Just noticed this reply by Tom Warren on Twitter and I wasn’t sure if it had been posted here or not but here it is:
This confirms that the Xbox Handheld will be a Hybrid PC/Console that will be capable of running Steam.
So that means that the handheld will be able to play Xbox Games, Playstation Games, Nintendo Games (through emulation), and all 3rd Party Games including PC exclusives (League, RUST, StarCraft, etc.).
Not sure why the image isn’t loading. Here’s a link to the tweet: x.com
Hybrid like Switch? And then also a actual console that is gonna be much more powerful, I’m guessing.
Here you go.
Microsoft's handheld will also run PlayStation games, because Sony puts their games on PC.
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 25, 2024
More open-secret than confirmation lol
Hybrid just means combining two things, so gotta be careful when trying to make connections.
In this scenario, the Xbox handheld (and likely the next Xbox itself) is a hybrid between a PC and a handheld console. If by, like Switch, we just mean it has video output and can connect to controllers then it’ll be like Switch also.
You know, with PS making an handheld, I do wonder if it’s solely based on PS, because that will be hard to market. Portal is fine since it’s cheap, but a pricey handheld will be tough.
It’s supposed to play PS5 games natively (if it ever comes out) so it’d probably need to be based solely on PS.
I don’t think anyone knows anything, just more educated guesses. If you follow what PS and Xbox have been doing I think we can guess what will be released. For Sony and the rumors of the handheld playing PS5 games, I think we can assume it will be a Portal-like device using remote play and the cloud. Who knows about any sort of PC capability.
For an Xbox handheld, we can assume it will fit in with the “Play Anywhere” initiative. One purchase, play on Xbox console, PC, or handheld. Xbox already has the Series S profiles to run natively and any more advanced games will be played via the cloud.
When it comes to MS/Xbox you can firmly put Tom in the “knows things” camps unlike the insider culture we see around podcasts.
There are lots of people who don’t have a PC library, or any library other than PS so for those people it will be fine. But for everyone else a portable that can play all Xbox Games, all PC Games, all Playstation Games (that come to PC), and Nintendo Games (thru emulation) is going to be a huge value add.
A lot of people will have to ask themselves “why would I buy a PS portable when it doesn’t include my Steam library?”
There are people in the Era Xbox thread still debating whether or not it’s a traditional console or not basically right now. Not sure why this tweet didn’t pick up more attention as it basically confirms the latter.
The original rumor about the PlayStation portable was a ps4 native device that streams ps5/later consoles. You simply cannot get a PS5 or Series X’s power into a handheld now, and not for a long time.
What are they still debating? Whether or not it will be native, not cloud? I think that’s pretty much something we know for sure will be native. Now will it be XboxOS, or Windows based? Or what will be the PC aspect of it? My thinking is XboxOS, and will have the ability to boot to SteamOS in some way.
It makes sense, since it would be both competing with handheld consoles and handheld PCs.
XboxOS with the ability to access the windows kernel only for games. They’re never giving people windows level access to something that can natively run Xbox games, security nightmare.
However it’s done, I think it’s gotta offer Steam for it to make a difference, no?
the entire point is it can just access windows, which means it runs whatever windows has
There would still be a big difference between “Xbox branded Windows device”, so just the MS take on a ROG Ally, and “Xbox portable with a Windows mode/escape hatch/subsystem” even though both could run PC games.
Really hoping for the latter because Windows is a shit experience on handheld but XboxOS would be perfect from day one. Also I want my entire console library to come with me, not just a few play anywhere games.
