Microsoft has just announced the imminent availability of Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered assistant touted as a new way to help players get better at their favorite games. The company claims that it will accompany people in games, offering tips, tricks, and useful information along the way.
Microsoft boasts that it can also help people download and launch games, solving the eternal problem of pressing a button. Copilot for Gaming will be available as part of the Xbox mobile app, so it’s positioned as a second screen.
We are not quite sure how it works. There are demo videos, but they are just proofs of concept. In one of them, Copilot recommends a hero for Overwatch 2 that will complement the rest of the team. In another video, an AI assistant answers questions about Minecraft building techniques. The demonstration also showed how Copilot turns on cheats in Minecraft, and the bot tells the player where to find materials for crafting. Hopefully, this technology will be ready the next time Elon Musk wants to demonstrate his “skills” with Path of Exile 2.
Microsoft says that Copilot will be able to see your game screen through app integration to offer real-time hints. Again, we don’t know how this will work or what information it will be able to get. None of the aforementioned tasks will be available during the initial launch, so we don’t even know what players will be able to do with this thing, if anything. So much for modern artificial intelligence!
In any case, Copilot for Gaming will be available to Xbox Insider program members in April. Microsoft says that it will be iteratively developed according to user feedback. After the company eliminates some shortcomings, it will become available to more players.
Today, Microsoft also announced that the Xbox Play Anywhere program now provides access to more than 1,000 games. This is a cross-platform service that allows people to enjoy the game on both Xbox consoles and PCs. The platform even tracks saves, progress, and achievements.
