Microsoft Shifts Xbox Gaming Handheld Ambitions to Third-Party Windows Handhelds, Postpones 2027 Launch Plans
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I bought mine used with the SD card slot busted and I still think it’s great. Maybe because I didn’t pay 600 bucks for it!Definitely my favorite handheld ever.
I think the Steam Deck is pretty neat and I love the design of the device itself (I am not enthusiastic about the Ally’s L337G4mer aesthetics, and even less so with the monstrosity above), but for me not having access to Gamepass is a deal breaker so I’d never consider it. Maybe when I fully jump into PC gaming sometime soon I’ll switch my tune. But I digress. Other than the SD issue I’ve found that the ROG Ally is a very capable device and I have seen no other issues with it to be honest. The software it comes with is actually pretty good and makes it so that you don’t have to deal with Windows almost at all. The coolest thing is that you can dock it and you basically have a mid end workstation too.
My fist handheld was the Gameboy Color so it just boggles my mind how far we’ve come.
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If M$ was smart, they'd develop a version of Windows optimized for gaming. But they can't do that without implying that desktop Windows is inferior for games.
wrote last edited by [email protected]They already have the Xbox framework. I don't understand why it's so difficult to just use that for gaming and give the handheld the ability to launch a lightweight version of Windows similar to the easy way Steam OS will let you exit to Linux desktop.
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Right? Handheld PCs are incredible. They're the best thing about modern gaming, imo. I dock my steam deck to my TV with a wireless kb/m, and it's my main PC setup. It's the ultimate minimalist device for PC gamers.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Honestly, and I say that as a 98% Deck player (according to last year Steam Recap), it is starting to lack horsepower.
I really hope the Deck 2 will allow for external GPUs when docked, because E33 really did put it on his knees
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Even at "optimized" settings (which you cannot change on the Deck), I was at 20-30 FPS unless I enabled XeSS. And even then it looked like shit. -
Honestly, and I say that as a 98% Deck player (according to last year Steam Recap), it is starting to lack horsepower.
I really hope the Deck 2 will allow for external GPUs when docked, because E33 really did put it on his knees.
Even at "optimized" settings (which you cannot change on the Deck), I was at 20-30 FPS unless I enabled XeSS. And even then it looked like shit.That depends a lot on what you’re playing and what your expectations are. I use my Ally to play older games and indies and I feel like it’s great for that. AAA experiences I play on my Xbox Series X.
I have a friend who’s had every handheld and he says they all suck, but he’s expecting to play stuff like COD at high settings and 60fps. That’s just not realistic.
But again I’m coming from growing up with gameboys and Nintendo DS so I don’t have the expectations that someone who grew up in the HD generation might have.
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They're probably building off Windows RT (the locked down variant designed for ARM tablets).
If they were smart they'd imitate some of how SteamOS runs games in a modified WinRT environment - TLDR do NOT start up the entire Win32 runtime and desktop environment by default, don't run stuff like printer services and whatnot, just run a simplified sandbox and window manager with just the APIs needed to run the games similar to Proton. Then let the user switch to desktop mode as needed, but don't run it when gaming.
I’m guessing this is basically how the Xbox works already.
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It's their own fault they couldn't see a demand for handheld gaming.
To be fair, every company was sure handhelds would die and mobile games would take over everything. Then the Switch happened.
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Eh.. No
Without implying that desktop Windows wasn't made with hardware that has neither a keyboard or a mouse in mind? That it wasn't made to be used on a 7" screen? Sure.
Only in the Linux fanatics minds does it implies that desktop Windows is inferior for games.
It's not as if people are using the Steam Deck in desktop mode when they want to play games either and the experience on Steam OS in desktop mode if you don't connect at least a keyboard is pretty shit as well, so I guess that the fact that by default it boots in Steam mode must be a proof that Linux is inferior for games if we follow your logic.
Linux fanatics
I'd rather be a fanatic than a revenue stream with Stockholm syndrome.
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That depends a lot on what you’re playing and what your expectations are. I use my Ally to play older games and indies and I feel like it’s great for that. AAA experiences I play on my Xbox Series X.
I have a friend who’s had every handheld and he says they all suck, but he’s expecting to play stuff like COD at high settings and 60fps. That’s just not realistic.
But again I’m coming from growing up with gameboys and Nintendo DS so I don’t have the expectations that someone who grew up in the HD generation might have.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I'm a gameboy era dude, I don't have that high expectations from a portable console.
To this day I managed to play to most AAA game I throwed at the Deck at an OK quality (low to medium) with good fps (40-45 fps).
But E33 just didn't want to, and some area looked a lot different than on my 5 year old computer.
The manor, as an example, looks washed out and overexposed, almost white and grey, while on the computer it looked oldish, but acceptable. And I was on low settings on the computer. So either it is currently bugged, or there is an hidden "very low" setting specially made for the Deck. -
To be fair, every company was sure handhelds would die and mobile games would take over everything. Then the Switch happened.
And how many years since the Switch? Even the Steam Deck was an open secret for years.
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Linux fanatics
I'd rather be a fanatic than a revenue stream with Stockholm syndrome.
We're talking about people using a Steam Deck instead so people that are a revenue stream with Stockholm syndrome for yet another billionaire, just one that privately owns his company instead of it being publically traded.
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To be fair, every company was sure handhelds would die and mobile games would take over everything. Then the Switch happened.
Much as I hate Nintendo now, their contribution to gaming can't be denied. First they revived it from the crash in 1983, then they showed that there's a market for a hybrid console/handheld device, paving the way for PC handhelds.
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To be fair, every company was sure handhelds would die and mobile games would take over everything. Then the Switch happened.
So far as I can think, wasn't the only handheld that failed the Playstation Vita? And that had very visible reasons for the failure - designing itself around an obtuse storage medium, and requiring first-party memory cards. Even with those drawbacks and with no first-party support, it had a tremendous following.
It honestly could still be a worthwhile device to chain off of, since none of the current offerings fit in a pants pocket.
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So far as I can think, wasn't the only handheld that failed the Playstation Vita? And that had very visible reasons for the failure - designing itself around an obtuse storage medium, and requiring first-party memory cards. Even with those drawbacks and with no first-party support, it had a tremendous following.
It honestly could still be a worthwhile device to chain off of, since none of the current offerings fit in a pants pocket.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I love the Vita, and you're right, you can hack it to accept SD Cards, use native PSP/PS1 emulation in any game and a lot of homebrew ports.
PS: If you're willing to get third party PC Handhelds, the Ayaneo Air 1S is the closest thing the Vita form factor I know. 5.5" OLED screen, but the bezel is thicker and it has longer grips. It's a 2023 device, so I'm interested to know what they'll do with the next line of AMD chips
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They already have the Xbox framework. I don't understand why it's so difficult to just use that for gaming and give the handheld the ability to launch a lightweight version of Windows similar to the easy way Steam OS will let you exit to Linux desktop.
There are a lot of edge cases. You have to handle external launchers, external error prompts; basically anything that requires you to Alt+Tab. One of the things Valve did a decade ago was the stuff that got rolled into GameScope that ensures that they never lose focus of the game window. Even with the resources to transform Windows this way, it will still take time.
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I’m guessing this is basically how the Xbox works already.
wrote last edited by [email protected]It's not so much Win32 though on Xbox, the biggest similarity is the x86 CPU and the shared kernel and some security stuff
Edit: forgot the obvious, DirectX
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I'm a gameboy era dude, I don't have that high expectations from a portable console.
To this day I managed to play to most AAA game I throwed at the Deck at an OK quality (low to medium) with good fps (40-45 fps).
But E33 just didn't want to, and some area looked a lot different than on my 5 year old computer.
The manor, as an example, looks washed out and overexposed, almost white and grey, while on the computer it looked oldish, but acceptable. And I was on low settings on the computer. So either it is currently bugged, or there is an hidden "very low" setting specially made for the Deck.wrote last edited by [email protected]I don't know where your preferences lie, but by the numbers, far more games are coming in under the Steam Deck specifications in terms of system requirements than there are games that are stretching them or exceeding them. Very few companies can afford to make a game that runs poorly on it. If we look at the top 12 highest-reviewing games on OpenCritic for 2025 so far, I think only 1 of them (Monster Hunter Wilds) doesn't meet the spec, and at least 3 or 4 of them are 2D with a retro aesthetic. All that to say, I think the horsepower ought to be enough for most people for a very long time, barring a minimal number of games.
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Much as I hate Nintendo now, their contribution to gaming can't be denied. First they revived it from the crash in 1983, then they showed that there's a market for a hybrid console/handheld device, paving the way for PC handhelds.
I don't know how much of that was needing to prove that the market existed rather than the simultaneous development of performant and power efficient x64 APUs suitable for handheld gaming PCs. The 3DS was plenty successful even at the time, but handheld-only games had a reputation for being the B game to the home consoles' A game. It was a pretty natural conclusion for Nintendo, when their handheld was successful and their home console was not, to combine the two, using the same tech found in cell phones, no less.
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Bet that linux vs windows performance video did it in. The exec who thinks linux desktop doesn't even exist saw this and immediately shat their pants in rage.
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I don't know how much of that was needing to prove that the market existed rather than the simultaneous development of performant and power efficient x64 APUs suitable for handheld gaming PCs. The 3DS was plenty successful even at the time, but handheld-only games had a reputation for being the B game to the home consoles' A game. It was a pretty natural conclusion for Nintendo, when their handheld was successful and their home console was not, to combine the two, using the same tech found in cell phones, no less.
There's a massive catalog of 3ds exclusives and those drove the market, not the adaptations or ports. The latter were the minority and not even the most popular titles.
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There's a massive catalog of 3ds exclusives and those drove the market, not the adaptations or ports. The latter were the minority and not even the most popular titles.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Not an adaptation or port, but the Link Between Worlds compared to the console's Breath of the Wild. Say what you will about the subjective quality of each of those games, but the market at large would prefer Breath of the Wild. Plus Sony's catalog had this problem even more visibly on Vita.
