Cyberpunk on Android? Not only is it possible, but it is also efficient
ARM is becoming a serious player
Youtuber ETA Prime published a video that is causing quite a sensation. He ran full PC versions of games on several CPU devices Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and Android. These were not mobile ports or “cloud” versions, but games natively installed via Steam, running locally on an ARM chip. And what’s important – not only do they work, but they are so fluid that it’s a pleasure to play this way.
The results are impressive. On the AYN Odin 3 portable console (16 GB RAM), Left 4 Dead 2 and Marvel Cosmic Invasion ran smoothly at 60 frames. In turn, on the Lenovo Legion Y700 Gen 4 tablet, it was possible to play GTA V above 40 FPS at 720p. On Red Magic 11 Pro, The Witcher 3 (DX9 version) ran at 60 frames at 720p, Spider-Man: Miles Morales achieved a stable 30 FPS with FSR 3 in Balanced mode, and Cyberpunk 2077 – after better selection of settings – exceeded 60 FPS with frame generation enabled. For comparison – just a few months ago, the same phone could barely achieve 45-50 FPS in the same title.
The key to all this is Proton translation layerknown primarily from the Linux Steam Deck. GameHub – an application available directly from Google Play – connects Proton with the FEX emulator, which translates x86 and Windows code into instructions understandable for ARM systems. It doesn’t require any advanced system fiddling, has built-in Steam integration, and downloads games directly from the user’s library. The second of the tested programs, Game Native, is an open-source project available on GitHub – more technical, but giving more control.
This is an important context because Today, ARM is not only about smartphones. Handheld PCs like Steam Deck, ROG Ally and Ayaneo are selling better and better and are gradually getting gamers used to the idea that gaming equipment does not have to be a tower under the desk or a block under the TV. At the same time, the ongoing NAND and DRAM memory crisis is hitting the availability and prices of traditional PC configurations hard – and this is what makes alternative hardware platforms more than just a curiosity.
Proton’s gaming on ARM is not without its drawbacks yet. Nnot every game works, not every title works welland 720p on low settings is not the same as native 1440p on a dedicated graphics card (although 900p is enough on a handheld). In this way, ARM becomes the third viable platform for PC gaming, alongside Windows x86 and Linux on Steam Deck. And when the prices of traditional gaming equipment are threatened by significant increases, each new way of entering the world of electronic entertainment is an advantage.
