AMD’s Vision for Gaming Today and Tomorrow: VGTimes Report and Interview at CES 2026

At CES 2026, VGTimes Editor-in-Chief Rodion Ilin visited AMD’s exhibition area, where he explored the company’s latest products, attended presentations, and spoke with brand representatives about the most relevant technologies and solutions.

Donny Woligroski from AMD hosted a press presentation, during which he shared a lot of interesting details about the products of one of the world’s leading tech giants. Woligroski emphasized that the company already offers the fastest gaming CPUs on the market, but decided to push performance even further. That approach resulted in the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which AMD developed simply because it was technically possible to do so.

The key advantage of X3D technology, as Woligroski explained, lies in placing a large amount of cache memory directly on the processor itself. In gaming scenarios where hundreds of frames per second are required, new frames must be delivered every few milliseconds, leaving virtually no room for latency. One of the primary sources of delay in such cases is the CPU accessing system memory.

With X3D processors, a substantial portion of memory — roughly 104 MB of cache — is located on the CPU. This significantly reduces the need to access system RAM and makes the processor far less sensitive to memory latency. According to Woligroski, even slower memory or a single RAM module results in only a negligible performance difference, typically within a few percent.

This approach also allows gamers to reduce the overall cost of their systems. Users can start with a single memory module, save money upfront — especially given current memory prices — and still maintain excellent gaming performance.

During the presentation, AMD also showcased Crimson Desert, one of the most anticipated games of 2026, scheduled for release in March. Woligroski noted that AMD works closely with the game’s developers and maintains strong partnerships across the industry.

Because AMD is deeply embedded in gaming development, the company provides proprietary software solutions for the Ryzen 9000 series. In the demonstrated system, AMD used a Radeon RX 7900 XT, highlighting the close integration between hardware and software.

One of the showcased technologies was FSR Redstone, which introduces AI-based upscaling. This allows games to be rendered at lower internal resolutions and then upscaled to 4K — or even 5K on newer displays — while maintaining image quality. Woligroski pointed out that AI handles this process extremely well.

AI is also used for frame generation. For example, when a game runs at 60 frames per second on a 120 Hz monitor, AI can generate intermediate frames to achieve motion smoothness comparable to native 120 FPS, even though only 60 frames are actually rendered. This significantly improves perceived smoothness.

Another major feature highlighted was ray regeneration, a new component of FSR. Fully calculating all light rays in real time would be prohibitively slow and make games unplayable. Instead, AMD samples a limited number of light rays and then uses AI-driven ray regeneration to denoise the image and reconstruct missing information, approximating a highly accurate global lighting model.

All of these technologies are implemented in Crimson Desert. Although the game is not releasing until March, the demo shown at CES was a development preview build. Woligroski noted that the proprietary engine delivers high visual quality regardless of distance or traversal, and praised the developers for their work and close collaboration with AMD.

He also pointed out how exciting it is to see hardware, AI technologies, and new games evolving together.

In addition, Woligroski highlighted a collaboration with ModRetro, a company producing retro gaming consoles. He explained that traditional software-based emulation of systems like the Nintendo Game Boy or Nintendo 64 often suffers from visual artifacts, timing issues, or inconsistent performance.

AMD addresses this through the use of FPGA processors, a specialized type of chip typically reserved for engineering or custom AI applications. These chips act as programmable blank slates.

ModRetro uses AMD’s FPGA technology to recreate a Nintendo 64 chip at the hardware level, resulting in behavior identical to the original console while adding modern features such as HDMI output. Original cartridges can be used, delivering an authentic experience with accurate hardware emulation. The same FPGA-based approach is also used for their Game Boy emulator.

Woligroski noted that FPGA usage in consumer products is still rare, but this example demonstrates the flexibility and potential of AMD’s technology.

After the presentation, we interviewed Donny Woligroski (read it below) and also spoke with another AMD representative, Mark Peng. He showed how the company’s latest AI hardware can be used for AI-based coffee recommendations.

He explained that the concept is designed for a retail environment such as a coffee shop. When a customer enters the store, their membership card is recognized, and the system already has a profile associated with that person. Based on this profile, the system can take personal preferences into account — for example, whether someone prefers healthier options, pure coffee, or decaffeinated drinks.

Using these inputs, the system generates personalized coffee recommendations. According to Peng, this is achieved by running a local large language model combined with video analytics, all powered by AMD’s latest AI chip.

All processing happens locally inside a compact device — the AI Box, which is physically installed in the store, behind the wall. The AI box is not limited to coffee recommendations alone. It also manages store operations by monitoring and analyzing data from coffee machines, water filters, air conditioning systems, and refrigerators.

In addition, the system handles energy optimization. By tracking how many people are inside the store, it can dynamically adjust room temperature and optimize space usage to improve efficiency.

Peng noted that tasks like these were traditionally handled entirely in the cloud, including analytics and AI model processing. With modern AI chips, however, all of this computation can now be performed locally inside the AI box, without relying on cloud infrastructure.

VGTimes: AMD is investing heavily in AI right now. Do you see it as a real driver of progress and the future of the industry, or is it mostly marketing? Maybe what we really need is more transistors, cache, and memory rather than AI everywhere?

Donny Woligroski: I’ll say this — regardless of where it ultimately goes, AI has already proven itself to be absolutely invaluable. From a gamer’s perspective, you simply couldn’t play at 4K resolution with high frame rates and beautiful visuals on lower-end hardware without some form of AI assistance. It just wouldn’t be possible.

We already rely on AI from a gaming perspective. And from the perspective of office workers or content creators, there are now so many things you can do that either weren’t possible before or were extremely difficult. Take something like vibe coding — I’m not a trained coder, but I can learn it very quickly and just ask a PC to generate code for an app. That’s incredible. That simply didn’t exist before.

So these use cases are already changing the way we work. AI has clearly proven its value. As for how far it will go and how much investment it will require over time — I don’t have a crystal ball. But the potential is obviously there to do some really incredible things that we probably don’t even fully understand yet.

And inevitably, I think we’ll keep moving forward until it makes sense to slow down or stop — at least in my opinion.

VGTimes: Speaking more broadly, how does AMD decide which direction to take as a large technology company? What does the industry expect from AMD today, and how do you choose your long-term development path?

Donny Woligroski: I can’t really speak for the company as a whole, because my work is focused on the client side — consumer processors and professional processors. But I can talk about that.

First of all, we build a roadmap based on where we believe the industry is going. We have very informed product managers, marketing teams, and leaders who help guide those decisions for both consumer and commercial markets. From there, we create product roadmaps that we believe will address those needs and continue pushing the envelope over time.

Every product has specific targets — performance, efficiency, battery life, and many other factors. We make the bets that we believe are the right ones. And AMD has a strong history of making good bets.

In terms of where we’re going, we’ve made huge strides — especially in desktop CPUs, gaming laptops, and AI. I can’t say enough good things about the people making these decisions. Their “crystal ball” has been working very well. It’s a great industry to be in right now: very competitive, with a lot of players fighting for position.

As someone who’s worked at AMD for ten years, I couldn’t be happier with how we’ve been steering the ship.

VGTimes: Can you comment on GPUs, or is that outside your area?

Donny Woligroski: I can talk about it, but there’s not much I can say in general terms. If you ask a specific question, I’ll tell you whether I can answer it.

VGTimes: AMD and NVIDIA compete in the GPU market. Sometimes AMD gets very close, sometimes NVIDIA pulls ahead. What needs to change for AMD to become the clear leader in graphics?

Donny Woligroski: All I can really say is that our CEO, Lisa Su, has made it very clear that AMD is a high-performance computing company. We make massive investments in graphics technology, AI technology, and general processing. Our goal is always to be a performance leader.

Lisa has a long track record of making the right long-term decisions and placing the right bets. Of course, I can’t announce anything before it’s ready. But I have a lot of confidence in our leadership and in the direction we’re taking with graphics going forward.

VGTimes: AMD operates across many areas — PCs, consoles, AI, data centers. Is there a risk in spreading resources too widely? Would it be better to focus on just a few key areas?

Donny Woligroski: Being everywhere actually has major advantages. If you’re the company with the best server processors, strong graphics solutions, and great CPUs across different platforms, that’s very attractive to partners.

You become a single-source solution — one company that understands the entire ecosystem. Most competitors only cover part of that picture. They may focus deeply on one segment, but they don’t see the whole system the way we do.

Because we operate end-to-end, we can connect these technologies in ways others can’t. I see that as a huge advantage for AMD, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

VGTimes: In the handheld gaming PC segment, AMD has effectively become the standard. How would you assess the maturity of that ecosystem in 2026?

Donny Woligroski: I think it’s aging like fine wine. A lot of it comes down to having the right hardware at the right price that delivers the right experience. I think we do that well.

There’s always room to improve software support — drivers, features, upscaling on small handheld devices. Technologies like AMD FSR allow you to play games that simply wouldn’t be playable on handhelds otherwise.

And again, we have end-to-end experience. We power PlayStation, Xbox, PCs. That gives us a strong understanding of the entire market and what features can help a small mobile chip scale all the way up to laptops and desktops.

It’s exciting to be part of this new handheld space — it’s bringing PC gaming directly into people’s hands.

VGTimes: Looking ahead, do you think the future belongs more to PC gaming or console gaming?

Donny Woligroski: Honestly, I don’t even feel fully equipped to answer that. For decades, people have been saying that PC gaming is over and that everything would move to consoles — and that never happened.

If anything, high-end PC gaming is one of the most interesting and fastest-growing segments. You now have enthusiasts who are both hardware enthusiasts and gamers at the same time. That overlap is incredibly exciting.

That’s why I’m here. I love PC hardware, and I love gaming. Gaming is what got me into PC hardware in the first place. Being able to combine those passions is amazing.

I don’t see PC gaming going anywhere. But I do think the way we access it might change. Imagine ultra-high-resolution smart glasses with low latency, playing games on a plane without anyone noticing — just glasses and a controller. Or AI-driven NPCs that can meaningfully interact with you, or even act as intelligent companions in-game that you can give real instructions to.

We’re on the verge of some very exciting technologies that will push PC gaming — and gaming in general — in new directions. And that’s incredibly exciting.

VGTimes: Thank you.

Donny Woligroski: Thanks for coming.

Article by Rodion Ilin and Fazil Dzhyndzholiia.

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and during this time has attended dozens of exhibitions and festivals where our journalists gathered numerous exclusive materials. For example, in 2019 we attended a closed Cyberpunk 2077 showing at gamescom, in 2017 we prepared a photo report from WG Fest, in 2020 we were at Central Asia's largest gaming event CAGS, and we also visited "IgroMir" several times, where we saw Hideo Kojima and other famous developers. Last year, we traveled to the land of the rising sun for TGS 2024, where we were amazed by the scale of the event. And this year we saw with our own eyes one of Asia's major gaming exhibitions — ChinaJoy in Shanghai and gamescom asia in Bangkok.