with friends.” Absolute scenes. And now, for the crime of forgetting to close Chrome while you play Counter-Strike 2, Redmond has produced a solution: The Edge browser can now pop up within your games.
See, the thing is, alt-tabbing or checking your phone is “taking you out of your game” and Microsoft just won’t let that stand: “We believe there’s a better way.” It’s announced Edge Game Assist, a bespoke in-game version of Microsoft’s browser that integrates with the existing Game Bar on Windows 11 (press WinKey + G).
Game Assist will recognise certain compatible titles and automatically suggest guides and information about them, though players can also use it to manually search. At launch, it has what Microsoft calls “game aware” support for nine titles, including Baldur’s Gate 3, League of Legends, and Minecraft.
The big selling point, so to speak, is that Game Assist can be pinned on top of the game you’re playing, the idea being that you can follow a guide without having to alt-tab out and check where you are. This window can be re-sized and moved to your preference, and the feature also works with YouTube videos, so you can have one playing away while you go through the game. I mean, if that’s your thing.
Game Assist can also be used to bring up the likes of Discord, Spotify and Twitch, and boasts that it integrates all your browser data from Edge: So it shouldn’t be asking you to login to things again. There is a short and rather bizarre YouTube video showcasing the feature which is unlisted on the official Microsoft Edge YouTube channel: Subscriber count, 18.3K. Ouch!
Game Assist is available in preview now via Microsoft Edge Beta 132, and the corporation says more compatible games will be added over time (though it can be used with any game as-is, it just won’t have custom recommendations). Microsoft says it’ll be gathering feedback and improving this before a wider release, and has a community portal where users can vote on the features they’d most like to see.
So I’m not sure who was asking for this, but here it is. Among the odder use cases Microsoft suggests is watching a TV show while you play, while it also ominously promises an optimised sidebar that “makes it easy to find the services that matter most” while gaming. That’s me in the Lands Between, always looking for services.
On a more serious note, I’m not sure what niche this is filling: The difference between pressing WinKey+G or Alt-Tabbing seems much of a muchness. There are definitely use cases I can see, like having a video chat with your mates overlaid on the game you’re playing, but this can already be done easily with Discord Game Overlay, and I’m not sure I ever use guides enough to want them pinned on top of the actual game. On top of that the browser lacks functionality like right-clicking on links and images (unlike for example the Steam browser), which you just know is going to be annoying at some point.
One thing did make me smile: You have to set Edge as your default browser to check this out. Microsoft never misses a chance to try and pull that one. Some might feel I’m being mean, because there isn’t much about Game Assist to dislike. But it does feel a tiny bit like an overwrought solution in search of a problem.