Qualcomm just got closer to fixing gaming on Snapdragon laptops — but don't get too excited

An angled view of an open and powered on laptop on top of a white surface; a scene from a movie is displayed on its screen.

If you love your Snapdragon X laptop but hate the way it handles gaming, we've got some good news. (Image credit: Stevie Bonifield)

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Fans of Fortnite and Snapdragon-powered PCs just got some huge news.

This week, Epic Games and Qualcomm announced Windows on Snapdragon support for the Epic Online Services Anti-Cheat, also known as Easy Anti-Cheat, which will make Fortnite playable on Copilot+ PCs.

That's great news for gaming on Snapdragon-powered laptops, but don't celebrate too soon. Epic hasn't rolled out Fortnite on Snapdragon just yet, and while increased app support is great for Snapdragon gaming, there are a few drawbacks to the Snapdragon X platform.

Epic support is a step in the right direction

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite reference design laptop on a bench with a camera and coffee mug — (Image credit: Qualcomm)

Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat system is used by hundreds of multiplayer games, including games that aren't available just through the Epic Games Store. After all, Epic is the company behind the Unreal engine, which powers a lot of multiplayer games.

While Fortnite is the first game with Snapdragon support for Easy Anti-Cheat, Epic intends to roll the system out to other games once the Fortnite stress test phase has been completed. The announcement reads, "Battle-testing Windows on Snapdragon anti-cheat support with Fortnite will help ensure smooth implementations in other games."

A lack of multiplayer and competitive games has been one of the major gaming drawbacks of the Snapdragon X platform, and the root cause is that most multiplayer games use Windows kernel-level anti-cheat software. Since most games are compiled for Windows x64, kernel anti-cheat doesn't translate directly to Windows on Arm.

Qualcomm has been partnering with many companies, including Adobe, BlackMagic, and Moises, to increase application support for Snapdragon X systems. So, working with Epic Games to get more games running on Snapdragon just makes sense. Especially as the Snapragon X series chipsets are now coming to miniPCs as well as laptops.

Don't get too excited for gaming on Snapdragon X laptops

Intel Lunar Lake gaming demo, showing F1 on AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm laptops — (Image credit: Future)

iGPU gaming has come a long way, with the AMD Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Point" and Intel Core Ultra 200V Lunar Lake AI PC chips offering impressive graphics that blew our expectations out of the water. But of the three Windows AI PC chips, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series falls short of its competition.

While we'd seen gaming demos with the Snapdragon X Elite that were impressively smooth, the experience with actual production systems was beyond underwhelming. Depending on the games you play, the integrated Adreno graphics tile leaves you playing a slideshow even at medium 1080p settings.

However, Snapdragon X gaming also has issues that go beyond underpowered hardware. Windows on Arm gaming has a decent library of indie and single-player titles but lacks competitive games and MMOs, thanks to Windows kernel-level anti-cheat systems.

While Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat support could eventually open up more games from the Epic library on Snapdragon X systems, Epic is using Fortnite as a stress-test before rolling out support on more games. So, gamers will have to wait for other Easy Anti Cheat games like Apex Legends, Elden Ring, Halo: Infinite and Destiny 2.

What this means for you

Increased app support for Snapdragon X systems is great for the Windows on Arm ecosystem. One of the biggest challenges in swapping from an Intel or AMD-powered Windows x64 system to Arm is the software gap between the two versions of Windows.

Making games available to more gamers is always a good thing. After all, people like to game on laptops.

But even with more games becoming available, gaming on Snapdragon-powered laptops will still have to contend with sub-par hardware.

So, sure, you may one day be able to play Elden Ring on your Snapdragon X Elite Copilot+ PC, but the overall experience may not be worth it. At least with this generation.

We still don't know much about the next generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon AI PC chips, but the second generation could feature a beefier iGPU that would make gaming on a Snapdragon laptop a worthwhile experience.

There is no current date for when Fortnite or other Easy Anti-Cheat games will become available on Snapdragon-powered devices.

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A former lab gremlin for Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, and Tech Radar; Madeline has escaped the labs to join Laptop Mag as a Staff Writer. With over a decade of experience writing about tech and gaming, she may actually know a thing or two. Sometimes. When she isn't writing about the latest laptops and AI software, Madeline likes to throw herself into the ocean as a PADI scuba diving instructor and underwater photography enthusiast.