Video game support will make or break Windows on ARM

• Arm Windows laptops are powerful and have long battery life, but they have app compatibility issues, especially for games.

• ARM Macs excel at gaming thanks to Apple’s Rosetta platform, which challenges ARM Windows laptops.

• Windows Prism, unlike Rosetta 2, struggles to keep games running smoothly on Arm laptops, making entertainment difficult.

After several false starts, it appears that there is finally a viable form of ARM computer running Microsoft Windows. Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops with Windows for Arm are powerful machines with impressive battery life. However, app compatibility remains an issue, and for games this is unthinkable. I think this might be what breaks the camel’s back.

People play games on everything

I can already hear the question: “What do games have to do with laptops for work?” and of course the answer is that people use the computer they have for everything. Each of us has used work laptops for purposes other than work. Whether you’re watching Netflix or playing older or retro games. For many people, one of these Arm-based laptops will be their only computer. This means that it’s reasonable to expect this Windows PC to be able to do everything.

ARM-based Macs are great for casual gaming

Gaming on macOS has been the subject of jokes for many years, although mainly for people with short memories. After all, Apple computers played a key role in gaming, and until the switch to Intel processors on Macs, you could enjoy some of the most advanced games on any home computer.

Plus, with the move to Apple Silicon Macs with ARM processors and Apple’s fantastic Rosetta translation layer, gaming on a Mac has never been better. Almost every game I’ve tried runs great, even if it was written for Intel-based Macs. This takes the humble little MacBook from something that’s great for studying or working into a computer that can really keep you competently entertained after hours.

This is an important piece of the puzzle that is missing in Windows on Arm. Games made for Windows x86 systems either don’t run well (even considering the hardware), don’t run, or contain game-breaking bugs.

Windows Prism is not Rosetta

The reason games don’t run well on Arm laptops is Prism. This is the macOS equivalent of Rosetta 2 on Windows, which means it has to translate code intended for x86 processors into something ARM processors will understand. This is a technically complex process, and Prism has a more difficult task than Rosetta 2 because Windows is expected to run on a much wider variety of hardware. Apple’s advantage is full control over the entire computer ecosystem, which makes their work easier to some extent.

That said, Prism improves by leaps and bounds based on recent benchmarks compared to the early days of Windows on Arm, but for complex applications like video games, there’s a fine line between playable and unplayable.

There is a huge library of titles for Windows

The CPUs and GPUs in laptops like those equipped with the Snapdragon Elite are no slouch, and a huge portion of the PC gaming library would run well on these systems if we only included performance as a factor. This is truly the saddest part of all, because the x86 PC game library is absolutely huge. If chipmakers Microsoft and Arm can get us to the point where everything runs at acceptable performance, then I think the average laptop buyer can be much more confident in their purchase. In the same way, Apple was able to completely dispel all doubts of its customers regarding Apple Silicon and whether their applications would work or not.

Entertainment may be keeping people away from ARM on Windows

Although people can to talk that they only really care about working and studying on their ultra-thin and energy-efficient laptops, the truth is that we like to game as much as we can. Entertainment should always be top of mind with any computing system, and if Windows for Arm laptops can’t deliver consistent entertainment to match their computing power, it could be a big reason for people to give them up. Especially since Intel is hot on the heels of Arm’s energy efficiency with products like Lunar Lake mobile processors. Which have full compatibility with games written for x86 processors and do not differ from the low power consumption of ARM competitors.