Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips, which power over a dozen Copilot+ PCs from numerous laptop makers, are a hit. They deliver processor performance that rivals AMD and Intel hardware alongside superior battery life and low fan noise. Qualcomm-powered laptops should be at the top of your list if you’re looking for a brand-new daily driver.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (13.8″)
But there’s one thing they struggle with: PC gaming. My deep-dive into gaming on the Microsoft Surface Laptop found that even older titles, like Diablo II: Resurrected and Civilization VI, perform far worse than on an Intel x86 processor paired with Intel Arc integrated graphics. Even worse, some games just refused to launch at all.
Yes, there’s still hope for PC gaming on Arm hardware, but don’t expect things to change overnight. I interviewed developers for insights and answers to why Windows on Arm gaming is still struggling.
Further reading: The best laptops we’ve tested
Bringing games to Windows on Arm isn’t exactly rocket science
The lack of games for Windows on Arm might suggest that it’s difficult to develop games for the hardware. That isn’t the case.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X is new, but it’s only the latest chapter in Microsoft’s decade-long struggle to make Windows on Arm viable. Microsoft and Qualcomm previously partnered for the Snapdragon 8cx, announced in December of 2018. And Microsoft’s Arm-first operating system, Windows RT, was revealed all the way back in 2011 (though quickly discontinued in favor of bringing Arm to all versions of Windows).
It’s been a journey, to say the least. Along the way, Microsoft has deployed tools to make it easier to develop for Windows on Arm. The Windows SDK, which many developers use as a starting point when building for Windows, has offered an Arm compiler for years.
The Dawning Clocks of Time Remake
The Dawning Clocks of Time Remake
The Dawning Clocks of Time Remake
“It’s actually not that different to developing on Windows and on other game consoles,” said Jake Jackson, a developer at indie game studio Spacefarer R&D, which developed action-adventure game The Dawning Clocks of Time Remake, available on Windows for both x86 and Arm. “In fact, since we developed the game as a Nintendo Switch title first, which is indeed an Nvidia Tegra Arm64 chip, we already did the main optimization and graphic pipeline work from the get-go.”
Jackson’s experience might not be relevant to every game developer, but it’s certainly representative of many. The Nintendo Switch is hugely popular across the globe and an extremely common target platform for game development. Many prominent indie games, from Stardew Valley to Dead Cells to Hollow Knight, are available on Switch.
Hollow Knight
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-full enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Hollow Knight on Nintendo Switch screenshot" class="wp-image-2390579" width="1024" height="576" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">If it can play on the Arm-based Nintendo Switch, why not Windows?</figcaption></figure><Autentifică-te pentru a adăuga comentarii
Alte posturi din acest grup
TL;DR: Help your website run faster with BabyPNG, a
TL;DR: Skip the monthly payments for cloud storage a
It looks like nature is healing. Slowly, ever so slowly, OLED gaming
Logitech’s MX Master series of mice are some of the most beloved on t
I’m a creature of habit, and nothing gets my endorphins flowing like
