Microsoft’s new ‘Copilot’ PCs can’t handle hundreds of popular PC games

Microsoft and its partners launched Copilot+ PCs this spring, featuring AI-powered capabilities like generating images and videos. These new laptops deviate from the traditional Intel-powered architecture that has dominated Microsoft Windows PCs for nearly four decades. Instead, the initial Copilot+ models are powered by Qualcomm chips based on Arm designs.

While most PC games, especially popular multiplayer titles, are optimized for Intel’s x86 chips, some can be run on the Qualcomm-Arm system through a software layer that translates x86 instructions into Arm-compatible code. However, this approach can introduce compatibility issues, leading to bugs, glitches, or even non-functional games.

Yang Jie for The Wall Street Journal:
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The problem is widespread. About 1,300 PC games have been independently tested to see if they work on Microsoft’s new Arm-powered PCs and only about half ran smoothly, said James McWhirter, an analyst with research firm Omdia. He cited an independent website recommended by Microsoft to check compatibility. Many other less-popular games haven’t been tested.

Microsoft confirmed that some games may not play on Copilot+ PCs, including certain titles with demanding graphics requirements… Qualcomm had a similar comment, saying the type of chip powering the new AI PCs “is not currently considered a gaming platform” but that it was working with partners to improve the situation.

Games are just one part of the bigger struggle to control the insides of Windows PCs, with the upstart Qualcomm-Arm team squaring off against more experienced Intel. Digitimes’s Chang said he expected the coming Intel chips for Windows AI PCs to take the lion’s share of the global market in the near term, in part because of their compatibility advantage.

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MacDailyNews Take: Imagine dumping Intel and getting even worse! Beleaguered Intel is the Boeing of chip makers, so what does that make Qualcomm?

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