Yeah, PC based gets around having to have explicit ports. The downside is that there’d probably be some confusion with customers because they’d expect access to their Xbox games.
That too.
It is also the same issue with cloud xbox - not all the games have the cloud support.
They run Linux SteamOS and games go through a DirectX to Vulkan graphical translation layer called DXVK. The other WinOS layers go through Proton.
There is an option to self-install Windows OS on it. I think most of the hardware has proper drivers now.
2 Likes
It will play other games via xCloud
It is what it is
There is place for everything. Or else why we even talking a handheld from traditional console making company
It’s cross promotion but I think it will be great to discuss this stuff with Jez on windows central platform
Come join pls
I would like to point out that MS has worked with AMD before to make a “custom/rebadge” chip for their Surface laptop, we could see something like that for the handheld
1 Like
That’s theoretical max clocks, which it doesn’t achieve under power constraints.
In real world benchmarks, in a game like God of War, it hovers around 1900mhz GPU boost (versus 2200 max, which that teraflop count was derived from), and that’s when the CPU isn’t contending for a lot of that power. You mention the ram type being slower and that’s arguably underplaying it - it’s closer to 1/3 the bandwidth of the Series S. All of this is while using 28w just from the chip, so this is using nearly double the power of the steam deck’s APU to do it, and ~3x the Switch.
As I said in my last post, I think something running on similar tech could probably achieve Xbox One S game compatibility, but Series S is at least 2 and maybe more chip generations away from being able to achieve full compatibility in a handheld.
As people have noted, as a PC, it could work. But I remain convinced it would not make strong business sense to enter this market. There is a demand for it, but I don’t think it’s a big demand (on the scale of tens-of-millions necessary to make a good case for console hardware).
1 Like
I mentioned the limitations right below
Maybe you didn’t read my full post😂
I would be day one if they can make a handheld with the power of series s and provide access to entire xbox library. I guess only tricky part would be file size
I think it is completely possible to create a surfaceish sized Xbox portable. The Series S is already incredibly small for what it is. I think within the next year or so that chipset could be even smaller. The device itself may have to be a bit thicker than we are used to seeing with everything needing to be sleek today, but if it has the controllers built into it, I don’t think that would be too bad. I would think the device would need to be all digital to keep costs and size down. at most have a high speed SD card slot and a replaceable M.2 style hard drive. borrow a screen from Samsung 1080p 60hz capable. Have it where you can download games directly from the store or gamepass and also give you the option to install them from an SD card or external drive via USB-C. If you wanted to go streaming only portable device. as long as it has 5GUW capability and a chipset that can run it you should be good as long as you are near a major city. I personally wouldn’t bother with a streaming only portable we already have phones for that.
I was planning on maybe getting the Backbone when it becomes available for Android down the line, but this would probably supersede that. Fingers crossed they make it work and announce it before I pull the trigger 
I was frequenting another forum when someone who claimed to be a former Xbox employee started an AMA (Username is “Lifespan”). Someone mused about the likelihood of a portable Xbox instead of a mid-gen refresh:
I think it’s also more possible that Microsoft could make a SteamDeck-like portable Series S at some point at a SteamDeck-like price point. I just don’t see how pricing an enhanced console would work given the sales of last generation enhanced hardware.
And here’s what this person had to say:
I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. There are a bunch of initiatives that got pretty far but never saw the light of day and a portable console was never one of them. I would be very shocked if there was ever a true handheld Xbox. Digital Foundry’s piece on why there might not be a “Pro” this generation makes a ton of sense. The only thing I believe would inspire a “Pro” would be if it was easier to cost cut with newer/faster components.
When I asked them if I could post their answer here, they expanded:
For more context, I would heavily point to xCloud and Game Pass PC. Xbox loses money on every console sold. If they can convince you to buy their services, games, and accessories without losing money on a console, that is a huge win. For that reason, I would never expect them to push expensive hardware outside of their established console market. Instead, they will continue to push xCloud (yes, I agree latency and all that) and Game Pass and let people bring their own portable devices (be it an iPhone or a Steam Deck or whatever is popular). Another important point that Xbox is definitely well aware of, the handheld market is filled with failed products that don’t have the name Nintendo, and that includes the PS Vita which was an excellent little system. Too expensive, too volatile, not much upside, so I don’t see it happening.
I can’t vouch for this person of course, but the rest of their posts seem legitimate enough to me. Of course even if they are legit, they could still be wrong or out of date. Either way, I thought it was worth posting here.
The logic definitely makes some sense.
Hm, I wonder then why Sony does not lose money on Playstation 5…
The fact that 15-16 million units of Vita sold is viewed as failed seems to me that the guy was at Xbox / MS a long time ago, likely before family of devices philosophy was adopted.
If a portable Xbox sells 15 million devices and retains / gains 10 million Gamepass subscribers, that’s a nearly 1.5 billion a year in revenue from Gamepass subs along. Add traditional game sales, DLC, etc, the revenue can easily be 3+ billion a year. The monetization strategy is drastically different for MS, because it is 2022, and because MS is not Nintendo.
For the record, I think a native Xbox handheld will handily outsell any Xbox streaming device.
I agree that it would easily outsell a streaming device I just struggle to see it being powerful enough to be good in the long run.
XCloud could be used as a major piece but where will it actually be usable? 5G isnt that great… It may be fast but the speed drops significantly if youre inbetween the device and the tower. That alone wont create a great experience plus atleast in the UK there isnt enough of a stable network to support a “cloud” device.On trains (which is where I would use a device like this) it is rare to have 4g let alone 5g atm.
I would be suriously surprised if you could get a device as powerful as the Series S in a handheld within the next 2 years or so. Which would limit what gamepass games you could actually run on the device
1 Like
I’m too lazy to dig back through old posts and confirm, but I think they said they were with Xbox through the launch of the Series consoles.
Was this conversation before or after Steam Deck was announced.
The AMA? It was like a day or two before I posted about it on here, so like a week ago.
That sucks to hear from a source, but hopefully what he knew wasn’t representative of the mindset of the xbox hw team.