Intel Teases Battlemage GPU Launch Date As Arc Makes First Steam Survey Appearance
You didn't really think Intel was finished with its foray into discrete GPUs, did you? Confirming otherwise, Intel basically just confirmed that it's planning to launch its next-gen Arc Battlemage lineup this Tuesday, December 3 (tomorrow) at 6:00am Pacific / 9:00am Eastern. We'll have to wait until then to see exactly what unfolds, but make no mistake, Battlemage is right around the corner.
The confirmation of sorts came on X/Twitter by the chip maker's official Intel Gaming (@IntelGaming). Here's a look...
Happy December! It’s time to B merry🎄See you on December 3rd at 9am ET on https://t.co/WSCIoxfKtY
— Intel Gaming (@IntelGaming) December 1, 2024
PT: 6:00 AM
CET: 3:00 PM
JST: 11:00 PM
AET: 12:00 AM (Dec 4th) pic.twitter.com/DrZN4hNE1z
"Happy December! It's time to B merry. See you on December 3rd at 9am ET on YouTube," the company posted on X/Twitter, complete with an emoji of a Christmas tree.
The "B" in that post is not a typo, but an obvious reference to Battlemage, the codename for Intel's next-generation GPU architecture. When Intel first got back into discrete graphics a few years ago (following a long absence dating back to Larrabee), it shared a roadmap for several generations of GPU architectures starting with Arc Alchemist (Xe), followed by Battlemage (Xe2), Celestial (Xe3), and Druid (Xe Next).
Assuming this isn't a giant fake out—and it isn't, judging by the barrage of recent Battlemage leaks—it means Intel will beat both AMD and NVIDIA to the punch in announcing a new round of GPUs. Not by much, mind you, as NVIDIA is widely expected to formally introduce its GeForce RTX 50 series at CES in January, but it's still an interesting side note.
What's also interesting is that the pending launch comes hot on the heels of Intel's Arc graphics cracking Steam's hardware survey for the first time ever. You have to scroll down quite a ways, but once you do, you'll see that Arc managed to grab a 0.01% share of the surveyed Steam community.
There are a couple of caveats to note. One is that Steam's hardware survey is not all-inclusive of every Steam gamer, but whichever ones he chooses to ping and who opt into the survey. And secondly, the appearance is undoubtedly fueled by integrated graphics largely from Intel's Core Ultra 100 series processors based on Meteor Lake.
Still, it's an achievement, and a timely one at that.
