It's here, what we've all been on the edge of our seats for: Game Assist in Microsoft Edge Stable. Okay, sorry, sorry—for the joke and for the sarcasm. But yes, Microsoft's foray into anti-alt-tabbing activism is now out of beta.
For the uninitiated, Game Assist debuted in November last year, much to the seeming chagrin of our Rich Stanton, who couldn't figure out exactly who the target market is for the feature. It's essentially a browser that you can open without alt-tabbing, via your standard Win+G Game Bar.
The key allure, though, apart from it attempting to find relevant guides and information for whatever you're playing in select games, is its ability to be pinned on-screen while gaming. Y'know, for all the single-screen peasants (kidding—just a personal jab at my single-screen defenders here in the PC Gamer hardware den).
One big problem with it, though, was that it required you to change your default browser to Edge or install some Insider software. But now that it's been released in the Stable channel (i.e. the public release), you don't have to do that; you can just opt-in by installing the Game Assist widget in your Edge browser settings.
Once you do this, you'll be able to use Game Assist while gaming by hitting Win+G to open your Game Bar. If you're in a supported game—which now includes a handful of new titles such as Marvel Rivals and Dragon Age: The Veilguard—it should attempt to grab you relevant info or guides for whatever you're playing.
Otherwise, you can just use it like a normal browser and then pin a YouTube guide video (for example) to the top-right of your screen while you frantically attempt to keep up with the guider's speedy instructions.
I must say, I don't share the same bafflement as some others regarding this feature. I remember watching some streamers play games while using a third-party app to pin videos to their screen to watch at the same time. Which certainly seems like a good shout for those with somewhat of a deficit of attention. I used to enjoy watching podcasts while grinding in an MMO, for instance.
Who knows, maybe this will make me actually use Game Bar for once. That is, for something other than attempting to join a friend's party when in-game social options are confusing, only to immediately regret it and spend five minutes half-absentmindedly but frustratedly trying to figure out how to leave the abominable party or at least mute my teammate to prevent doubled voice comms.
Yeah, not a fan—can you tell? Only time will tell whether Game Assist can change my mind.
