Windows on ARM has always been difficult to be regarded as an ideal gaming platform, but with Microsoft's latest adjustments, this situation is quietly changing. Microsoft announced that the Xbox app is now available "natively" on Windows 11 computers equipped with ARM processors, bringing a more complete native gaming experience to such devices.
According to reports, users who have purchased or plan to purchase a Copilot+ PC equipped with a Snapdragon X processor can now directly install the Xbox app, download and run games from the Game Pass library. Microsoft said that more than 85% of the games in Game Pass can now be played locally on ARM computers, while works that are not yet compatible can be played through Xbox Cloud Gaming cloud streaming. In the past, although the Xbox app could also be used on these devices, it was limited to cloud game streaming and did not support local installation and operation.
This change also echoes recent industry trends related to ARM PC hardware. Reports indicate that Nvidia plans to launch the N1 processor family, and some models will integrate powerful graphics performance for high-load scenarios, including games. In the context of more powerful ARM chips paving the way for "serious games", Microsoft has increased its investment in Windows on ARM gaming experience, which is seen as preparing for ecological expansion in advance.
At the software level, Microsoft has laid the compatibility foundation for Windows on ARM over the past year. Among them, the Prism emulator update adds support for the AVX and AVX2 instruction sets, allowing a large number of modern games to run on the ARM platform. At the same time, Epic’s anti-cheat support also opens the door to popular multiplayer online games such as Gears of War: Reloaded and Fortnite.
Microsoft said it will continue to work with the gaming community, OEM manufacturers, chip design companies and game studios to expand the compatibility range of the game catalog and continue to improve the gaming experience on different forms of devices. Officials emphasized that its goal is to provide users with a consistent and smooth Windows gaming environment on high-performance desktops, dedicated handhelds, and ARM-based Windows 11 notebooks, while striking a balance between compatibility, performance, and ease of use, so that players can "play at any time." More technical details and plans from Microsoft about this update have been released on the official Windows Experience blog.