Nvidia has released an emergency driver update, the GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 581.94, to address a performance drop in certain games following Microsoft’s October release of the KB5066835 cumulative update. This mandatory patch affected systems running Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2, introducing a bug that led to reduced frame rates in some gaming scenarios, according to Windows Latest. The issue has prompted Nvidia to act quickly, releasing a hotfix ahead of its regular driver update schedule. While the company notes that only specific games were impacted, the performance degradation was significant enough to warrant an urgent response. Given that KB5066835 is a mandatory update, future Windows patches are expected to carry the same problem, making it highly recommended for users experiencing gaming performance loss to install the latest driver. Nvidia typically releases driver updates in sync with major hardware launches or game releases, after extensive testing. However, the complexity of GPU drivers—due to the vast number of possible hardware and software configurations—means that some critical issues can go undetected until they surface in the field. In such cases, Nvidia deploys hotfixes to resolve major problems quickly. This is not the first time Nvidia has used a hotfix. When the new 50-series GPUs were first released, they suffered from crashes and black screens, prompting an emergency driver update. A second hotfix followed just a week later to further address stability and clock speed issues. The current 581.94 update follows the same pattern, highlighting Nvidia’s commitment to maintaining performance and reliability for its users, even when issues arise outside of planned release cycles.