Report Claims ASUS Likely To Launch Xbox-branded Handheld Gaming Device

[GGforever]

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.



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[TheinsanegamerN]

Oh just what we need. An overpriced ASSus device with xbox branding. All we need is apple in here to make the trifecta of garbage.

 

[Athena]

This actually could be a pretty big deal for consumers, think about it, you buy Xbox Game pass, and have this device, and you basically have a catalog of thousands of games that you can play

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

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

This actually could be a pretty big deal for consumers, think about it, you buy Xbox Game pass, and have this device, and you basically have a catalog of thousands of games that you can play

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

Erm.....you do realize we've had windows portables for several years now, right? The ROG ally, the MSI claw, The lenovo legion go, and multiple devices from GPDwin.

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.

 

[bonehead123]

Erm.....you do realize we've had windows portables for several years now, right? The ROG ally, the MSI claw, The lenovo legion go, and multiple devices from GPDwin.

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.

^^THIS^^

 

[Denver]

The key distinction is that Microsoft can leverage its financial resources to collaborate with AMD in creating a Custom SoC that outperforms anything currently available on the market.

 

[eidairaman1]

Microsoft Xcalibur, not an inhouse unit...

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

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.

Yet Xbox is making significantly more money than Nintendo… Not including Microsoft side of it.

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.

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?

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)

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Yet Xbox is making significantly more money than Nintendo… Not including Microsoft side of it.

Do they? I cant find solid evidence of that. I can find quotes for individual quarters but actual net profit for FY 2024 doesnt seem to be recorded anywhere.

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:

Xbox Revenue Falls 7% Year-on-Year, Hardware Revenue Drops 29%

Microsoft has released its earnings report for the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, which ended up December 31, [...]

www.vgchartz.com

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.

Nintendo made $10.8 billion in FY24 with mobile and IP income up 81.6%

Nintendo’s financial results for the latest fiscal year are out, covering the Japanese giant’s annual performance up to March 31st, 2024. Over th...

www.pocketgamer.biz

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.

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.

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)

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?

 

[AusWolf]

Is this Microsoft's attempt at reviving the rapidly declining Xbox brand? If so, I have mixed feelings.

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.

 

[_roman_]

I'm not in the market for 12 fps games with display sizes and resolutions from 1995. If I want that I can game on my smartphone or tablet already or an older computer.

 

[Bomby569]

I'm not in the market for 12 fps games with display sizes and resolutions from 1995. If I want that I can game on my smartphone or tablet already or an older computer.

resolution is irrelevant in this case, ppi is the important part, it can be better than some 4k monitors

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

Do they? I cant find solid evidence of that. I can find quotes for individual quarters but actual net profit for FY 2024 doesnt seem to be recorded anywhere.

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

They are slowing down this current generation hardware so that’s a given that hardware sales are going down as well. Sony release their PS5 Pro and that usually indicate the cycle is about to end.

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.

Nope, not from Activision but from SONY and PC fans when they released their games onto the PS5 and they LOVE the games. And they are about release FH5 which is their most popular game as of right now. And the fact that they can afford to spend $79 billion dollars without the help from Microsoft should indicate on how Xbox is doing. If Nintendo make that kind of purchase, they would be in a financial pickle. No matter how much consoles they sell.

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.

Again nope and not a very good argument I’m afraid. You can make that same argument for GTA 6 and they don’t make consoles. And console hardware is never profitable that’s just facts. Its software that sells and Microsoft is doing pretty good at that front as well as have more than two stores to sell their games. So if me pointing out the status quo of keyboard warrior games is “revealing my hand” then what ever makes you happy I guess.

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.

Prime example of my previous statement. Also no, it was the VERY BEGINNING of the life cycle of the PS3 and the reason why Xbox won that generation is due to Sony’s huge gamble on Blu-Ray and Xbox getting all of the good games first. Sony WAS about to go bankrupt, forget a rumor. PSP definitely did not help Sony but it didn’t contribute as much as PS3 did for Sony’s terrible console generation.

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)

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 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)