Microsoft is launching Xbox Labs to support the wave of AI-powered game ports and mods

In response to games being decompiled by AI and then recompiled for the browser or Apple Silicon, Xbox has set up a small team tasked with openly experimenting with these techniques.

In recent weeks, enthusiasts have used AI to decompile games and then rebuild them on machines they were never designed for: Windows versions converted for Apple chips, or ports playable in the browser thanks to WebAssembly and WebGPU, such as adaptations of Halo: Combat Evolved or Call of Duty. Others mix the code of several games, to the point of grafting Mario's platform into Elden Ring.

Rather accompany than fight

In an internal memo published on October 13, 2026, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced the creation of Xbox Labs, a small group of game creators, engineers and scientists whose implementation is entrusted to CTO Scott Van Vliet. She acknowledges that these practices shake up established business models, in particular the link between software and its hardware, but considers their effects to be clearly positive for players. Xbox says it wants to work in the open, share the tools that will come out of it and measure success by the number of people who play and create.