Windows for ARM opens up to more games and software with a better emulator

Native applications for the ARM version of Windows are more and more numerous thanks to the offensive by Microsoft and Qualcomm to promote Copilot+PCs working with Snapdragon X chips. But the catalog is not (yet) as rich than that of x64/x86 apps, the historical architecture of PCs. The next version of Windows for Arm will improve things, however.

The version of Windows 11 for ARM PCs does not have as extensive a software library as PCs equipped with an x64/x86 processor (Intel or AMD), given the longevity and history of this architecture. For a long time, this was a serious problem that prevented the platform from really taking off, that and the modest performance of ARM chips. Things started to change with the launch last June of the first Copilot+PCs running the new Snapdragon X chips with excellent performance.

Prism enhances the Windows ARM ecosystem

Publishers are finally there to develop ARM64 versions of their x86 software (Chrome, Photoshop, etc.), but that is not enough. That’s why Microsoft developed Prism, an emulator launched last year that translates instructions for x64 or x86 applications to run on Windows pour ARM.

Since the 24H2 version of Windows 11 delivered in mid-October, Prism has benefited from significant optimizations which improve performance. Premiere Pro 25, Adobe’s video editing software, can be emulated in this way since 24H2 (even if this use is “limited” in some commercial PCs).

And Microsoft isn’t done yet: Windows 11 build 27744, available to registered Insiders, lets you emulate even more 64-bit x64/x86 software with support for more CPU features in emulation (in this case software with an AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA and F16C extension).

This means that games — like Starfield — and creative apps that haven’t been ARM optimized can now run on ARM PCs. The improvement concerns x64 software, which is the only one to support these CPU functions. 32-bit apps, or 64-bit apps that use 32-bit helpers (small programs that perform a specific task) will not be able to detect new Prism features.

Regardless, the openness to more software is a good thing for the Windows for ARM platform that Microsoft and Qualcomm are banking on, even if it’s only emulation at the moment.