Microsoft has announced an update for its Xbox app for Arm-based Windows 11 devices, allowing users to download and play games natively. Arm users, including those on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X-powered machines like the Surface Laptop 7, were previously limited to streaming titles through Xbox Cloud Gaming. The latest preview update will now allow select compatible games from the Xbox app to be installed and played locally on these devices.
To access the new functionality, users must be part of both the Windows Insider and Xbox Insider programs. Enrolled Arm-based Windows 11 PCs in the PC Gaming Preview will receive the updated Xbox PC app (version 2508.1001.27.0 or higher) via the Xbox Insider Hub. Those who are not enrolled can join by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub from the Microsoft Store. Simply sign in with your Microsoft account, navigate to the “PC Gaming” option under “Previews,” and select “Join.”
Additionally, Microsoft mentioned in its blog post that it is working on new features to ensure game compatibility on Arm-based Windows PCs and expand the number of playable titles in the coming months. This has been one of the biggest reasons why gaming on Windows PCs with Arm processors has long been a major headache. Since a majority of PC games are designed for x86 chips from Intel or AMD, Arm devices rely on emulation. This usually leads to a drop in performance and sometimes restricts games from launching at all, especially those with strict anti-cheat mechanisms.
On top of that, Arm-based SoCs (System on Chip) typically rely on integrated GPUs, which aren’t exactly performance powerhouses. Yes, Apple has shown promising improvements in gaming on its latest M4 chips, but they’re still a long way from matching the capabilities of discrete GPUs or even the latest integrated graphics solutions from AMD and Intel.
Interestingly, Microsoft’s latest push to improve native gaming on Arm could also be an indication of bigger hardware plans in the future. We all know Nvidia is co-developing an Arm-based SoC for Windows PCs with MediaTek, which many expected to debut at Computex 2025 before its reported delay to late 2026. Last month, an alleged engineering sample of the N1X Arm-based SoC was spotted on Geekbench, suggesting a 20-core CPU and a Blackwell GPU with 48 streaming multiprocessors and 6,144 CUDA cores, which matches the desktop RTX 5070.
If Microsoft is indeed laying the groundwork for improved game compatibility on Arm, it could position Windows to fully support such upcoming hardware from Nvidia, as well as systems from OEMs like Asus, Dell, and Lenovo that are reportedly developing devices around the new chip.
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