Windows 10 Insiders will see Beam streaming, Game Mode, and more this week

By Jez Corden
last updated

Later this week, a new Fast Ring Windows 10 Insider build will deliver Beam streaming, Game Mode, and much more.

We expect this to be Build 15019, which was originally slated for today but got delayed at the last minute. Build 15019 will bring tons of new Xbox-oriented features to Windows 10 while delivering Beam streaming and other promised features to Xbox Insiders in the new Alpha Ring. Here's what you need to know!

Beam Streaming on Windows 10 and Xbox One

The first, and perhaps the biggest feature of this new build will be direct Beam integration with Windows 10 and Xbox One. On Windows 10, this will be accessible by pressing Windows key + G, and on Xbox One via a single tap of the Xbox button on your controller. Beam streams over Windows 10 and Xbox One will be FTL-enabled by default, meaning they'll enjoy sub-second latency between the stream and chat, creating truly interactive experiences. We'll test this out this week most likely on our own Beam channel.

Game Mode on Windows 10

As detailed in an interview between ourselves and Kevin Gammill from the Xbox platform team, the first iteration of Game Mode will make its way to Windows 10 Insiders later this week. Game Mode will bias your CPU and GPU towards any game active in the foreground, providing a more consistent experience. For more information on what Game Mode is, head over here.

What is Windows 10 Game Mode?

A new Xbox section in the Windows 10 settings menu

This week's build will add an all-new section to the Windows 10 settings menu for Xbox features. At present, many of these settings and features are accessible only via diving into the Xbox app itself. For those users who have no desire to access the full Xbox ecosystem, they now have the option of setting up Game DVR, Beam streaming, Game Mode, and more, via the regular Windows 10 settings menu.

And more?!

We suspect this new build will bring a regular line-up of other enhancements and performance fixes as usual, and we'll have more information on that when build 15019 goes live later this week.

Update: An earlier version of this article stated the build would roll out tomorrow, January 26. That release date has since been changed to a more general "later this week."

More: What to expect from the latest Xbox Insider build

Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

60 Comments
  • Beam FTW!
  • Not ftw.. It's FTL get it rite 🙃
  • ...so no W10M build tomorrow. :(
  • Might be, not sure on that.
  • Careful what you wish for.
    With all the changes at the moment, I wont be surprised to learn that live tiles have been discontinued for low usage.
  • Doubtful
  • Why tomorrow?!
  • No idea, might be aligning with Beam to make sure everything goes smoothly.
  • Wait, under the Settings is the "Windows Holographic" being renamed to "Mixed Reality"?
  • Dona was in a meeting today... A decent sized one.
  • her life is full of meetings
  • May is meeting Trump.
  • Yay Beam. I think it's WAY more telling that Xbox is in the settings. MS is really serious about gaming. I definitely thought all Xbox stuff would be through the app.
  • Maybe with composable she'll
    Xbox app becomes a she'll games run in controls le via the settings menu. This way the holographic she'll and the Xbox she'll are launchable like the Xbox currently is....making win 10 a true single destination.
  • Maybe with composable she'll Xbox app becomes a she'll games run in controls le via the settings menu. This way the holographic she'll and the Xbox she'll are launchable like the Xbox currently is....making win 10 a true single destination.
  • Shell* Shell* Shell* Shell*
  • I was thinking she she she
  • And when they focusing W10 Mobile? In Redstone 10? Disappointing this situation. Microsoft just shoot himself in the foot.
  • Mobile is not everything :P :D
  • They said they will focusing in Redstone 2 on the mobile phones, and the W10M got any big feature? No. Always the PC got the spotlight + recently the xbox one.
  • it was rs3 not 2 :-)
  • I remember, they said RS2 and RS3.
  • Lets be safe and say RS Infinity..... :)
  • well that is windows 10 ha
  • ...and beyond!
  • Please find an actual Microsoft source saying that. Terry simply said "we won't be focusing on mobile this year". And this year doesn't mean right at midnight simply as far as their release cycle goes. Plus he never said "but we will next year".
  • Haha, so they try to escape from their statements, right? So "this year" now means to the ordinary people that "as long as Microsoft think"? This is a really bad joke, don't you think? (Don't misunderstanding, don't got that this is a personal attack, it's just ironic speaking.)
  • Well, potentially, Microsofts focus all along was mobile. By bring Windows 10 to arm and working on continuum for phone displays, Microsoft could release a sweet phone running full windows with beam integration and everything else windows 10 has to offer.
  • Truly Microsoft doesn't focusing on mobile phones, and no, the ARM on Win10 is an another thing, that won't work on my Lumia 735, Continuum too. So there is nothing new big improvements. And what is that not working since one year ago? Oh, the brightness levels! Yes, the Feedback Hub doesn't hear your little problem, don't care this BASIC FUNCTION. And where is the LED notification? Nowhere. My really old Xperia X10 mini pro got this really useful function, sorry, BASIC function. And that phone was released on February 2010. 2010! I want just these things. That's all. I'm nothing surprised the people go to the android or the ios. Even you ask, no, I'm not interested into go back to the android or buy an iPhone. I really like W10M, but I hate, that what Microsoft is doing.
  • I get the frustration with the lack of 735 support. Unfortunantly that will never get supported :(. But as far as Windows 10 for mobile things are still getting done. At least potentially.  Also, I too am not interested in going back to Android or iOS. I have an iPhone 6s for work and can barely stand the thing. I had a nexus 6 before that and couldnt stand the thing. I tried to use Android on a BLU HD R1 and couldnt stand it. So I went back to a Lumia 650 when it was on sale for $99. And I have been much happier with it. I dont care about phone apps. The UI is so great on W10M. But Windows 10 as a mobile device will look much different 8 months from now, and much much different 2 years from now I think. And older devices cant keep up with their vision for it. Still sucks about the 735 though...
  • Not misunderstanding, I love the W10 ARM and the Continuum too, it's a really cool things. And yes, W10M much different now and 2 years ago, I like it the windows phone system evolution. I don't care about the phone apps too, because I've got that I want to use. I just disappointing about that in my previous comment.
  • 735 is support for w10m with the ugrade advisor app
  • I use the latest Insider Fast build...
  • I feel you, I've been wondering the same thing, broken functions on mobile that I've left feedback a lot of times and nothing has happened. I know how it feels, looks like we are gonna have to wait for another Windows Mobile reboot...
  • Doesn't the 735 have glance? Then why the hell would you want a notification LED? Btw, that phone got way more updates than the average android phones, just like my trusty 535. And I'd say even my 650 got more :D Btw, didn't you think about getting a new phone? ;)
  • Doesn't have glance... I'm not crying for the LED if have glance screen, but when I want it, because is I really love this function, and more battery saving if I this use nor the glance if that be on this phone. Sorry for my bad english. And I don't think getting a new phone, because:
    I'm not a rich guy, doesn't have enough money for a new, powerful phone.
    I hate these 5 or 5+ inchs phones, my 735 got 4,7 inch display, and this is the borderline for my hands.
  • 735 doesn't have glance. The notification LED should have been there since the hardware was always there. Once my phone ran out of battery, and when I put it to charge, the LED started glowing for some weird reason. I thought "Finally! Maybe they pushed some update in the fast ring" but no! The LED never glowed after that day.
  • Well, you may have missed Microsoft announcements early last year and reporters are not so good in repeating them.
    ​The upcoming Creators Update, Redstone 2, in April is desktop driven. Redstone 3 towards the end of this year will be mobile driven.
    ​As far as Surface devices are concerned, I would expect refreshes before summer and some announcements for new as well.
  • Seriously if they keep this up they may go from no shares to no shares....
  • Waiting for the 3d camera capture app:D
  • you're not alone, me too :-)
  • And the curved iOS wordflow keyboard :(
  • Not tomorrow though
  • Why dislikes? There is tweet from Larry Hyrb https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/824397834661138432
  • I wonder if this stuff is gonna be in the Enterprise version as well. It certainly has no business (pun intended) being there, yet Enterprise users were also spammed with irrelevant bloatware like Candy Crush and Solitaire on a "clean" install.
  • Solitaire is hardly bloatware! ;)
  • I'm pretty sure Solitaire is a business app considering most of it's users are bored employees killing time at the office...
  • God isnt microsoft design beautiful? arent microsoft designers briliant? isnt consistency, fluidity and cleaness the trio that governs the microsoft design department??? I MEAN, LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL XBOX ICON IN THAT SETTINGS APP, AMONG OTHER WIREFRAME ICONS...ISNT IT SO BEAUTIFUL AND ADHERES SO MUCH TO THE CONSISTENCY OF THIS BEUTIFUL OS?! /s god damn microsoft designers...at least try..... morons -_-
  • When have they not used slap dash placeholder icons for insider builds and only polished them when they were ready for production release
  • have you met microsoft before? if they would use a placeholder they would have used the gear wheel settings icon. im willing to bet with you that this, at least for this moment, is their final choice and im sure they are so happy about themselves that they used the final icon at first launch instead of a placeholder. this microsoft design team should be fired completely. i swear. worst design choices and user experience in the 21st century. and this comes from a windows fan. plain and simple: windows and 1st party apps design? completely GARBAGE. if neon wont fix this, and i mean to SMALLEST detail of consistency, then i wouldnt be suprised for consumers to switch from windows just for a nicer ui. i know i would consider it.
  • I like that is in the heart of the settings apps. I prefer those settings there, not everyone is an Xbox/Xbox live fanatic. Sure must gamers can benefit from DVR, game mode and so. Additionally it's a huge marketing for the Xbox. Imagine all those millions and millions of devices with the Xbox icon with the word "Gaming" in their settings.
  • I'm tempted to install the os. Since I stream to beam now.
  • Tempted to test this on my main PC install instead of VM Ware, if it doesn't work well I can recover using a backup image
  • it's nice to see gaming settings in the settings app. but hopefully they'll adjust the xbox icon to be more coherent with the rest of the icons ...! :)
  • They could just make it wireframe and done with it. Maybe its a placeholder or maybe they didn't really think about that visual inconsistency (MS isn't really cohesive in terms of design even though they are capable to make good one). Just hopefully at least change that icon.
  • Great to get at least some settings without that slow and overloaded Xbox App. Next step should be to offer Games in Windows Store as PC exklusive license with a discount. RE7 costs 50€ on Steam and 70€ on Windows Store just because of Xbox Play Anywhere a feature that is pretty useless for people without an Xbox One.
  • Pitty they want to make money. Buy it where it is cheaper
  • Looks nice !
  • Waiting for window mode for apps in Continuum. Any estimate when and if is coming at all?
  • Don't dream to hard. You might be dreaming years.