The Game Bar in Windows 10 is about to become more versatile. This is because Microsoft is looking to allow more third-party developers to create their own widgets for the Game Bar and distribute them through a dedicated app store.

Microsoft laid the groundwork for this very thing last year by adding new features to the Game Bar, including a Spotify widget. Twelve months later, Microsoft is now releasing the Game Bar SDK in beta for developers. This basically means that any developer can create custom widgets for the Game Bar.

"From simple video capture, to quick access to audio settings, to seamless listening with Spotify, to providing an FPS counter, we have put PC gamers at the center of everything we do. This philosophy is the driving force behind the update we are announcing today," Microsoft said in a blog post.

The advantage of the widget is that you don't have to use Alt-Tab to navigate to another app when playing a game. Microsoft says it has "heard loud and clear" feedback on this, and to get things started, there are some additional widgets available to members of the Windows Insider program. The rest of us will be able to access them "in the near future."

One of the new widgets currently available is XSplit's Gamecaster streaming app. Once installed, users can control the stream from within the Game Bar. It is also customizable, allowing users to extend or fix certain features.

Razer and Intel are also getting in on this early on. The new Razer Cortex widget works with the company's Rewards program (and also includes tools to stop certain background processes) and is available now, while the upcoming Intel widget will bring the company's Graphics Command Center utility to the Game Bar.

The Intel widget is interesting because AMD and Nvidia are currently the only players in the discrete graphics space.

Microsoft did not say exactly when the enhanced widgets and dedicated widget store will debut to the public, but my hunch is that they will all appear in the next major update of Windows 10 (20H1).