Copilot+ PCs are getting better at gaming, says Microsoft — Prism optimizations and anti-cheat software compatibility celebrated

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Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered laptops went on sale June 18, and many tech enthusiasts are interested in what this new Arm chip will bring to Windows users. But aside from the usual business and productivity applications, a large number of people also use their Windows PCs for gaming. This is why Microsoft is busy working on several initiatives to improve Arm gaming.

Microsoft knows that gamers drive a huge chunk of the desktop and laptop market, and those with money might spend thousands of dollars on the best GPUs and the best gaming CPUs, making it a very lucrative market for the companies involved. Apple also knows this and is making efforts to woo gamers to macOS. So, if Qualcomm wants its Snapdragon X Elite chips to get a foothold in the entertainment side of the market, it needs to work with Microsoft to optimize both the processor and Windows 11 on Arm for gaming.

The most important piece of the puzzle right now for Qualcomm and Microsoft is the Prism emulator. The majority of gaming titles today run natively on x86 chips, and Copilot+ PCs need to run them smoothly if the Arm brigade wants a chance of being considered by gamers. Nevertheless, Microsoft says, “the performance improvements of Prism, along with automatic super resolution and the new Snapdragon X Series processors together emerge as a game-changer.” The company even showed off a video of Baldur’s Gate 3 running on a Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC, and it showed relatively good performance, although we don’t know the specifications of the device used for this demo.

Still, gaming issues persist

All that said, the Snapdragon X platform is certainly not without its gaming issues and limitations. The Wall Street Journal has called out issues with "Fortnite" specifically. And Digital Trends points out that several reviewers are having issues with gaming and emulation. Some of this is to be expected, as these systems aren't aimed at gamers, and the platform is brand-new. But it will be interesting to see how much better things get on the gaming front with these systems in the coming months. 

Anti-cheat provider collaboration

Importantly, Microsoft has also been working closely with anti-cheat providers like BattlEye, Denuvo Anti-Cheat, and Wellbia XIGNCODE3 to ensure that these apps work despite the emulation. Most advanced anti-cheat apps work at the kernel driver level, so Microsoft and Qualcomm needed to work in advance to ensure that these anti-cheat apps would be available and work on launch. The availability of these anti-cheat apps ensures gamers can enjoy multiplayer games on Windows 11 on Arm.

If you’re considering a Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC right now but you’re also a gaming enthusiast, you’re going to love the Windows on Arm Ready Software page created by Linaro. This open-source database catalogs all the games you can run on Windows on Arm, with Microsoft and Qualcomm contributing almost 1,400 validated games. So, you should visit this page first before buying that PC to ensure that your favorite titles are supported. 

According to Statista, the market revenue of the global video game industry currently sits at a massive $455 billion. So, ignoring the over two billion gamers globally would not be wise for Snapdragon and Windows on Arm. The power and efficiency of these new Windows laptops are great things on paper, but they’re pretty useless to gamers if they cannot rely on them to run their favorite titles.

Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

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  • ezst036
    Seems like Linux might be ahead on this one.

    Why "wait" for Windows/ARM to catch up to Windows/x86 in this regard when Windows isn't the generic OS it used to be years ago? Microsoft built advertisements into it these days. (Windows + Advertisements)
    Reply
  • CmdrShepard
    The company even showed off a video of Baldur’s Gate 3 running on a Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC, and it showed relatively good performance, although we don’t know the specifications of the device used for this demo.
    Relative to what? Potato?
    Reply
  • vijosef
    Nice, but I won't buy an arm computer until it has a top RTX/AMD gpu, fully functional, and I can run my own AI.
    Reply
  • defunctup
    oofdragon said:
    Mod edit
    really bringing politics into this? can mods remove these irrelevant comments based on misinformation?
    Reply
  • kealii123
    CmdrShepard said:
    Relative to what? Potato?
    From what I'm seeing, its a little better than AMD 780m (iGPU) native, and a little worse when emulating a "good" game, but many (upwards of 1/4) emulate poorly and run terrible.

    Initially I was pretty disappointed; the M3 max is almost as good as an RTX 4070 laptop, but these first Qualcomm chips are super cheap and undercutting AMD/Intel by quite a bit. They are more comparable in performance and price to the Apple Silicon M3 base, but not nearly as power efficient. Honestly, the best hope for mobile gaming in a steamdeck form factor is Asahi Linux. It would be fun to 3D print a body and shove a macbook air mainboard in there, assuming you can find an 8" screen with the same PIN layout
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    kealii123 said:
    the M3 max is almost as good as an RTX 4070 laptop
    Depends on the game, the performance ranges widely based on if the game is native or translated, but the raw performance is about on par with a 4070 mobile according to GFXBench and Notebook check. There are a couple of sites that go trough the list of compatible games and their general performance. Apple has had the benefit of 3+ years of refinement and developers targeting their SoC (not to mention light versions that ran on iPhones). IDK if Qualcomm and Windows ARM will get that far, but the original M1 and M1 Max wasn't all that great with gaming when they first launched, now they are decent with games that target Apple Silicon natively.

    https://www.macgamerhq.com/apple-m1/native-mac-m1-games/
    Reply
  • mac_angel
    sounds like a way to push a lot of people that don't want AI snooping; forcing them to get an upgrade just to be able to be compatible with games.
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    defunctup said:
    really bringing politics into this? can mods remove these irrelevant comments based on misinformation?
    Sometimes a lost soul from W**ft*ch manages to wander out of their play pen.
    Reply
  • LabRat 891
    Anti-cheat provider collaborationImportantly, Microsoft has also been working closely with anti-cheat providers like BattlEye, Denuvo Anti-Cheat, and Wellbia XIGNCODE3 to ensure that these apps work despite the emulation. Most advanced anti-cheat apps work at the kernel driver level, so Microsoft and Qualcomm needed to work in advance to ensure that these anti-cheat apps would be available and work on launch. The availability of these anti-cheat apps ensures gamers can enjoy multiplayer games on Windows 11 on Arm.

    If you’re considering a Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC right now but you’re also a gaming enthusiast, you’re going to love the Windows on Arm Ready Software page created by Linaro. This open-source database catalogs all the games you can run on Windows on Arm, with Microsoft and Qualcomm contributing almost 1,400 validated games. So, you should visit this page first before buying that PC to ensure that your favorite titles are supported.

    According to Statista, the market revenue of the global video game industry currently sits at a massive $455 billion. So, ignoring the over two billion gamers globally would not be wise for Snapdragon and Windows on Arm. The power and efficiency of these new Windows laptops are great things on paper, but they’re pretty useless to gamers if they cannot rely on them to run their favorite titles.
    No thanks.
    Low-Level/Kernal Anti-Cheat and DRM is a bane upon every PC gamer.
    Nostalgialand my home, and settle in.]
    Might be interested if Prism facilitates smooth pre-DX10 era gaming, though.

    Would be quite the achievement if x86-16 and x86-32 legacy applications ran better through Prism on an ARM platform, than in a modern-native x86-64 environment.
    Reply
  • wwenze1
    What if you tell copilot to help you cheat?

    And if copilot rejects, doesn't that prove AI wants to control you? Will it ban us from visiting gamefaqs next to prevent cheating?
    Reply