Microsoft is preparing to launch an AI-powered Copilot for Gaming soon that will guide Xbox players through games and act as an assistant to download and launch games. Copilot for Gaming, as Microsoft is branding it, will be available through the Xbox mobile app initially and is designed to work on a second screen as a companion or assistant.
Microsoft is positioning Copilot for Gaming as a sidekick of sorts, one that will accompany you through games, offering up tips and guides and useful information about a game world. During a press briefing, Sonali Yadav, product manager for gaming AI, demonstrated several scenarios for what Copilot for Gaming could be used for. One involved a concept demo of Copilot assisting an Overwatch 2 player by coaching them on the mistakes they made when trying to push without teammates.
In the Overwatch 2 demo, Copilot could even recommend good hero picks to complement the rest of the team and tell you more about why you’d want to pair up particular characters, detailing their strengths and weaknesses. Another demo involved using Copilot with Minecraft, where you could ask Copilot questions about how to craft objects. Copilot can see your screen, so it can guide you and see exactly what you’re doing in a game. The demo also included the option to enable cheats in Minecraft, so Copilot could even tell you where certain crafting materials are located in the world.
The demos felt very concept in nature, and they won’t be available during the initial launch of Copilot for Gaming next month. Instead, Microsoft will test early versions of Copilot with Xbox Insiders through the Xbox mobile app in April, before eventually bringing Copilot to multiple devices.
Microsoft also has a slick marketing video for its Copilot for Gaming effort, but none of it looks real world to me, so it’s difficult to understand exactly what the company will deliver to testers in April. It looks like Microsoft has the vision for where it wants Copilot on an Xbox to be in the future, and it says it will iterate based on feedback. But right now, I’ll be interested to see how this launches in a more limited fashion on mobile devices.
