Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processors recently launched inside a range of ARM64-based laptops, and the highly praised ASUS Zenbook A16 stands out as an example of what the Windows on ARM platform offers in terms of power efficiency. Despite the excitement and praise around the MacBook-rivaling Zenbook and its high-end SoC, PC gaming on Snapdragon X still takes a back seat.
It's not that Qualcomm keeps any of its Snapdragon X gaming capabilities a secret. On the contrary, it listed "over 2,400 games available" in pre-release marketing for the X2 Elite chip, but its primary effort remained in appealing to productivity-centric workers. That strategy may have shifted slightly, as a recent collaboration with China-based NetEase games suggests.
A translation of a press release from Qualcomm China (via VideoCardz) claims that 25 titles published by NetEase, including popular team-based hero shooter Marvel Rivals, have been "adapted" for the Snapdragon X platform. Whether "adaptation" refers to native ARM64 support or improved x86-64 emulation with Microsoft's Prism layer isn't clear, but there's one way to find out.
Windows Central's take: Native or nah?
One way to know for sure whether this buddy-up with NetEase points to more natively supported PC games on ARM64 is to fire up the Zenbook A16 and try Marvel Rivals for myself. Sure enough, I was already downloading a handful of games from Steam, the Xbox App, and Epic Games Store for some real-world game tests now that post-launch Adreno graphics drivers have landed in the Snapdragon Control Panel.
Again, it's not like ASUS and Qualcomm never touched on gaming performance in press briefings around its new Zenbook laptop, but it was hardly a lengthy talking point. That, and a somewhat unusual selection of games, including Hollow Knight: Silksong and Diablo IV, were highlighted primarily for their performance against Apple's M5-based MacBook Pro.
Overnight, I'll be testing more well-known titles, like Counter-Strike 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, to see what the experience is like in 2026. If there are any other games (or apps, for that matter) that you'd like tested on the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) processor, then let me know in the comments. I already spent a couple of evenings playing Retro Rewind from Steam on the Zenbook A16, but a video store simulator is hardly a stress test, is it?
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