‘It’s Transferring Slower Than We Need.’ Qualcomm’s Nonetheless Making an attempt to Determine Out PC Gaming

PC gaming has turn out to be Qualcomm’s white whale. The corporate wouldn’t put it in these phrases, but it surely’s clear the corporate desires customers to know its new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip can be gaming succesful. It’s removed from the perfect, and Qualcomm appears to realize it. It desires to point out off the brand new chip’s GPU talents, however for probably the most widespread makes use of of graphics processing, Qualcomm will nonetheless be behind everybody else.

The looming elephant within the room is the chip microarchitecture Qualcomm is beholden to. Whereas Intel and AMD use x86, Snapdragon is predicated on ARM. No matter PC you purchase with a Snapdragon X2 chip will run into sport compatibility points. Whereas Qualcomm claims it has 1,400 video games optimized for Snapdragon, the precise listing of contemporary AAA titles is comparatively small. Throughout its Snapdragon Summit keynote in Hawaii (full disclosure: journey and lodging had been paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo didn’t assure any protection as a situation of accepting the journey), the chipmaker confirmed off a listing of video games suitable with the platform. This included a couple of comparatively latest video games, resembling Baldur’s Gate III and Hogwarts Legacy, plus a heap of 10-year-old video games and remasters. You received’t port your complete Steam library to those new PCs each time they arrive alongside. When you’re feeling a little bit of déjà vu, that’s as a result of Apple’s been suffering from the identical incompatibility points with its ARM-based M-series chips. When you’re being in comparison with Apple in terms of gaming, you’re already in a tough spot.

An incredible GPU that may’t play all of your video games

Qualcomm’s chief of cellular and compute, Alex Katouzian, mentioned in a Q&A, “[Gaming on PC] is transferring slower than we wish.” The 20-year Qualcomm veteran reiterated the anti-cheat compatibility with the unique Snapdragon X collection, which primarily locked out most of the hottest multiplayer video games from its PCs.

“You need to chisel away at that till the sport developer or the engine developer who really works with us on cellular realizes we’ve the identical capabilities coming by on PC,” he mentioned.

Again with the first-gen Snapdragon X launch, Qualcomm made certain to inform consumers these units weren’t constructed for gaming. The messaging has modified. Now they’re good for “informal gaming.” The brand new top-end Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive PC chip boasts enhanced CPU cores and an upgraded GPU, promising to beat the competitors. Qualcomm claims the GPU can prime out at larger efficiency, whereas drawing much less energy than both AMD or Intel’s high-end laptop computer chips.

Kedar Kondap, Qualcomm’s senior vp and basic supervisor of compute and gaming, instructed media that new units working Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive might hit round 60 fps in some suitable video games, whereas the Snapdragon X might solely get 30 fps. And nonetheless, “We’re very cautious about how we place these units available in the market; they aren’t gaming platforms.”

Qualcomm can cajole and entice builders to port their video games to ARM. It managed to persuade Epic Video games to allow compatibility with the sport’s anti-cheat. The one different choice is with emulation or a full compatibility layer. At the moment, Home windows on ARM is dependent upon Microsoft’s Prism emulator, which simulates the x86 {hardware} as software program. This results in efficiency hiccups that make taking part in unsupported video games lower than best. Katouzian reiterated it was sticking with Prism for the sake of emulation. Nonetheless, a number of rumors recommend Valve is porting video games to ARM for the sake of a supposed standalone VR headset. Qualcomm might journey on Valve’s coattails and make a helpful sum off the maker of Steam. In the event that they’re contemplating it, Qualcomm isn’t but saying so.

We nonetheless should see what next-gen chips Intel and AMD carve out for tomorrow’s laptops. Qualcomm has promised that by “early subsequent 12 months” we’ll have the chance to check units with the Snapdragon X2 Elite. Which is to say, by CES 2026 we’ll in all probability have a slew of latest Intel, Qualcomm—and maybe AMD—units to match one another to. The opposite two main PC chipmakers will nonetheless attempt to push battery life and energy effectivity similar to they did final 12 months, similar to Qualcomm is doing now.

Qualcomm has an odd place in gaming

This week, I sat down with Durga Malladi, Qualcomm’s basic supervisor of expertise and edge. After a protracted dialog concerning the introduction of 6G and on-device AI, he instructed me the corporate was working immediately with a couple of gaming {hardware} makers on future tasks. No, after all he wasn’t prepared to say with whom. “It’s early days,” he mentioned.

Qualcomm’s chips are a number of the hottest for gaming. That’s not a controversial assertion. Cellular gaming eclipses each console and PC gaming mixed. Qualcomm chips are present in a number of the hottest Android telephones, together with Samsung Galaxy units. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 must be higher for gaming than the corporate’s earlier chip and probably higher than the A19 Pro discovered within the iPhone 17 Pro.

There’s one other finish to Qualcomm gaming endeavors that the chipmaker hardly ever acknowledges publicly. Its chips are present in a number of the extra common retro emulation units round. At Snapdragon Summit, the corporate laid out a number of units from firms like OneXPlayer, Ayaneo, and Retroid, all working Snapdragon chips. These are units I’ve but to deal with myself, together with the OneXSugar reworking dual-screen handheld, the Sport Boy-like Retroid Pocket Basic, and the Ayaneo Pocket DS meant to recreate the texture of the Nintendo DS. The handhelds can run loads of Android video games, however their actual profit is with retro emulators—software program recreations of older {hardware}. Qualcomm doesn’t wish to stick its toes within the piranha-infested waters of unlawful ROM downloads, so it can merely let the handhelds communicate for themselves.

Qualcomm’s slim focus of working with its tech large companions, Google and Microsoft, has left the corporate with tunnel imaginative and prescient. Its work on Android has cemented ARM for cellular gaming, however gamers are on the lookout for one thing completely different than yet one more showcase of Honkai: Star Rail or Fortnite.