Xiaomi's latest WinPlay might change the future of Android gaming forever

Xiaomi unveiled WinPlay Engine, which will allow Windows PC games to be played on Android devices locally. It was announced alongside the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4 Android tablet, which will be the first device to support WinPlay. Xiaomi has announced that its community forum has already started recruiting Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4 buyers for testing purposes.

This article analyzes various aspects of the WinPlay engine and explains what it could mean for the future of Android gaming.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the writer's opinion.

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Xiaomi's WinPlay will bring AAA Windows PC games to Android

WinPlay presentation (Image via Xiaomi)

Xiaomi didn't offer additional details on how it works or which games it would support. However, the presentation images suggest only a 2.9% performance loss when running Windows games on Android as opposed to running them natively.

Xiaomi also mentioned that this engine plays the games locally on Android and doesn't use any form of cloud streaming. This indicates that the WinPlay engine is probably using some form of cutting-edge translation layer to run x86 Windows games on Android.

For context, Apple's Rosetta 2 is also a live translation layer that runs x86 programs and games on its ARM-based MacBooks. However, even Rosetta 2 cannot achieve this with only 2.9% performance overhead, so how much of it ends up being accurate remains to be seen.

It is also mentioned that Steam can be installed via WinPlay, so theoretically, most Steam games could become playable on Android. Nonetheless, which Steam games are actually compatible and playable will depend on the game itself.

On a side note, Xiaomi mentioned that the WinPlay engine would be a part of an upcoming HyperOS release, so only Xiaomi's Android devices will be compatible. However, this technology could trickle down to more Android devices in the future.

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What does it mean for the future of mobile gaming?

If Xiaomi's WinPlay ends up delivering everything it claims, it could potentially change mobile gaming forever. All the AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us: Part 1, and more will be within your grasp. You won't even need a handheld PC for that anymore. Your Android phone will become a handheld gaming device.

However, tame your excitement as this technology is still in the testing phase and may take a year or more before a stable version is released.