Xiaomi has just announced its latest digital tool, the WinPlay Engine. It’s a nifty tool that lets you play Windows games locally on Android tablets, with minimal performance loss. It’s still in the beta phase and works only with the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro for now.
But still seems like this one has got some potential. The WinPlay Engine has a three-layer virtualization system powered by Xiaomi’s HyperCore kernel. This setup allows the Pad 6S Pro (which has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip) to run Windows games.
What Makes it Tick?
According to Xiaomi, the GPU performance loss is just 2.9% which is a small trade-off for the convenience of playing PC titles on a tablet.
The WinPlay Engine by Xiaomi also offers features that enhance the experience. It supports Steam, so you might be able to access your library of PC games directly. However, details about seamless compatibility are still unclear.
Additionally, the engine supports Bluetooth peripherals, including keyboards, mice and even Xbox controllers with vibration feedback. You can enjoy local multiplayer with up to four players.
Setting it up does involve a bit of manual work for now. You’ll need to buy games on platforms like Steam or GOG, copy the game files to your tablet and launch them through the AI Treasure Box app. It’s not exactly plug-and-play yet given that it’s still in beta.
For now, the WinPlay Engine is exclusive to the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro, and there’s no word on when it will be rolled out to other devices. But the idea of playing Windows games with near-native performance on an Android tablet is exciting.
You can check out more about it here. Meanwhile, read our next scoop on Crunchyroll Adding Tengami, a Puzzle Game with Japanese Tales that Mimics a Pop-Up Book.
