Microsoft ports the Xbox app to Arm-based Windows PCs
Microsoft has announced that the Xbox app is now available on all Arm-based Windows 11 PCs. The app’s release follows an update Microsoft made to its Prism emulator in December 2025, which translates x86 and x64 apps to Arm and now includes support for AVX and AVX2. Both extensions play a role in running games efficiently on Windows.
Windows on Arm users will be able to use the Xbox app to purchase, download and stream PC games, and Microsoft says “more than 85% of the Game Pass catalog” now works on Arm PCs. Unlike Valve’s SteamOS, Windows on Arm also supports anti-cheat software like Epic’s Easy Anti Cheat, which means you can access a wider library of online multiplayer games compared to what you can get on Steam Deck.
Microsoft has been working on making Windows run on Arm for years, and the company has made a major push with its own Arm-based hardware and the launch of the PC Copilot+ program in 2024. Many Copilot+ PCs use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, the latest of which the company announced in September 2025. Microsoft’s handheld efforts so far have focused on PCs with AMD chips, but support is expanding of Arm and Qualcomm’s own teases certainly allows for that. It looks like an Arm-based Windows 11 handheld could be announced sooner rather than later.
