Xbox Labs and AI game decompilation

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has formed Xbox Labs, a small team of game makers, engineers, and scientists led by CTO Scott Van Vliet, to turn emerging AI-driven game creation ideas into player and developer experiences. The group was prompted by a wave of AI-powered mods and ports, including Mario running inside Elden Ring and Call of Duty running in a web browser, created by modders using Claude's Opus 5.5 model. Xbox Labs will build in the open and measure success by whether more people are playing and creating. The underlying technology, AI-assisted decompilation, also applies beyond games to any software, raising concerns about proprietary code theft and unauthorized open-sourcing of paid applications. Game preservation advocates see the same capability as a way for players to retain access to software after servers shut down or companies abandon titles.