Not an official announcement, but it’s probably safe to assume an Xbox handheld is in development.
Do these other handhelds sell enough to justify all these different devices?
I think everyone is looking at Steamdecks success and wanting a piece of that pie.
Lol “steam deck”.
Try; switch.
The switch came out 7 years ago my guy. The steamdeck was definitely inspired by the switch, but the steamdeck has something the switch doesnt: hardware that runs modern releases that normally only run on pc or a powerful console. This is why microsoft is interested in the market now: they realised the time is here for handheld gaming that can play homeconsole releases.
Nah probably the deck. Switch has been out for a long time these companies didn’t start rushing to make these portables until after steam deck. With your logic why stop at the switch. Switch? TRY THE GAME BOY MY GUY
Total Sales numbers don’t lie.
That literally has nothing to do with it as evident by the fact that these handheld didn’t start coming out until after the steam deck. Switch total sales have been high for years now. This is a new trend. You’re free to think whatever you want though
Ah yes the unoriginal and completely outsold “success”, keep on shillin.
nintendo fans are not ok
You cannot compare these. While it is true that the switch sold 13 million+ units it’s first year, these are worldwide sales, while the Steam deck started (and still is) only in a few select markets, and started at a bit over 1 million units sold the first year. That’s what, 8% compared to the Switch’s first year? The deck was not being sold (at least not directly) in over 92% of the countries where the Switch was, so it seems like they are on par, or at least very close, by region.
Also consider that the switch is more targeted at kids, while the deck is targeted at more mature players.
TL;DR You can compare. By total sales to unequivocally know why everyone wants the same form factor.
It’s weird the coolaid drinkers cant read the start of threads to stay on topic.
Must be, there were at least 3 new handheld PCs announced last week.
Sometimes its not just about selling enough to justify creation of new device. Sometimes its the potential that they have in mind. The prices are quite high, so they probably make some bucks out of it while it is hot. Soon the market on PC gaming handhelds will be saturated. Then they need to innovate and create something outstanding in whatever way. At least this is what the optimist in me thinks.
Then they need to innovate and create something outstanding…
There’s the snag. Anything they innovate or create that’s outstanding will 100% be anti-consumer. That, or their version of innovation will be forcing an update to your system that pretty much brick it to ensure you buy a newer model (at least for countries that don’t have strong pro-consumer laws). I can count the number of companies on a single hand that I would trust not to do that.
No they shouldn’t
Phil Spencer holding a steamdeck and looking over at a switch: After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I have a handheld system.
“Hey boss we have the tech from Surface Division to form factor the new Xbox and portable the same. People could just buy one device.”
*Out the Windows boardroom guy meme*
Exactly my thoughs.
I could only see this working if it came with 6 free months of GamePass, or if it was some kind of loss leader to sell games on their store.
Unless it’s as easy to install games from the other stores, why would you otherwise pay to live in a tiny, walled garden?
I would expect it to be a loss leader. The cheap price combined with brand recognition, advertising, and a streamlined experience could make it a successful product I think.
Their competition is the Deck and other handhelds that run full versions of Windows, there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t give it the same kind of capacities (i.e. a real handheld PC) in which case it’s the Deck that will feel like a walled garden considering that not all games are compatible and not all launchers work on it.
I say that as a Deck owner that plays with it pretty much once a day.
I’ve heard from some others that there was a version of Windows (I’m blanking on which one) that worked great on tiny computers, so if they were to revive the project, it could be a really viable competitor.
The other handhelds that run Windows suffer from it being too much of a traditional PC first and not having enough “console” in them, from what I hear. Can’t say from first hand experience, though, since I also own a Deck.
Either way, time will tell what eventually comes out of that brief sentiment.
Yep, Windows 8 had a mobile/tablet version.
I also mentioned in another comment that they could simply do the same thing as with the Deck, have it start with a handheld/controller friendly UI (hmmm where could Microsoft’s Xbox division find that?) and give the option to switch to regular old Windows to do desktop stuff. It’s not as if playing on the desktop without a mouse and keyboard attached to the Deck is a fun experience either!
Even the ROG Ally comes with a free month of GamePass Ultimate, and a new Xbox comes with 90 days. I don’t see why a MS first party handheld wouldn’t come with some.
Can we also have a Windows Phone next? You can call it an Xbox Phone if you like.
If they make a device that doesn’t suck, will people not just install Steam on it?
For my money? It won’t allow that without jailbreaking.
I doubt even Microsoft are stupid enough to think they could release a PC-based gaming handheld without Steam support and not fail spectacularly.
I saw a video on the extent they went to locking down the Xbox, I think they would do the same for the handheld.
Every console they release is so locked down you can’t even install their own os on it, I think you’re wrong.
If it’s Xbox branded they could probably get away with it.
but xbox games could run o it?, pc games runs on steam deck because you can lower the graphics, they can make the same for xbox games?
They use the xbox brand for microsoft store pc games too, and it’s probably those + gamepass that it would run. Those should let you lower the graphics.
Also if the device is successful, it might actually get more devs to release their games on the Microsoft store instead of just on Steam, which would be a win-win for Microsoft.
For sure, but regardless of that.
And all other launchers and any PC game that doesn’t run on Linux…
Real Xbox Kinect vibes…
“Quick, fresh bubble, flood the market!”
Always in favour of healthy competition.
This is microsoft, so I expect unhealthy competition.
Like trying to push the stupid recall AI that takes screen shots every few seconds.
I’ll expect unhealthy, if I’m wrong I’m pleasantly surprised. That probably won’t happen though
And if you’re wrong, the other shoe just probably hasn’t dropped yet.
Still healthier than Nintendo owning the handheld gaming market
Mind, a VERY low bar to clear
You absolutely aren’t wrong there.
Xbox Remote Play already works on the Steam Deck and Android devices. Not sure on iOS, I haven’t tried that, but I’ve personally run it on my Android tablet and Steam Deck.
If they can’t pull this off as an ARM device and recompile all the games to run on it, then don’t bother.
There’s nothing they can really bring to this that the Steam Deck hasn’t already done better.
“if only we had a way to like, take a desktop pc and make it, like, not tethered to a power outlet. and made the mouse and keyboard a part of the case. and added a screen and speakers too. too bad we have no idea how to do that.” -Microsoft, as they shove the 10,000 laptops off of the desk. “guess we will have to do it ourselves.”
(yeah yeah a laptop “isn’t a handheld” but you get the stupidity all the same, surely. MS abandoned their platform just to make a different, more constrained platform, and charge people for multi-player. and they want to act like they couldn’t do that 25 years ago for free. fuck off MS.)
To be fair, gaming laptops kinda suck (at least they did when I owned one). I would probably recommend a steam deck + a desktop over a gaming laptop.
Same. Every gaming laptop i have ever had the displeasure of using has been absolute garbage.
The steam deck on the other hand? Pure kino.
What’s the difference? Afaict most of the problems with gaming laptops (e.g. the form factor introducing restrictions on power and cooling capacity) are independent of the specific os and hardware. How does the steam deck solve them better?
Gaming laptops are both too big to be portable, and yet subpar for a desktop experience. I feel like they’re an inconvenient compromise between something focused on being a portable gaming experience and a desktop computer, and they fail to meet either need well.
I am one of those that fell for the falacy of “gaming laptops” because I have to travel a lot for work, and need my dose of gaming to stay sane. As such, I usually played on console when at home, work on a non-gaming PC, and tried to game on a laptop while away.
I found that, while I was able to somewhat play a bit while on the ground, those laptops are huge power suckers. This lead to any flight over 2 hours leaving me at the expense of the airline’s ad-ridden and ridiculously limited “entertainment” (those that provide it and IF they provided it). Never mind how freaking hot they get and how heavy that shot is (21 pounds with the power brick).
The deck has saved my life. I can carry a powerful laptop that will give me 8+ hours of battery for my in-flight media consumption and watch whatever the he’ll I want without being exposed to ads and the pilot interrupting my enjoyment, and I can play anything available offline on my deck at any point.
Unfortunately I still have a “gaming” system76 laptop that is only 2 years old, this is my second (and last) “gaming” laptop. My next travel companion will not have, nor need, dedicated GPU, because the deck covers that itch.
I have only positive experience with them. The only downside is it gets hot like hell, but other than that it works spectacularly.
My experience with them is they’re too large to be portable in any sort of convenient way, have terrible battery life, struggle to compete with desktops for performance (without spending a huge amount on the laptop), frequently have overheating issues (especially as they age), and lack the upgrade freedom of a desktop requiring you to buy a brand new laptop every few years.
My personal experience is based on an $1850 Asus gaming laptop I had 10 years ago though, so maybe things have changed since then or other brands are better.
Called it months ago, they’ll develop a handheld version of Windows and have their own handheld!
If the controller feels as good as my Elite 2 then I’m sold
Windows is already the handheld version of Windows but it’s kind of terrible at it.
They haven’t done anything to adapt it to handheld controls and a small screen
Windows 8 was an attempt to do all that already, though I don’t know that it succeeded. My guess is that this sort of handheld will run a stripped down version of Windows running the Xbox app.
Well Windows 8 phones were considered to be awesome by those who had one, it’s the lack of support from third party that killed mass adoption.
Also, if we’re looking at the past to decide what is and isn’t possible then gaming on Linux is impossible.
Let’s not pretend that using the desktop on a Deck is a wonderful experience either, Steam’s big picture mode is just a front end that improves the experience and Microsoft could do the equivalent by reusing the Xbox UI with the option to fall back to Windows 11 proper and then people could launch another launcher from there if they wanted. Heck people could launch Steam in big picture mode from their Xbox handheld if they wanted!
Why would anyone buy this? You can already do this streaming through the Deck or any of the other handhelds, if Game Pass is your thing.
A big part of the Deck outselling the competition is price. An Xbox handheld could be sold at a loss (like the deck) with the plan of making the money back on Microsoft store/Xbox store sales.
