Oppoi
Member
That's hella smart really that way they have a pro model at the very beginning! Wow!
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[The Verge] It’s time for Microsoft to build an Xbox Steam Deck
- Thread starter Topher
- Start date
Mercador
Member
Xboy
Duchess
Member
Yoda
Member
Microsoft's gaming woes are not due to the form factor of their hardware. They need to remove their shitty corporate culture from their first party studios and (after the former point is complete) spend more money on AAA exclusives. Given how long it took them to shake up 343, I fear they simply cannot move fast enough to do this and will always be playing catch up to their competition (which has 1/10th the resources available).
TheUndeadGamer
Member
If that were to happen then how would Microsoft get the 30% cut from third parties and such? And would they still charge for online at that point also?
TheUndeadGamer
Member
And while not a lame handheld name I’d go with:
Xbox Series P (P is for Penis)
Xbox Series P (P is for Penis)
THE DUCK
voted poster of the decade by bots
Kind of disturbing how accurate the ai is on this overall assessment.
AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
I think theyd do a great job and be a proper competition to Steam Deck in the way that they have the budget, they have their own huge game library like steam does which means the whole UI etc will be a gaming handheld and not Windows 11 that plays games in windowed mode. That is why i dont like the ROG and others. Feel like im getting ahandheld with all the jank of a PC included.
Dorfdad
Gold Member
You jest but I’m going to tell you the Xbox series P (portable) is going to be the name.And while not a lame handheld name I’d go with:
Xbox Series P (P is for Penis)
It will be a series s in portable form with 3-5 hour battery and slight modernizations.
THE DUCK
voted poster of the decade by bots
I don't think it's competition so much to steam deck as it would be switch. For that reason you state though, the true console interface is more appealing to the masses.
I wonder what's more appealing to a casual gamer this fall.......a ps5 pro, or a more powerfull mobile console with console back catalog. (Wether it's Sony or ms)
I mean we know us hardcore gamers will snap up a pro, but what about the masses?
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phant0m
Member
It’s Big Company SyndromeTM
There are too many layers/levels that need to approve strategic and even tactical changes, committees, etc etc.
Randall365
Member
They would do two skus - one would be under powered with a poor screen and one would be high powered but the battery life would be 30 mins. One of the face buttons would stick on all the high powered units or not register.
BouncyFrag
Member
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
There are already Windows based handheld devices, like Asus Rog Ally. Even a cut-down version of Windows will still be ... Windows.
That's why I said there's nothing new that they can bring to the table now. Steam Deck and other Windows-based alternatives have already innovated in that space.
If a future handheld could deliver Series S performance then it could have access to the entire Xbox back catalogue via Game Pass and could run a version of the Xbox OS. That's not something a Steam Deck can do out of the box and Windows currently isn't designed for handheld gaming devices.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
You can't play all the Xbox content on windows though. I mean, its pretty damn good but not everything is available. There is absolutely a reason MS should go this route, and after the ROG Ally ill be there day one.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Rog Ally also comes with Game Pass bundled, so it already kind of does that.
And I don't think Game Pass can be the main draw here as (1) we have seen its popularity already going down with GP losing over 3 million subscribers and (2) GPU / xCloud can be used on mobile devices, so GP and its library is already portable.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Plz correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Rog Ally does play all PC Game Pass games, right?
Or are you talking about Xbox-GP-exclusive content?
In that case, sure. But it's such a small thing to target with a dedicated hardware; it'd hardly make business sense. At least in terms of USP/marketing, that's something that just wouldn't resonate with potential buyers. It's not big enough.
Also, most likely their handheld will have Windows, not Xbox OS. Sarah's talk about "forward compatibility" strongly hints at that. I think the new dedicated team is working on ensuring that all Xbox games can work on Windows, and that's how they are ensuring "forward compatibility."
And if they do have Windows in their handheld devices (which I think they will), then we're back to square one.
As I said, the Rog Ally is running Windows, so it's not an ideal handheld experience. And xCloud requires a low latency connection. How does that work if I'm on a bus, train or plane?
TrebleShot
Member
They can’t get it right in a console sized box they certainly won’t in a handheld. MS is useless at hardware.
Hero of Spielberg
Member
Tbf the surface I got in 2014 lasted me like 8 years
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Yeah, it can play windows XBox content but not Xbox.
The number one goal should be for MS to make everything Xbox run in windows Xbox app. That would be a game changer.
rm082e
Member
They would only get their 30% cut if you bought games from their store front, which would be the default on both pieces of hardware. You would still get an Xbox ecosystem app when you boot them up. The difference is they would allow you to also sign in with your Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, EA, etc. accounts and download/play the games you own through those services. In theory, you could buy their handheld, sign in with your Steam account, continue buying games through Steam and never buy anything from the Xbox ecosystem.
You can sort of do something like this with the Steam Deck, but not quite. It comes with Steam OS and you buy games from Valve by default. You can format the drive, install windows, install all the launchers and play games from multiple companies if you want to. But Valve does not give you a way to sign into all the other services and download games directly through the Steam OS. PC players mostly don't care, but Xbox would need to formalize being a more open platform.
Microsoft can't charge for multiplayer if it's a Windows machine, unless they want to try manually force you to pay for Game Pass to play any of the games you bought through the Xbox app. But that would defeat the entire purpose of having an open Windows based machine instead of a walled garden like they've always had. That would kill interest in the hardware.
The idea here is that they've reached the point where they aren't making enough profit with their walled garden ecosystem, so they need to change direction. Hardware sales of Xbox continue to decline, and their software sales (remember "attach rates"?) are even worse. Just look at some of the recent software sales estimates out of Europe. They're incomplete, but they paint a pretty bleak picture with much fewer people buying games on Xbox compared to PlayStation and Nintendo. So even if they're making 30% on the third party games sold for Xbox, the number is small enough and shrinking that it's no longer worth keeping the platform closed off.
If they know they can't catch up and be competitive, it's probably time to pivot. Trying to go head-to-head with the PS4 didn't work, and they knew that was a losing battle by 2016. So they pivoted to Game Pass as their new strategy. They encouraged people to buy the Xbox so they could get Game Pass. Seven years later, we can see that this strategy also hasn't met their goals either. They were hoping to be at 50 million Game Pass subs by now. So if the walled garden console plus Game Pass strategy isn't working, it's probably time to pivot again into another new strategy.
Providing more open hardware for those that still want it, while focusing more on being a third party publisher who puts games out everywhere is probably their path forward. Just doing another walled garden machine and asking your audience to miss out on PlayStation exclusives isn't going to work.
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DJ12
Member
I brought a legion go, first thing I did was install Linux.A box isn’t necessarily the best shape anymore.
The Nintendo Switch is on track to become the bestselling game console of all time. Sony’s PS5 will likely surpass the Xbox One’s entire lifetime sales later this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s newer Xbox Series X and S, with their comparatively disappointing exclusive games, are firmly in third place yet again — and it doesn’t look like Xbox Game Pass will ever fill the gap.
Microsoft isn’t planning to take this lying down. It’s among the largest video game companies in the world now that it owns Activision Blizzard, and it’s going to act. This Thursday, we expect the company to reveal a seismic shift in strategy, one where it could bring Xbox exclusives like Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield, even Indiana Jones to PlayStation and / or Switch.
To Xbox diehards, that might sound a lot like giving up! What’s the point of buying the one box that doesn’t have exclusive games? But there’s a different way Microsoft could demonstrate hardware leadership, build a console worth buying, and fulfill its “play-anywhere” ambitions. Microsoft could harness the incredible flexibility of Windows to build the best Nintendo Switch competitor ever made.
Microsoft could follow the Steam Deck playbook, putting the power of a mini-Xbox in your hands.
Right now, it feels like handheld gaming (not cloud!) is the future, and the world has been waiting for Microsoft to make its move. We tried phones with attached gamepads and cloud portables, but nothing has lit a spark like the dedicated Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. Handheld PC makers are crying out for a piece of the action, throwing awkward layers atop a bloated Windows operating system for lack of anything better. Microsoft could beat them, or join them, if it’s willing to take the reins.
Imagine if the next Xbox looked like a Steam Deck by way of Microsoft’s design teams: comfortable and sleek at the same time. Imagine an Xbox interface where Microsoft’s PC games, console games, and cloud games live side by side. Imagine if you could simply pick “Play Halo,” wherever you are in the world, your handheld delivering the best version possible — whether that be locally downloaded, streamed from your home Xbox, streamed from the cloud, or possibly more than one simultaneously. Imagine picking up right where you left off on your TV or vice versa, playing with your friends across both Xbox and PC.
We have the technology. Microsoft in particular has the technology. It’s just a little fragmented, waiting for execs and engineers to fit the puzzle pieces together in a single, seamless experience.
If you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can already download a copy of Halo Infinite to your PC, or Xbox, or stream it from xCloud. The downloaded Xbox copy can already be streamed to a Windows PC over your home network as well. No matter which way you play, your saved games and your friends can typically come along for the ride.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25286469/IMG_1421__1_.jpg "The Asus ROG Ally, and behind it a Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and original Game Boy.")
The Asus ROG Ally, and behind it a Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and original Game Boy. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
In 2013, I told you how console games and PC games were beginning to seriously merge. That’s when Sony and Microsoft started using AMD processors running on the x86 instruction set to power their hardware. It made it easier than ever for developers to build a single game for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC — and both Microsoft and Sony saw additional opportunity. They started releasing their biggest games on Windows PCs, too. You no longer needed a console to play Halo or God of War, and it seemed like Microsoft preferred it that way.
But when Valve released the Steam Deck, it was Sony, not Microsoft, that capitalized. We wrote how the Steam Deck made PlayStation’s biggest games portable, and how the Steam Deck made us buy games we would have otherwise purchased for Nintendo Switch. But that meant we were buying our games through Steam rather than paying Microsoft.
Sure, there was that 14-step process to get Xbox Cloud Gaming working on the Steam Deck, you could install a half-baked version of Windows at your own risk, and eventually Microsoft helped Valve get games like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite working on Valve’s handheld well enough to justify a purchase. But it wasn’t the whole package.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24648952/asus_rog_ally_vjeran_pavic_the_verge_007.jpg "The white gamepad button-equipped seven-inch handheld gaming PC with a screen flanked on either side by joysticks, buttons, and a D-pad. Another black handheld gaming PC with a similar configuration is behind it.")
Our Asus ROG Ally review had some choice words about using a Windows handheld. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
I’ve spent lots of time with both the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go, too, and I can’t recommend either Windows-powered Steam Deck-alike without serious reservations. I find it stunning — and a little embarrassing — how much more accessible Windows games are on the Linux-based Steam Deck than they are on a native Windows machine. And at the end of the day, they’re still propping up Valve’s Steam game store more than Microsoft’s PC Game Pass.
But while that’s partly Microsoft’s fault, it’s also Microsoft’s opportunity, and I bet it can rise to the occasion.
To truly succeed, Microsoft needs more than a Windows handheld with an Xbox app on top. It should play all the Xbox games, not just PC ones. Like the Steam Deck does with Windows games atop Linux, it should run a compatibility layer (or maybe a virtual machine) so your Xbox Series games just work — optimally on a custom chip that gives it better battery life than today’s Windows handhelds.
This should all be within reach. Microsoft is the company that pulled a rabbit out of the hat to make the x86-based Xbox One backward compatible with loads of Xbox 360 games that were designed to run on PowerPC chips. It’s the company that once spent $100 million just to refine its Xbox gamepad. It’s a company that’s repeatedly commissioned semi-custom processors for its Xbox consoles — does anyone think AMD would turn down the opportunity to do a custom part for an Xbox handheld? Would Intel or Nvidia, for that matter?
Such a chip should match the graphical performance of an Xbox Series S, if not an Xbox Series X. While the Steam Deck’s AMD “Aerith” and “Sephiroth” AMD chips don’t, the chips inside the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go already offer more raw teraflops than a Series S when they’re plugged into the wall. If they targeted 720p or 800p resolution when on battery, like the Steam Deck, a new chip should be more than capable of playing current-gen Xbox fare.
Such a handheld might even play next-gen Xbox games if Microsoft’s dreams become reality — by letting the cloud pick up the slack. Hideo Kojima’s OD is being built on Microsoft’s Xbox cloud, and the company had an internal vision for cloud hybrid games by 2028.
Either way, I don’t think Microsoft can afford to miss this coming moment unless it’s abandoning Xbox hardware for good. With “multiple millions” sold, the Steam Deck isn’t a huge threat yet. But if the Nintendo Switch 2 is a success, and Sony decides to make a truly portable PlayStation to join it, Microsoft wouldn’t want to be the only one betting on a box instead.
I'm a fan of handhelds and I'd love to see Microsoft make one, personally.
Unless an xbox handheld comes with Linux pre installed its DoA
Given the z1 extreme cpu is as good as it gets right now I cannot see the xbox handheld being worth the bother. Maybe by the end of the year ms can get dibs on a z2 or whatever, but 2-3 hour battery life is not for everyone.
Dorfdad
Gold Member
If Microsoft is going to make a handheld switch type system, it needs to be their next GEN system. They don’t need a new Xbox series X series X pro series, S etc. they needed one sku, and an upscaling dock for TV if they do have a second system, it needs to match the specs of the dock handheld.
What Microsoft can’t do is have multiple with different spec levels that hold back their gaming.
The series has been for them, but it’s held back the series X due to parity.
But what is more than likely to happen is that they will release a handheld device that is somewhere in the series ballpark. However, they need to make it dockable up to the series X level.
I’d imagine they can do this. They already have the series S and X they just need to retrofit the chip set into a dock and into a handheld device
What Microsoft can’t do is have multiple with different spec levels that hold back their gaming.
The series has been for them, but it’s held back the series X due to parity.
But what is more than likely to happen is that they will release a handheld device that is somewhere in the series ballpark. However, they need to make it dockable up to the series X level.
I’d imagine they can do this. They already have the series S and X they just need to retrofit the chip set into a dock and into a handheld device
mayham2199
Member
I said yes but I don't think it will do well either way. Portable gaming is great but I've had to sell all my portable devices. I just don't have time to play games when I'm not at home. I used to play during my lunches and then I started lifting during lunches so now all my time is gone.
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HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
This article is being paid for, and it's to test the waters with public reception. MS loves to do that before a real announcement.
NickFire
Member
I wish MS would hurry up and just tell us what their plans are. I know that console manufacturers like to keep cards close to chest to protect their current product lines. That just feels kind of pointless right now. The trajectory isn't going to change overnight as soon as they add COD to GP day 1 (if they ever do). If they are planning and announce a genuine disruptor approach it might get people excited and slow the adoption of PS5 Pro though. If a disruptor approach includes benefits associated with PC like the ability to play Steam games from console and/or dropping paid online, it's something that would certainly get me very interested. And if they did that and publicly disavowed DEI consultants, I would probably be done buying games on PS5 and shifting to a holding pattern until next gen starts.
What's xbox at this point?
A preconfigured deck for every steam game? That sounds limiting, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's no better way cause there's actually, even better than the steam deck itself, a console here could mean bypassing all steam games limitations on pc and make it as if they're originally made for xbox, cause that sounds awesome if done perfectly, a store then becomes just another window to access more games, It obviously looks like a new job for the back compat team, that could mean a long marathon of work, we're talking about 8000 games here.
A preconfigured deck for every steam game? That sounds limiting, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's no better way cause there's actually, even better than the steam deck itself, a console here could mean bypassing all steam games limitations on pc and make it as if they're originally made for xbox, cause that sounds awesome if done perfectly, a store then becomes just another window to access more games, It obviously looks like a new job for the back compat team, that could mean a long marathon of work, we're talking about 8000 games here.
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GeekGuyWithGlasses
Member
My current biggest issue with portable computer handhelds is that most of the time its either
-Beefier hardware and screen at the cost of battery life
-Moderate specs and screen but better battery time
Dont get me wrong, competition is always good and for what its worth, the SteamDeck is currently my goto "sweet spot" as far as these systems go, but I hope that upcoming devices will be able to overpass these painpoints at some point.
Thats not to say we arent getting there yet, but so far this is what holds me back from investing into anything outside of the SteamDeck, I will most likely buy a SteamDeck 2 whenever that may be.
Do I miss not being able to play games held back due to their anticheat? for some of them yes, but honestly, the perks of not dealing with the Windows bloat makes up for it.
-Beefier hardware and screen at the cost of battery life
-Moderate specs and screen but better battery time
Dont get me wrong, competition is always good and for what its worth, the SteamDeck is currently my goto "sweet spot" as far as these systems go, but I hope that upcoming devices will be able to overpass these painpoints at some point.
Thats not to say we arent getting there yet, but so far this is what holds me back from investing into anything outside of the SteamDeck, I will most likely buy a SteamDeck 2 whenever that may be.
Do I miss not being able to play games held back due to their anticheat? for some of them yes, but honestly, the perks of not dealing with the Windows bloat makes up for it.
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TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I think MS should focus on making some games instead.
Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
My biggest issue is that to make something truly exciting they would have to fork over real money to make a custom APU because even if they used the latest AMD APUs the gains are not so great over a Steam Deck there's no point in them going with stock APUs and I don't think Microsoft is willing to spend that amount of money on a handheld.
GeekGuyWithGlasses
Member
So essentially the performance would be most likely similar, except with windows frontend, in theory of course
I wonder if MS could basically eat up some of the losses á la Valve, but then again it would probably mean trying to lock down the ecosphere into Windows Store/ Xbox game app and we all know how well people react to such...
I dont know, the more I think about it, the less sense it is making for Microsoft to throw in their hat into the mix, considering even the Xbox is left behind more and more by gamers and developers alike.
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Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
Assuming that AMD doesn't crap out a useless yearly update like they did with the 8000 series this year we might get something noteworthy in 2-3 years but the thing is that Valve would most likely have the Steam Deck 2 ready by then with another custom APU.
So I really don't know what's the point of it for Microsoft besides basically releasing a slightly updated MSI Claw