Microsoft introduced Game Mode to Windows 10. It’s a special mode aimed at giving you a better gaming experience. It’s effectiveness is debatable among gamers. Some say there’s a noticeable difference in some games while others complain that it summarily ruins everything. Up until the Creators Update, the Game Mode could be turned On or Off at will. There was a little switch to control in the Settings app under Gaming>Game Mode. That little switch is gone in the Fall Creators Update. If your PC supports Game Mode, then it will be on. While the switch is gone, you can still disable Game Mode in Fall Creators Update from the Windows registry. Here’s how.

Disable Game Mode In Fall Creators Update

Since you need to make a change to the Windows registry, you will need administrative rights. Open the Windows registry and navigate to the following location;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\GameBar

Here, look for a key called AllowAutoGameMode. If it’s not there, create it. Right-click inside the right panel and select New>DWORD (32-bit) Value. Rename the new value AllowAutoGameMode.

By default, this key will have the value 0. It will disable Game Mode. If you want to enable Game Mode, change its value to 1.

Game Mode Is Better

Game Mode originally garnered a lot of hate. As with most new features that Microsoft adds to Windows 10, it wasn’t fully developed when it was rolled out to users on the stable release channel. The initial experience people had with it was less than impressive. For some users, it resulted in a much poorer experience. Microsoft hasn’t shelved this feature, obviously. Instead it’s improved it considerably. Initial reports from users who have upgraded to the Fall Creators Update are skewing towards the positive end. Granted the new Windows 10 update has only been out for a couple of days so this isn’t what you would call the popular opinion.

Regardless if Game Mode is improved in the Fall Creators Update or not, Microsoft should not have removed the Off switch. This mode is always on but it doesn’t give nor does it claim to give a uniform experience to all users. The main lure is that you’ll get a higher framerate but users who already have a decent gaming rig might want to do without it.

There’s also the fact that Game Mode improves some games and ruins others. For those that do use it selectively, the Off switch is going to be sorely missed. It is more than inconvenient to have to disable Game Mode from the Windows registry. It will likely push users to keeping it disabled permanently.

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