Not an official announcement, but it’s probably safe to assume an Xbox handheld is in development.
No they shouldn’t
SteamOS is probably the biggest risk to the Windows monopoly right now, so that tracks.
And it’s absolutely Microsoft’s cycle. New game changer product comes on the market, they rush a half ass version out with the promise of a really good one later, half ass one flops, they scrap the whole idea because no one wants the half ass version, they fade into obscurity.
Tablets, VR, video chat, phones
Anyone remember this?
Is that the table?
The iphone
Microsoft’s new phone were supposed to spell the end for it.
Oh! This was an ad! Those cocky sons o bitches.
went about as well as the release of the zune
I loved windows phone, the UI was so clear (I still use square home on android to this day), the camera app was superb and it was a very efficient operating system for low end hardware.
It didn’t have a ton of apps but honestly I don’t know, sometimes that doesn’t feel like a bad thing for a thing I am always trying to make more into a tool than an addiction….
Sure windows phone wasn’t going to grow rapidly for years, but it was well situated to take advantage of an opportunity in the future when apple or google stumbled and created an opening. I think for a company as large as Microsoft just abandoning it entirely was a massively stupid move. Now Microsoft has a gigantic blind spot in mobile, and they are stuck in that position.
Can we also have a Windows Phone next? You can call it an Xbox Phone if you like.
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.
The SteamDeck itself is in loss leader territory.
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.
Do these other handhelds sell enough to justify all these different devices?
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.
If Microsoft stuck with what it already does, it would be better. They already have cloud streaming technology which makes playing games on their ecosystem possible on any screen. Having a separate handheld console would complicate things. I just don’t see the appeal.
If they make a device that doesn’t suck, will people not just install Steam on it?
Real Xbox Kinect vibes…
I would absolutely buy one of these and I’ve been wishing for something like this for years. I do most of my gaming on Xbox these days, and it would be great to be able to play in bed. I don’t even care if it runs Windows or just an Xbox OS.
I do have a Steam Deck, but some games are too much effort to setup and troubleshoot. I want to hit one button and have a guarantee that the game will work, like the Switch.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Speaking on stage as part of an IGN Live interview, Spencer said directly that “I think we should have a handheld, too.”
The comment stops just short of an official announcement that Microsoft is actively working on portable gaming hardware for the first time.
“The future for us in hardware is pretty awesome,” Spencer continued during the IGN presentation.
Comments like these are a big change from internal Microsoft documents that leaked last September, which listed an Xbox portable as a “current gap in FY23” that is “not in scope for 1st party” (alongside potential products like a mobile controller, earbuds, and a media remote).
But Spencer was quick to call that leak “outdated” at the time, so it might not be the last word on Microsoft’s portable gaming plans.
That feels like ancient history, though, in a world where everyone and their corporate subsidiary is looking to draft off the market success of the Steam Deck.
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I hope they call it XBox Zune