Project Helix Will “Lean Heavily” Into Zstandard to Directly Stream Assets From the SSD

So, I was reading up on what Microsoft’s planning for the next generation of consoles, and apparently, they’re really focusing on how textures look. Jason Ronald, a VP at Microsoft, talked about this at GDC 2026. They’re using some advanced texture compression – even incorporating new tech with neural networks! But it’s not just that; they’re also going all-in on something called Zstandard. Basically, with the newest version of DirectStorage – which now supports Zstandard – we’re gonna be able to load game assets directly from the SSD super fast. It should make a huge difference in loading times and overall game performance, which is awesome!








