Microsoft opened RTX Spark preorders on October 7, 2026, ahead of the first systems’ October 16 ship date. The platform is expected to support hundreds of PC games at launch. The Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599, and the launch lineup includes the Dell XPS 16, MSI Prestige N16 and HP OmniBook Ultra 16.
Call of Duty will miss the launch window. Microsoft says the series is expected to arrive on RTX Spark in 2027, but has not named a specific game or release month. Hundreds of other PC games are expected to work from day one, giving the platform a sizeable catalogue alongside its focus on demanding artificial intelligence workloads.
Microsoft demonstrated RTX Spark’s gaming capabilities at its event. Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Minecraft and World of Warcraft ran on compatible hardware. The company also showed Alan Wake II and Valorant, and said hundreds of AAA and independent games would be supported at launch.
The most striking demonstration featured Gears of War: E-Day running at 60 FPS with graphics set to Ultra. That suggests solid performance in a recent demanding game, but Microsoft left out details needed to assess the result. It did not disclose the resolution or say whether DLSS was active.
That matters: 60 FPS alone gives an incomplete picture of performance. The demonstration shows the game running on the platform, but without the resolution and rendering settings, it cannot serve as a universal benchmark for every RTX Spark laptop.
In an independent preliminary test, Engadget found Gears of War: E-Day running smoothly at a resolution slightly above 1080p on the Surface Laptop Ultra. Performance held on battery and while plugged in. Engadget did not know the official graphics settings, power mode or upscaling technology used in Microsoft’s demonstration.
RTX Spark pairs an Arm-based architecture with an integrated GPU from NVIDIA’s Blackwell generation. Those components may help explain why NVIDIA still needs to work with the Call of Duty team, and possibly other developers, before some major games can deliver suitable performance. Available information also suggests Spain may not be included in the initial launch.
NVIDIA is pitching the platform for more than gaming. Its plans also include content creation and local AI development, alongside gaming on thin laptops and compact desktop systems. That broad target strengthens RTX Spark’s launch case compared with an AI-only machine, though compatibility is not universal.
Microsoft has confirmed only that the Call of Duty series is planned for RTX Spark in 2027. It has not specified which game, a release month, supported devices or the technical reasons for the delay. Industry coverage has linked the issue to adapting Windows on Arm. Support for the Ricochet anti-cheat system on Arm devices remains unconfirmed.
For now, RTX Spark arrives with hundreds of promised games and a 60 FPS Gears of War: E-Day demonstration. The undisclosed resolution and power mode, along with the unknown DLSS status, mean the result is not a definitive benchmark. Call of Duty remains scheduled for 2027.
