Comment on [deleted]
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
Valve is paving the way to make this possible with FEX, which they’ve developed to let traditional x86 games run on the ARM-based Steam Frame. Since it’s open source, we’re already seeing it show up for other devices, such as GameNative using it to let PC games run on android devices.
Apple is also grabbing additional marketshare right now with their new cheap MacBook Neo that is ARM based, and I think that will pressure windows to make the change as well, at least for laptops.
I don’t know what the timeline is, but I suspect we’ll see a transition to ARM devices once FEX is reliable enough for most software. My understanding is that you miss out on a lot of the power advantages of ARM hardware when running x86 programs through FEX, but it will still be a compatibility crutch while programs transition to being ARM native.
just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 week ago
FEX has been an Open Source project for quite some time. Valve has a use-case for it, so has been contributing developer resources and funding for the project, but Valve themselves did not create it. It’s simply a useful tool in a pivot they want to make for their portable gaming devices and expansion.
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
Valve actually initiated FEX and has been funding it since the very beginning, there was an interview with the Verge where they talk about it.
Basically the whole thing is Valve’s baby, they have a lot of different open source projects that they are quietly funding.