Wednesday, March 12th 2025
Report Claims ASUS Likely To Launch Xbox-branded Handheld Gaming Device
Not that long ago, an Xbox executive claimed that an Xbox handheld gaming device is still in the prototyping stage, with a launch expected to take place sometime in the next two to three years. There is no denying that the handheld segment is an incredibly lucrative space, boosted by the impressive performance and efficiency gains made by the chip giants in recent years. Microsoft clearly intends to take a piece of the pie, and as a recent report by Windows Central pointed out, the first Xbox-branded handheld is in development and may even see the light of day as early as the third or fourth quarter of this year. Now, a fresh report by The Verge has revealed that Microsoft might be collaborating with ASUS in order to bring the handheld gaming device to market.
This is quite interesting, considering that ASUS is one of the most well-known players in the handheld segment, thanks to its ROG Ally lineup. But the conflict of interest shouldn't be much of a hassle - Lenovo is also a major player in the segment, and did not hesitate teaming up with Valve to bring the first third-party SteamOS handheld to the market. Microsoft is likely targeting something similar, intending to combine Xbox and Windows platforms in order to improve the experience for developers and players alike, allowing better inter-compatibility of games between handheld, PC, and console platforms. Essentially, the handheld will reportedly feature an Xbox-like interface, but will be powered by Windows underneath. The aforementioned late-2025 launch timeline is still in place, but considering the very nature of early reports, accept this information with a grain of salt.
Sources:
The Verge, PureXbox
This is quite interesting, considering that ASUS is one of the most well-known players in the handheld segment, thanks to its ROG Ally lineup. But the conflict of interest shouldn't be much of a hassle - Lenovo is also a major player in the segment, and did not hesitate teaming up with Valve to bring the first third-party SteamOS handheld to the market. Microsoft is likely targeting something similar, intending to combine Xbox and Windows platforms in order to improve the experience for developers and players alike, allowing better inter-compatibility of games between handheld, PC, and console platforms. Essentially, the handheld will reportedly feature an Xbox-like interface, but will be powered by Windows underneath. The aforementioned late-2025 launch timeline is still in place, but considering the very nature of early reports, accept this information with a grain of salt.
12 Comments on Report Claims ASUS Likely To Launch Xbox-branded Handheld Gaming Device
The other option is SteamOS, but, AFAIK, not everything would be supported on the device, it just don't have enough power
Nintendo is going to be doing their next device soonish, and you can bet that all the games on that is going to cost $70+ a pop
so as a consumer, this opens up a ton of portable games that you can play for basically $20/month which is a crazy good deal
The only consumers this is a "big deal" for are those who INSIST their expensive portable device be locked down to xbox cloud, because logging into windows is HAAAAARD. I'm sure all 5 of them eagerly await this device. For everyone else, they've already had access to devices that can natively run xbox game pass, and steam, and epic, and anything else their heart desires. Why would they want a locked down xbox branded device?
Nintendo is outselling the xbox 6 to 1, I dont think they're the example you want to cite for MS's strategies being a good idea.
PlayStation has sold more consoles than Microsoft. Hell, the PS2 was the most sold console of all time and they almost went bankrupt when the PS3 came out. Nintendo is outselling Xbox 6:1 doesn’t have a lot of meaning unless people need to bash Xbox.Because everyone and their 2 month old child wants a Steam Deck because it brings in a console like experience to the PC and everyone loves it and bash Microsoft for not having that kind of mode for Windows PC
People hate Microsoft for existing at this point(and somewhat agree lol)
They DID show a 29% drop in hardware sale revenue in their most recent quarter, which is a bit of an issue considering they want to launch new hardware:
www.vgchartz.com/article/463837/xbox-revenue-falls-7-year-on-year-hardware-revenue-drops-29/
Meanwhile, they showed a small increase in software sales, but this can be chalked up to absorbing Activision's sales, rather then genuine growth of their service. Unless MS is going to keep spending $70 billion every few years on another giant developer, this wont be sustainable.
I DID find nintendos, which shows a net profit of $3.2 billion, and total revenue of 10.8 billion.
www.pocketgamer.biz/nintendo-made-108-billion-in-fy24-with-mobile-and-ip-income-up-816/It has plenty of meaning, it shows a lot more people are interested in Nintendo's hardware then Microsofts. That's pretty important on an article about microsoft launching new hardware. People pointing out flaws isn't "bashing" xbox. I think you're revealing your hand here.
The rumors of Sony's bankruptcy happened long into the PS3's lifecycle, led largely by the failure of the PSP to sell software and the huge losses of the PS3's hardware sales. Nintendo, OTOH, makes a profit on every console sale. These situations are not comparable.People want Steam on a portable. Sales of the Xbox lineup would indicate far fewer are excited about having Xbox branded hardware.
Let's say you're right, for the sake of argument, and people want the console like experience. Why would they want the xbox console experience when the Steam console experience is by far superior?
For one, this will be awesome for Xbox gamers (all 12 of them) who want to take their games with them on road trips.
For two, who else is an Xbox branded handheld good for? I can't think of anyone.
Also, again, prime example of people bashing Xbox to make them look bad, Nintendo did NOT make profit on each and every console. Look at the Wii and Wii U(specially this one since it almost took Nintendo out). They HAVE to rely on their hardware to survive because they refused to brach out to other stores. Sega didn’t have that issue when they stopped selling consoles(and actually doing much better despite popular “Sega is failing” argument)For the sake of the argument, going with your opinion, the sales of Xbox would blow up exponentially because people have been BEGGING Microsoft to put the Xbox OS onto Windows. Steam OS is definitely NOT SUPERIOR(there’s that bashing again lol) as it doesn’t support all the games, and legacy apps that Windows have been using for so long. You can run ALL of the games and apps including Android apps.
Linux, you have to do work around which users who wants more than a console experience DON’T want to do. Also, STEAM is also on Windows and you can do a Big Picture mode which is a band-aid until Microsoft gets their Xbox OS running in Windows(or a variant of it). So in what way is Linux is superior besides the hatred for Windows(aka the Status Quo of Tech enthusiasts)