Qualcomm holds Snapdragon Gaming Technology Appreciation event to showcase hardcore technology and powerful ecosystem

Qualcomm showcases Snapdragon Gaming Technology and ecosystem at event

【Phoneauto News】On July 27th, Qualcomm held the Snapdragon Gaming Technology Awards event on the eve of ChinaJoy, not only to warm up for the upcoming ChinaJoy, but also to showcase its hardcore strength and strong ecological energy in the mobile gaming field to the outside world.

The mobile gaming industry is undoubtedly the “star” in the gaming market in the past two years. According to reports from industry research institutions, by 2022, global players will spend about $92 billion on mobile games, accounting for 50% of the global gaming industry revenue, nearly twice that of console games and PC games. The global mobile gaming market has also grown at an astonishing rate in the past seven years, with a four-fold increase in market size since 2015. Among them, the sales revenue of mobile games in China in 2022 accounted for nearly 73% of the total revenue of the Chinese gaming industry, expanding the market size by six times.

The hotness of the mobile gaming market seems to be driven by the continuous iteration of devices by mobile phone manufacturers and the continuous updating of products by game developers, but in fact, Qualcomm is the person behind the mobile phone manufacturers and game developers. Snapdragon chips have always been the innovation pioneers in the field of mobile gaming technology.

• Five major trends in smartphones in the second half of the year folding phones slim down and make a comeback, hard-hitting straight screen phones
• Five major trends in smartphones in the second half of the year Flagship features crazily delegated, mid-range phones become popular
• Honor CEO Zhao Ming Honor Magic V2 has no challengers within six months

At the Snapdragon Gaming Technology Awards event, Alex Katouzian, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile, Compute, and XR Business at Qualcomm, stated on-site that there are already more than 95 flagship Android smartphones equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform released, each one capable of delivering excellent gaming performance, allowing users to enjoy the Snapdragon Elite Gaming features at their fingertips. Snapdragon Elite Gaming is a collection of top-level gaming technologies supported by the Snapdragon 8 series mobile platform, which can make games run faster, colors more vibrant, and provide cool console-level lighting effects. These technologies have been widely used, with over 1 billion mobile terminals supporting Snapdragon Elite Gaming features.

Not only does Qualcomm assist terminal manufacturers in chip development, but it also combines technological innovation, industry cooperation, and user demand to create a gaming experience that meets players’ expectations more accurately and efficiently. Therefore, Qualcomm continues to collaborate with its ecosystem partners to expand the possibilities of mobile gaming. As a long-term and close partner of Qualcomm, Hu Zhipeng, Senior Vice President of NetEase Group and head of NetEase Thunderfire Games Division, not only reviewed the deep cooperation history between NetEase and Qualcomm in mobile gaming technology but also mentioned that the two parties have brought NetEase’s new game “All-Star Streetball Party” to more categories of terminals based on the Snapdragon platform, presenting players with innovative cross-platform experiences across cars, smartphones, and handheld devices. They also look forward to working with Qualcomm in the future to bring players more high-quality gaming experiences.

For mobile gaming, strong performance is a key factor in ensuring a good experience, and the performance advantages of Snapdragon processors perfectly meet this characteristic of mobile gaming. In particular, the CPU of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 Mobile Platform supports a clock speed of up to 3.36GHz and provides a 45% improvement in GPU performance compared to the previous generation platform. According to test data from Qualcomm’s laboratories, in miHoYo’s latest mobile game “Honkai Impact 3rd: Star Rail,” with a rendering resolution of 760P, playing the game continuously for 30 minutes, the average frame rate of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Edition can reach 60.15fps, providing a very smooth gaming experience and fully demonstrating the “hardcore performance” of Snapdragon.

Qualcomm’s advantage in mobile gaming is not only in core performance but also in targeted optimization. One example is Snapdragon’s spatial information-based super-resolution technology, which enhances the gaming experience from four dimensions: improving resolution while maintaining graphic visual quality, increasing frame rate for smoother gaming experience, reducing power consumption for longer battery life, and improving visual fidelity while maintaining frame rate. Currently, Tencent Games, NetEase Games, and Chaoxi Guangnian are all introducing Snapdragon’s game super-resolution technology.

The second generation Snapdragon 8 supports real-time ray tracing based on hardware for the first time. Now, Qualcomm and Tencent Games have made achievements in the field of mobile gaming lighting effects technology – global illumination. Compared to traditional local lighting techniques, which only consider the areas directly illuminated by the light source, global illumination techniques can also take into account the light bouncing multiple times on the object’s surface. According to his introduction, Tencent Games’ engine team has cooperated with Qualcomm on global illumination technology, based on the second generation Snapdragon 8’s hardware ray tracing capabilities, bringing realistic lighting effects that could only be achieved on PCs or high-end game consoles to mobile devices, and demonstrated the lighting effects that can currently be achieved on smartphones.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile platforms have always been the first to support the most advanced graphics APIs. The second generation Snapdragon 8 now supports the latest Vulkan 1.3. As a replacement for OpenGL, Vulkan can better hand over control of the driver to developers, support multi-threading, and thus make more efficient use of the CPU and reduce the load. Thanks to Qualcomm’s support for this technology on its Snapdragon mobile platforms, Vulkan has gradually become the priority adaptation target for new models.

Regarding Qualcomm’s cooperation with game studios in the field of Vulkan, Yao Yifei mentioned that over the past three years, Qualcomm has had in-depth cooperation with the game “Asphalt 9: Legends” in terms of technology, such as using variable resolution rendering technology (VRS) in the game, which takes advantage of the support for the new graphics API Vulkan. The two parties have closely collaborated, leveraging the optimal performance of the Snapdragon mobile platform’s CPU, GPU, and other modules, combined with the excellent lighting and shadow effects of “Asphalt 9: Legends,” to enhance the ultimate experience. In “Asphalt 9: Legends”, Vulkan can save 15-18% power consumption compared to the OpenGL ES version.

In addition, Snapdragon Elite Gaming is also a technology that Qualcomm has been promoting in recent years. Now, Snapdragon Elite Gaming has been continuously upgraded, allowing mobile game players to truly enjoy gaming experiences comparable to console games, and play AAA games smoothly on mobile devices. “The latest generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming, supported by the second generation Snapdragon 8, unlocks new features including Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, hardware-based real-time ray tracing, and support for the latest graphics API Vulkan 1.3.

In addition to chip-level optimization, Qualcomm has also made more optimizations in terms of network and audio latency. Wi-Fi 7, which is upgraded first on the network side and terminal side, provides players with a truly end-to-end connection experience. In places without high-speed Wi-Fi coverage, 5G can also provide support. Snapdragon Sound integrates a series of Qualcomm’s best audio technologies and connectivity innovations, providing strong assistance for sound positioning.

In the field of mobile gaming, Qualcomm’s empowerment extends beyond smartphones. In this event, Qualcomm showcased the expansion of Snapdragon from smartphones to PC, handheld consoles, XR, and automotive fields. The Snapdragon ecosystem that has been built is breaking the boundaries of digital entertainment experiences, allowing players to enjoy gaming anytime, anywhere, and across multiple devices.

In response to this, Qualcomm stated that they will showcase their progress in more fields at this ChinaJoy. For example, in the VR field, Qualcomm will present users with a vivid and interesting “Snapdragon XR Fantasy Tour”. It is understood that this is an immersive entertainment project created using GVR, combined with Snapdragon motion seats, PICO 4 Pro VR glasses, and Xiaomi tablets to achieve wireless multi-device interaction through Wi-Fi 6, bringing a low-latency, ultimate immersive XR gaming experience.

And in the hot field of smart cars today, Qualcomm also has a forward-looking layout. It is reported that Qualcomm has partnered with Gahe Auto, Netease Games’ Thunderfire Studio to integrate their respective resources and technological advantages to create an immersive entertainment experience across smart terminals. This means that in the Snapdragon themed hall at ChinaJoy, we can experience the HiPhi Y from Gahe Auto (displayed on the co-pilot screen and requires a gamepad) powered by the Snapdragon platform, and simultaneously enjoy the latest street basketball game “All-Star Streetball Party” created by Netease Games’ Thunderfire Studio.

At this year’s ChinaJoy, Qualcomm will once again collaborate with heavyweight partners in the industry including operators, leading global smartphone manufacturers, game studios, electric vehicle manufacturers, and e-commerce companies to create the Snapdragon themed hall for the fourth time, featuring 11 brand booths. Hou Mingjuan, Vice President of Qualcomm Global, highlighted the highlights of the Snapdragon booth: “At the upcoming ChinaJoy, we will bring more than 100 technology experiences and demonstrations with the support of our 89 partners and brands. The Snapdragon booth will also host the finals of the Snapdragon Esports Pioneer Invitational. The ‘Snapdragon JD Super Category Day’ will also bring surprises. For Snapdragon users, mobile gamers, esports enthusiasts, and consumers at large, we will present a panoramic view of the excellent mobile gaming and cross-terminal digital entertainment experiences empowered by Snapdragon.”

We will continue to update Phone&Auto; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!