“It evolves more slowly than us. Qualcomm always tries to understand the PC game

The PC game has become the White Whale of Qualcomm. The company would not put it in these terms, but it is clear that the company hopes that users know that its new Snapdragon X2 Elite Elite chip will be able to play. It is far from the ideal, and Qualcomm seems to know. He wants to show the capabilities of the GPU of the new chip, but for one of the most common uses of graphic treatment, Qualcomm will always be behind everyone.

The imminent elephant in the room is the chip microarchitecture that Qualcomm is liable. While Intel and AMD use X86, Snapdragon is based on the arm. Whatever PC you buy with a Snapdragon X2 chip, the game compatibility problems. While Qualcomm says it has 1,400 games optimized for Snapdragon, the real list of modern AAA titles is relatively small. During his Snapdragon Summit speech in Hawaii (Complete disclosure: travel and accommodation were paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo guaranteed any coverage as a travel acceptance condition), the flea manufacturer has shown a list of games compatible with the platform. This included some relatively recent games, such as Baldur’s Gate III And Hogwarts inheritanceMore a bunch of 10 -year games and remasters. You will not wear your entire Steam library on these new PCs every time they arrive. If you feel a little already seen, it is because Apple suffers from the same problems of incompatibility with its m-series chips based on ARM. If you are compared to Apple in terms of game, you are already in a difficult place.

A super GPU who cannot play all your games

The head of the mobile and the calculation of Qualcomm, Alex Katouzian, said in a Q&A, “(The game on PC) moves slower than we want.” The 20-year-old Qualcomm veteran reiterated anti-triche compatibility with the original Snapdragon X series, which has essentially locked many of the most popular multiplayer games of its PCs.

“You must weaken yourself until the game developer or the engine developer who works with us on mobile realizes that we have the same capacities on PC,” he said.

Back with the launch of first generation Snapdragon X, Qualcomm made sure to tell buyers that these devices were not designed for the game. The messaging has changed. Now they are good for “relaxed games”. The new high -end high -end Elite Elite chip has improved processor cores and an improved GPU, promising to beat the competition. Qualcomm claims that the GPU can complement higher performance, while drawing less energy than high -end laptop fleas of AMD or Intel.

Kedar Kondap, main vice-president of Qualcomm and Managing Director of Compute and Gaming, told Media that new devices performing Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme could strike around 60 IPS in some compatible games, while the Snapdragon X could only get 30 IPS. And again, “we are very cautious about how we position these devices on the market; These are not game platforms. ”

Qualcomm can cajolate and encourage developers to carry their games to Arm. He managed to convince Epic Games to allow compatibility with the anti-trich of the game. The only other option is with emulation or a compatibility layer. Currently, Windows On Arm depends on the Prism emulator of Microsoft, which simulates the X86 hardware as a software. This leads to performance hiccups that make games that are not taken care of less than Ideal. Katouzian reiterated that he was sticking with the prism for emulation. However, several rumors suggest that Valve is carrying games to arm for an supposed autonomous VR helmet. Qualcomm could climb on the valve chest tails and make a practical amount of the steam manufacturer. If they are considering it, Qualcomm does not say it yet.

We still have to see what the new generation Intel and AMD chips have been carved for the laptops of tomorrow. Qualcomm promised that at the beginning of next year, we will have the opportunity to test the devices with the Snapdragon X2 elite. That is to say that by these 2026, we will probably have a multitude of new intel, Qualcomm-and perhaps AMD-devices to compare each other. The other two adults of PC chipmakers will always try to push the lifespan of the battery and the electrical efficiency as they did last year, just as Qualcomm does now.

Qualcomm has a strange place in the game

This week, I sat with Durga Malladi, Director General of Technology and Edge of Qualcomm. After a long conversation on the advent of 6G and AI on the aircraft, he told me that the company was working directly with some manufacturers of game equipment on future projects. No, of course, he was not willing to say with whom. “It is early,” he said.

Qualcomm fleas are among the most popular for games. This is not a controversial statement. The mobile game eclipses console and combined PC games. Qualcomm fleas are in some of the most popular Android phones, including Samsung Galaxy devices. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 should be better for the games than the previous flea of ​​the company and potentially better than the A19 Pro found in the iPhone 17 Pro.

There is another end to Qualcomm game efforts that the flea manufacturer rarely recognizes publicly. Its chips are in some of the most popular retro emulation devices around. At the Snapdragon Summit, the company presented several companies of companies like Onexplayer, Ayaneo and Retroid, all performing Snapdragon fleas. These are devices that I have not yet managed, including the laptop transforming on a double screen, the Boy-Like Type Retroid Classic Pocket and the Ayaneo Pocket DS intended to recreate the feeling of the Nintendo DS. Pocket computers can perform many Android games, but their real advantage concerns retro emulators – recreation of older equipment. Qualcomm does not want to stick his toes in the infested waters of Piranha illegal Roma downloads, he will simply let the pocket computers talk about themselves.

The narrow quality home for Qualcomm to work with its giant technology partners, Google and Microsoft, left the company with Tunnel Vision. His work on Android cemented the arm for mobile games, but the players are looking for something different from another showcase Honkai: Star Rail Or Fortnite.