DirectX 12 games on Android: Qualcomm is said to be planning special drivers

Qualcomm apparently wants to officially ensure that games with DirectX 12 can be used on Android-based devices with Snapdragon processors. According to sources close to the group, development is currently underway.

Official drivers for Windows games on Android devices

The US chip giant Qualcomm is working on making DirectX 12 games usable on Android smartphones and tablets with its new high-end chips. Titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong should already be able to be used in DirectX 12 mode on developer hardware with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. This is reported by the Chinese-language YouTube channel Geekerwan citing our own tests and statements from Qualcomm employees. In tests with the developer platforms currently shown in Hawaii with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips, the games mentioned above are already running, although there is no information about performance.

According to Geekerwan, Qualcomm officials have confirmed that they are developing drivers for running Windows games on Android devices with ARM CPUs using translation tools such as Wine. So far, the Mesa Turnip drivers from the open source scene have to be used for such scenarios. Apparently Qualcomm even wants to offer DirectX 12 support directly through suitable Android drivers. DirectX 12 is already natively supported on Windows PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors.

Meanwhile, there’s growing interest in using PC games on smartphones or tablets because tools like GameHub or GameNative make it possible to play Steam games on mobile devices, although it requires some effort. It is still unclear whether Microsoft will support its partner’s plans in any way. The software giant probably has little interest in making it easier to use games on the competing Android platform. However, the company’s struggling games division could certainly benefit from additional opportunities to distribute its titles.