Key Takeaways from GDC 2025: Arm’s Role in Shaping the Future of Gaming

As thousands gathered at San Francisco’s Moscone Center for Game Developer Conference (GDC) 2025 developers came together to explore how technology is shaping the future of mobile gaming. With 99% of premium smartphones powered by Arm technology, we continue to play a central role in delivering the performance and graphics capabilities needed to create immersive, next-generation gaming experiences. 

A key highlight was the Arm GDC Developer Summit – a dedicated space where developers, partners, and industry leaders exchanged insights, explored technical innovations, and shared ideas on building high-performance mobile games. The sessions spotlighted the impact of Arm CPUs, Mali, and Immortalis GPUs in enabling smoother, more responsive gameplay across a wide range of mobile devices. 

Throughout the event, Arm showcased various key technologies and tools to help developers build more immersive, efficient mobile games: 

• Arm ASR: Intelligent upscaling for sharper visuals and smoother performance, demonstrated by Enduring Games.  

• Ray tracing: Console-quality lighting on mobile using Lumen and Immortalis GPUs, in collaboration with Epic Games.  

• Performance tools: Godot Engine used Arm Performance Studio and Frame Advisor to optimize game efficiency.  

• NPC interactions: Natural language interactions showcased in Unity for more dynamic, voice-responsive gameplay.  

• AI coaching: In-game guidance in Honor of Kings, developed with Tencent using large language models and text-to-speech. 

Elevating mobile gaming visuals with Arm ASR

At GDC 2025, we made Arm ASR available through our open-source experience kit. It includes an Unreal Engine plug-in, a generic library to integrate into custom engines, with a Unity plug-in coming later in the year. Moreover, Enduring Games, Sumo Digital, and Infold Games, who are dedicated to bringing console-quality experiences to mobile devices, showed how they achieved stunning graphics while maintaining smooth, responsive gameplay.  

“With Arm ASR, we’re able to bring the console-quality visuals that players expect while ensuring our games run efficiently on a wide range of devices,” said Adam Creighton, Founder & Studio Head at Enduring Games.

Delivering efficiency and speed to mobile with Arm Performance Studio at GDC 2025

High-fidelity visuals are only part of the equation – performance optimization is equally critical. At GDC 2025, Arm Performance Studio took center stage and showed how developers can fine-tune their games and apps for greater efficiency and speed. 

A key highlight was the optimization of Godot Engine’s 3D renderer for mobile. Using Arm Streamline and Arm Performance Advisor, the session identified key performance bottlenecks, offering developers deeper insights into areas for improvement. Following this, the Mali Offline Compiler was used to refine rendering efficiency, improving overall performance while maintaining visual quality. The results were then profiled, demonstrating tangible improvements in a real-world game project. 

With advanced profiling capabilities and real-time performance insights, Arm Performance Studio continues to be a critical tool for optimizing mobile games. As the industry pushes the boundaries of mobile gaming, these tools provide developers with the precision needed to enhance efficiency, stability, and responsiveness across Arm-based platforms. 

“Optimizing for mobile isn’t as straightforward as desktop development,” explained Clay John, Godot Engine Developer. “Arm’s tools enabled us to boost rendering efficiency, improve frame rates, and ensure smoother performance.”​ 

Exploring natural language interactions with NPCs

One of the most talked-about innovations at GDC 2025 was AI-driven verbal interactions with non-player characters (NPCs). Inspired by how children learn and interact, this technology enables NPCs to understand, respond, and even refuse certain player commands, thus bringing a new level of immersion to gameplay.​ 

Our AI demo, set in a toy-filled environment, allowed an NPC to follow user instructions, make decisions, and adapt dynamically. “Pick up the green LEGO and put it in the toy box,” a user commanded. The NPC responded: “I don’t want to.” Over time, it learned new tasks, retried actions, and even developed preferences, like a real character in a living game world.​ 

Beyond making innovations smarter, AI-driven NPCs can help create richer, more interactive storytelling experiences. Through compact AI models and efficient speech processing, Arm is opening new doors for developers to build more dynamic, lifelike game worlds. 

Enabling AI coaching in mobile gaming at GDC 2025

AI is also transforming how players learn and improve their skills. Tencent, one of the world’s largest gaming companies, is working with Arm to integrate AI coaching into mobile gaming, using large language models (LLMs) and text-to-speech (TTS) technologies to provide real-time gameplay guidance.​ 

With AI coaching, players can receive strategic advice, such as when to use abilities, how to position game characters, and what tactics to employ against opponents. However, deploying AI on mobile isn’t without its challenges. Large model sizes can lead to higher latency and increased power consumption, which impact gameplay. To overcome this, Tencent AIPD (AI Platforms Division) has worked with Arm to minimize download times, compress models, and optimize AI processing for smooth, energy-efficient performance.​ 

This collaboration is a prime example of how AI can help enhance mobile gaming experiences without sacrificing mobile performance and sets a new benchmark for AI-assisted gaming experiences. 

Bringing console-quality lighting to mobile games

Picture realistic sunlight casting natural shadows, light scattering through the air, and reflections adjusting dynamically, all while maintaining smooth performance when mobile gaming. 

One of the highlights of GDC 2025 was Arm’s “Mori” demo featuring a flying squirrel clambering through a forest, where we optimized Unreal Engine’s Lumen technology for Arm-powered devices. When combined with Arm ASR, Lumen delivers breathtaking real-time lighting effects on mobile. As mobile hardware continues to evolve, ray tracing and advanced lighting effects will no longer be limited to high-end PCs and consoles. 

Learn more on how Arm Immortalis-G715 offers hardware-based ray tracing support on mobile. 

Shaping the future of mobile gaming with Arm

As mobile gaming reaches new heights, Arm continues to remain at the forefront – powering devices, optimizing performance, and enabling groundbreaking AI experiences. Moreover, with access to Arm’s technical resources and optimization tools, developers can build high-fidelity experiences that run smoothly, efficiently, and with exceptional power efficiency.  

Whether it’s enabling AI-powered NPCs, real-time ray tracing, or AI coaching – Arm is helping developers create more immersive, visually stunning, and responsive gaming experiences.