Microsoft is forming a new team called Xbox Labs to try out new ideas in gaming, VGC reported. Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma told staff about it in a note on Tuesday.

The move follows a recent wave of fan projects that were built with artificial intelligence tools. In recent weeks, modders have shared game mashups, such as Mario-style platforming inside Elden Ring, and unusual ports, such as Call of Duty running in a web browser, VGC said. Many of those projects used Claude's new Opus 5.5 model, it reported.

"In recent weeks, we've seen games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support," Sharma wrote, VGC reported. She said some Windows games have been made to run on Apple's own chips or inside a browser.

Scott Van Vliet, Xbox's chief technology officer, will lead the team, VGC reported. Sharma called it "a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists," VGC reported. Its job is to turn emerging ideas into experiences that players and developers can try. Windows Central reported that the team will work on tools that let games run on new kinds of hardware, including Apple's chips and the web.

Sharma said people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing Xbox games, about five times the time spent writing code around the world, VGC reported. She said Xbox will share the tools it builds with other game developers.

The company has also been bringing its biggest games to PlayStation as it tries to reach more players, Windows Central noted. Sharma said Xbox's other plans, including its hardware, are not changing.

What we know: Xbox Labs is a new team led by Scott Van Vliet to explore AI-driven ports and other new technology.
What we don't: What the team will release first, or when players will see it.