MS also won’t have close competition in the space either. They’ll be the only one in high performance handheld console gaming market. MONOPOLY.
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I got mine preordered! I can’t wait for the ultimate gamepass handheld machine!
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What? is this satire? There’s lots of competition actually. It seem like every 3 months, someone release a powerful Handheld gaming PC.
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handheld console gaming market
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Pre-ordered but I’m mostly going to use it for COD on the loo. 
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CMA, FTC style. 
I’m serious though. Looking at the reviews of ROG ALLY, it isn’t a mass market device that can sell millions like a Xbox handheld can.
If a Xbox handheld can sell over 15 million like the Vita did that’s worth the investment.
That’s nearly 2 billion a year in potential software and services revenue added.
The advantages of Xbox handheld over the PC handhelds.
- Better battery life without compromising performance.
- Much lower price without compromising performance.
- Larger library of games.
- Better HW quality and support.
- Better OS software experience.
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Getting a ROG myself, but I know it’s a niche device. However, the value proposition of it is very enticing to play native gamepass and access to Steam and Epic Game store
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Yep. There is a market for both and I certainly will own a Xbox handheld along with a PC handheld.
I buy 1 right away. Xbox on the go handheld.
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I had to pre-order this, can’t wait to natively install and play Xbox Game Pass games portable on it!
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Why would MS do an Xbox specific handheld? makes 0 sense considering they would have to now make even lesser versions of games than SEries S.
If anything its better MS make a premium handheld like this but Windows Mobile PC version.
I addressed this point extensively in the portable thread. But tldr.
Near future device has Xbox One BC, plays cross gen games, and has latest architecture that allows for series s ports to perform well. Current gen games can be ported or streamed from Xcloud. Devs are not mandated to support the device.
Far future device has Series S BC, so it plays the full version of Series S games. For devs making games for the series s, there is no extra work involved to bring it to the handheld. Obviously there will be architectural improvements beyond the series s that developers can optimize for but it’s not mandated.
None of the two devices forces developers to do extra work outside of what they’re already doing for Xbox One, Series S.
If you take something like the Z1 extreme configuration and pair it with 7500mhz lpddr5x, it probably can perform as well as a series s in some games with low level optimization that occurs in console game development.
Obviously MS can order a custom chip that has much lower tdp. Combined with lighter OS and firmware optimizations, wouldn’t be surprised that a Xbox handheld with ROG Allies performance last 3 hours playing the most intense games.
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This device would be a skip for me
Near future device allows the company to collect feedback that will goes into improving the far future device in a way that won’t be possible if the far future device was the first device in the line.
So it’ll be beneficial for you eventually even if you skip out on this device.
More hw the merrier.
Wouldn’t Microsoft be able to do so now using the same approach as Xbox One BC for 360/OG? With no input from devs beyond giving Microsoft the go ahead, to emulate and even do improvements on the emulated games themselves.
For the near future device, they can most definitely do fps boost to take 30fps Xbox One titles to 60fps.
The marketing has to be clear that it’s not a handheld that belongs in the current series lineup, as that implies complete parity when it comes to software compability.
Xbox Two Go? Xbox One Two
I have literally no idea why Xbox would make a handheld. It makes zero sense.
PC handhelds make huge sense and if I had the money I’d be all over this.
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I agree. Just try to put game pass and maybe the microsoft store on as many of those 3p handhelds as possible and as prominently as possible.
I guess they could force an xbox store exclusively on their own handheld but I don’t think that’s worth the hassle.
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Yup that is a great strategy! Be on as many screens as possible! Xbox just needs the games and make sure cloud saves and cross progression works flawlessly
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