Windows 10 is supposed to introduce a large step forward for gaming with DirectX 12 but why is it introducing a strange input lag for some games? Lag in gaming is typically tied to network performance but in some of the reported cases offline or single-player games are being affected by this delay between input and on-screen response. StarCraft II is one of the games often cited as experiencing this problem.
The cause has been identified as the built-in Xbox app that comes with Windows 10. With many of the built-in apps, you can simply right-click the tile in the Start Menu and choose ‘Uninstall’. That is not the case with the Xbox app.
Instead, to remove the Xbox app you will have to use a PowerShell command.
Search PowerShell in the Start Menu. Right-click PowerShell and choose ‘Run As Administrator’ and answer the UAC prompt.
Enter the command ‘Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage’
That is going to search for an app that matches the name ‘XboxApp’ and then pipe the identifying results to the cmdlet to remove that app.
A better alternative, since you might want the Xbox app now or in the future or the system might just reinstall it with updates, is to disable the Game DVR setting. This setting has been identified more specifically to be the cause of lag on older games.
Launch the Xbox app and sign in with a Microsoft account if you have not already.
Click the Gear icon on the lower left to access the Xbox app settings.
Switch to the Game DVR tab.
Click the toggle to turn ‘Record game clips and screenshots using Game DVR’ to Off.
Once the Game DVR is disabled, you should see less input lag for games.
