the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, has revealed in a Bloomberg interview that Xbox handheld prototypes are currently being worked on. The caveat is that this hardware is still a few years out. So it would appear the rumors that Microsoft is working on an Xbox handheld are indeed true, but we sadly won’t see the results of this work for some time.
This isn’t technically Steam Deck news, but I think a major player like Microsoft making a Steam Deck competitor is pretty significant as far as the handheld PC market goes.
It will be tied to Microsoft and Gamepass heavily. Neither of those things interest me.
Yep, this handheld will be all about subscriptions, ads, and data harvesting.
The hardware will be good and the software will still be buggy like the xboxes because it’s windows and microsoft doesn’t care about making windows a good experience for users. I hope I’m wrong.
I have zero interest in a handheld tied to windows and their ad systems
You know that when it’s actually accidentally good somehow the first thing people do with it is to load it with linux
Can’t wait to get a BSOD in my hands!
They should add some kind of ring to it, maybe one that can turn red for some reason or another.
As long as we can never fully understand when or how it will turn red, and sometimes when you wrap it in towels it stops being red, I’m all for it.
Some consoles like to be swaddled every now and then.
If Microsoft really wants to get in the mobile gaming sector, why don’t they even have a working protoype to show? The article claims that it is still “a few years away” at this point.
Doesn’t sound like they really have high ambitions.
I’m a few years away to build my own handheld too. I have half the parts already. This sounds like some bs. There are already 10 good to okay handhelds available, what are they smoking?
It would make more sense for microsoft to partner with some hardware vendor and release a modified version of windows 11. With a nice mobile-optimized GUI, integration for the most popular game stores and an optional desktop mode.
maybe they’ll fix all the massive issues windows has on portables but im not holding my breath.
Well I am planning to build a rocket and go to the moon but alas the hardware is still a couple years out :( no fear, it will be soon though!
I’m planning to put wheels on my granny so she can be called a bicycle, too!
Microshit is pathetic… Will it have AI Phil?
🤡
You know it will have the latest in AI assistant and AI generated ads on hookup unless you have a premium account.
paying does not stop spying though with sundar the creep or faceberg the violator.
Did we all just forget about the switch?
Switch has been around for awhile, and is definitely more of a handheld console than a PC. A lot of the talks around the Xbox handheld have actually been in comparison to the Steam Deck, but it’s not clear yet if the Xbox handheld will be a full PC capable of playing any windows games, or a more locked down Xbox only device.
This is also pretty significant because it might mean that Windows will get increased support for handheld computers. That would both make it a better alternative OS for the Deck, and would significantly improve the user experience of competitor devices. But once again, it depends on if the device will be more of a handheld PC or handheld xbox.
So yeah, Switch is a juggernaut as far as handheld gaming goes, but I don’t think the Switch 2 will significantly impact the Steam Deck. But the Xbox handheld could be much more disruptive/impactful to the smaller niche that the Deck currently dominates.
That makes sense… I could actually see them using gamepass streaming or something… Really push for that subscription model …
Do we care about the switch? Is that something we’re doing now?
“We” probably did, but I don’t think that Nintendo would ever license their games to another handheld manufacturer.