Support NeoGAF

[Mr.Phoenix]

Why not just make a portable windows PC like the Deck or Ally?

Why would they do that. I mean, its going to be that special version of windows they have in their Xbox anyways, but at the end of the day it does them no good making them just another PC handheld. That would pretty much mean its a glorified Steam deck ver.2.

They keep the OS locked to Xbox, and they keep steam out.

= Profit. (says the Xbox exec)

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Wouldn't MS still benefit from all of the people who are buying windows handhelds if those handhelds run windows? Also wouldn't they benefit further if they run games like CoD on those handhelds?

In what way?
In an open system, you don't charge 30% rent when someone use something that didn't go through your store. The Windows would come with the handheld and thus sold at a loss. The CoD can be sold from Steam and thus MS doesn't see a cent.

Wait... You are serious? You actually believe the lie that Microsoft somehow magically gain money when someone play on Steam, just because it runs on Windows?

Edit:
I guess i should explain.
If the handheld is a closed garden, then it would be a strictly worse version of all the existing Windows handhelds that are out there already. And trying to run Series S games would kill the battery dead, assuming the thing doesn't overheat and explode first.

If the handheld is not closed, then it would have a market but not very profitable, because people would just install games they already paid for from Steam and be done with it. Steamdeck only makes sense because Gabe can reasonably expect most players would be Steam customers. Microsoft doesn't have enough pull on the MS store to feel the same.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Is this Jez Corden who said MS first party coming to PlayStation was hopium?

 

[Kacho]

Why not just make a portable windows PC like the Deck or Ally?

The market is already overcrowded and there’s no real benefit to them because users won’t be tied down to a closed ecosystem where they get a cut on all software sold.

 

[MisterXDTV]

Hope they have a plan for decent battery life.

Series S is selling so well, they had to make a handheld version

 

[StereoVsn]

In what way?
In an open system, you don't charge 30% rent when someone use something that didn't go through your store. The Windows would come with the handheld and thus sold at a loss. The CoD can be sold from Steam and thus MS doesn't see a cent.

Wait... You are serious? You actually believe the lie that Microsoft somehow magically gain money when someone play on Steam, just because it runs on Windows?

You fell for THAT old joke?

MS certainly makes money when their games are sold on Steam.

As far as cost of Windows in a small screen PC to OEMs, I think it’s very little now days, more like $10-15.

Real money now days is in Azure and Microsoft 365 endeavors plus business software and Windows Enterprise licensing.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

Wouldn't MS still benefit from all of the people who are buying windows handhelds if those handhelds run windows?

What? No! No, they absolutely would not benefit from this. How the hell did you manage to come to such an asinine conclusion?

Anyway, if this thing exists (and given the source of the rumour, that seems like a coin-toss at best), it would surely have to have some kind of hardware-driven upscaling. That would mesh with the earlier rumours of MS looking at Intel for hardware could have some merit. Or, maybe PSSR is based in part in AMD tech that they are able to license out. Can’t see them going to nvidia. What other options are there?

Regardless, I'd expect some kind of hybrid device. Series S power (ugh) on-the-go, upscaled on the TV screen, with the option of streaming upscaled Xcloud content that aims to match Series X performance?

 

[Leonidas]

I'd buy one if it can play my backwards compatible selection of Xbox games.

Could also be huge for cross buy, I would consider buying games on the MS/Xbox store if I could use them on the handheld and PC... its too bad most 3P don't support cross buy.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

They'd probably have more luck trying to sell handhelds than consoles going forward.

Although then they'd go head-to-head with Nintendo and get their asses handed to them all over again.

 

[nosoynadie22]

Xbox series ss?

 

[March Climber]

In what way?
In an open system, you don't charge 30% rent when someone use something that didn't go through your store. The Windows would come with the handheld and thus sold at a loss. The CoD can be sold from Steam and thus MS doesn't see a cent.

Wait... You are serious? You actually believe the lie that Microsoft somehow magically gain money when someone play on Steam, just because it runs on Windows?

You fell for THAT old joke?

What? No! No, they absolutely would not benefit from this. How the hell did you manage to come to such an asinine conclusion?

Exactly, don’t know why people are so stupid

I’m not as knowledgeable on the subject, so I was wondering if you could help me understand it better.

 

[mayham2199]

I've never had gamepass btw.

Wouldn't MS still benefit from all of the people who are buying windows handhelds if those handhelds run windows? Also wouldn't they benefit further if they run games like CoD on those handhelds?

I guess if you're against this idea of improving Windows 11, what alternative idea would you suggest for MS at this point? You know, aside from the 'roll over and quit' option when it comes to hardware?

When it comes to hardware? I don't know if there is anything they can do. Beji-Sales put it best on one his videos. What we are witnessing is brand damage. Turning that ship around at this point I think is almost impossible.

There only hope IMO would be to reverse almost all the decisions they've made and go back to the model Sony and Nintendo are doing. Make all your games exclusive and leave the PC market. Find a way to leverage COD as best as you can as well. As soon as the contract is up make COD exclusive and end support for all COD games everywhere else and shut all the servers down. This will turn their hardware numbers around but it will also cost them so much money in order to achieve this it would be insane.

The next step would be to start money hatting every single 3rd part game you can possibly get a contract for.

I'd also add in making great exclusives but there just seems to be something fundamentally wrong over at MS and their studios so I think that would be a waste of time. Better to rely on 3rd party exclusives.

 

[Gamezone]

I would love more handhelds, but they need to push out something better than the MSI Claw garbage we got recently.

 

[Perrott]

adamsapple since you seem knowledgeable on all things Xbox...

In light of the alleged new Xbox development kit making the rounds in Korea, what are in your opinion the chances of this Xbox handheld being the (or part of the) new Xbox hardware coming this holiday that Microsoft teased during their business update event?

 

[Hohenheim]

I hope this is true!
Would buy a handheld native xbox day 1 even though I have a OLED Steam Deck and a Legion Go. Handhelds are so much fun!

 

[phant0m]

So would it be like a ROG Ally, Claw, Legion Go, but with an Xbox themed interface/UI

Which is a slam dunk imo.

Windows is the greatest boon to them because it can run “everything” but also the biggest drawback. Sleep/suspend is flaky, a ton of system resources are wasted on needless garbage, and it’s terrible to navigate with a controller or trackpad. Like when I got my Legion Go I had to say no, I don’t want a trial of Office 365 on my handheld that doesn’t have a fucking keyboard. Christ MS, read the goddamn room.

I think their resources would be better used making an Xbox OS (stripped down Windows with controller UI) that can run on handhelds (or any x86 hardware) and license it.

 

[Drew1440]

What customer segment does this really benefit? Is there really demand for another portable?

One that can play Xbox's back catalogue and gamepass? Yes.

 

[DavJay]

Playing all of those Xbox 360 bc titles on the go? Count me in. Ecosystem baby

 

[solidus12]

Jezz is keeping the dream alive uh?

That’s just hopium from a fanboy

 

[Crayon]

I'll wait till it's on game pass.

 

[StereoVsn]

One that can play Xbox's back catalogue and gamepass? Yes.

I mean that’s great and all, hell I would probably buy one… but the fly in the ointment is that the audience for such a device would be inherently small.

I mean how many people would be interested and how much money would MS make from that?

It doesn’t seem to be worth their while to target the device at the BC crowd.

 

[Rockman33]

I honestly dont know what they can offer at this point. A series s equivalent?

If it sits between series s and series x, would devs even bother creating three versions of the game?

I just hope they improve the rt features of this thing because series s removes RT in way too many games. Dragons Dogma 2 being the latest victim. if its using the latest rdna4 cores then 4 tflops might be able to do rt.

If they were able to get a complete series s in a handheld that would be amazing. And you want something MORE powerful in handheld form?! You’re dreaming.

 

[LordBritish]

My library of 300+ games for gold says HELL YES!!! please be true

 

[Dorfdad]

Really hope it’s open #1 and that it’s not bare spec and no 6inch lcd screen 8-10 inch oled or GTFO

 

[Bridges]

If I can access my current digital library then I'm in. Using a VPN to access gamepass games through Xcloud in an unsupported country is such a drag. It needs access to my purchased library and to NOT be streaming-only and that's all I need.

 

[Rockman33]

If they were to make a dedicated handheld that ran all games already on series consoles I’d be day 1 on the purchase. Sounds amazing.

For all you Sony only fans out there if they were to do this for PS5 im sure your tune would be very different.

 

[adamsapple]

adamsapple since you seem knowledgeable on all things Xbox...

In light of the alleged new Xbox development kit making the rounds in Korea, what are in your opinion the chances of this Xbox handheld being the (or part of the) new Xbox hardware coming this holiday that Microsoft teased during their business update event?

Your guess is as good as mine, but they're going to do their annual showcase in June, if anything like that exists, we'll find out about it there.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

If they were to make a dedicated handheld that ran all games already on series consoles I’d be day 1 on the purchase. Sounds amazing.

For all you Sony only fans out there if they were to do this for PS5 im sure your tune would be very different.

what tune?

 

[TheDreadLord]

Tbh, it looks like a good idea to me. I’m invested into the Xbox environment and it would be quite nice to be able to natively play my library on a mobile platform.

 

[Ogbert]

I am split on this, i think this is a fantastic idea, but for some reason i think MS will fuck it up.

Oddly enough, I actually think it will suit MS more. Gamepass on a handheld is interesting.

 

[Rockman33]

what tune?

Instead of all this negativity in the thread. It would be super hyped. Hell, people were acting like the PSP that only STREAMED games was amazing.

 

[UltimaKilo]

I'd wouldn't rush to release this product. Let the Switch successor be on the market for a while so you can release a significantly more powerful machine.

 

[Quasicat]

Handhelds so hot right now w/ Steam Deck / Ally / Legion.

Gamers are way more willing to accept 800p @ 30fps than 4K @ 30fps which seems strange but portability greatly increases the appetite for compromise I guess.

This is especially true with some of us that have limited time on the living room TV. As the kids have gotten older and my ADHD spouse wanting more quiet relaxing time, the Steam Deck and Switch have become my main gaming devices. The nice thing is, Xbox Cloud Gaming runs perfectly on the Steam Deck and Sony has moved a lot of their titles to the PC. I may only get 800p @ 30fps, but it’s worth it so I can keep playing the games I want to play.

 

[Dorfdad]

I had a Kinect on the x1 and it sucked.

If Xbox can bring quality games consistently to their portable, it could work.

I have my doubts though. Part of Nintendos success has been exclusives. Something Microsoft seems to be moving away from.

Maybe but Microsoft has been saying they want to push into mobile gaming and we all thought phones, portables are mobile as well I can see them buying a bunch of indie based developers low cost for mobile/handheld capable games that work on the hardware. Think AA and AAA indie games

 

[Generic]

Is it possible to turn the Series S into a portable machine with decent battery?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

So why call it Xbox if it runs PC games???

It's confusing

Seems like Xbox only

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Instead of all this negativity in the thread. It would be super hyped. Hell, people were acting like the PSP that only STREAMED games was amazing.

oh, but the tune will be the same. (regarding Xbox)

 

[Horseganador]

If Xbox's plan is to release a portable console to replace Series S and a very powerful (and expensive 700-800$...) console to replace Series X and face Switch 2 and PS5... I think it is an even worse idea than Series S and Series x in 2020 (also releasing games as a third party...).

 

[Rockman33]

oh, but the tune will be the same. (regarding Xbox)

?

Nvm, I just looked at the last 2 pages of your messages and everything is Pro PlayStation. Negative Xbox. It alllll makes sense.

 

[reinking]

I am looking forward to what they reveal. I am more interested in an Xbox handheld than I am another console but they still have to overcome the issue that all of their games are day one on PC. Which means, all of their games are already playable on PC handhelds. I hope they blow my socks off with the handheld and the next Xbox because they are going to have to give me a reason to go Xbox over PC.

 

[ZehDon]

If it's an Xbox Handheld, rather than a PC handheld, I think it'll be a tough sell. They don't have Nintendo's murder's row of exclusive software to push the thing, they don't have PC functionality to expand its feature set. I'm not sure I see the market for a portable Xbox Series S when something like the Steam Deck is around.

 

[Sleepwalker]

OLED or no buy

 

[Negotiator101]

I honestly dont know what they can offer at this point. A series s equivalent?

If it sits between series s and series x, would devs even bother creating three versions of the game?

I just hope they improve the rt features of this thing because series s removes RT in way too many games. Dragons Dogma 2 being the latest victim. if its using the latest rdna4 cores then 4 tflops might be able to do rt.

This is obviously as an alternative to its new next-gen console I would imagine.

 

[Rockman33]

If it's an Xbox Handheld, rather than a PC handheld, I think it'll be a tough sell. They don't have Nintendo's murder's row of exclusive software to push the thing, they don't have PC functionality to expand its feature set. I'm not sure I see the market for a portable Xbox Series S when something like the Steam Deck is around.

If it can match series S in power, which seems like a long shot. Everything that comes to Xbox will be already optimized for that hardware spec. Where as there’s a ton of games that don’t work well on steam deck.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

The Kinect V1 was a phenomenal success for them. It sold them 10m Xboxes at the end of its life cycle.

But it ended up being a dead end in the end. Much like other motion controls.

 

[SoloCamo]

This is lining up with what I've said in other threads. MS is reactive, saw the success of the consoles and joined in after Sega's demise... now after failing this gen they see how well the Switch did and want a piece of that pie. If I can get a proper windows based Handheld with a decent AMD APU with good control layout I'm down for it. My Switch OLED is nice and all but having the ability to play my entire PC backlog (which started in the 90's) with me on a good handheld would be amazing. Yes, the laptop can do this too as portable device but it's not the same.

 

[ren008]

Losers ride the bus and play their handhelds (with assorted battery packs and chargers) while winners get things done out there, drive home and play games on tv like normals do.

With steamdeck/etc fine, you got the excuse of cool tech, open customization, emulation, trailblazing stuff. I see someone rocking a Switch in public my manchild alarm starts going off. Locked down Xbox portable? Even worse, cant even pretend its your kid's unit. MS does this and they wont be coming back.

 

[DenchDeckard]

 

[MarkMe2525]

But it ended up being a dead end in the end. Much like other motion controls.

The dead end for Kinect V1 was the beginning of a new console generation. I'm sure any accessories made for current gen consoles would cease to be relevant, when the console manufacturers move to a new platform and don't allow the new console to use said accessory and related software.

If your argument was that Kinect V2 never managed to take off, then I would agree with you, but those are different devices on different platforms.

Edit: removed irrelevant comment.

 

[baphomet]

If they're still prototyping then you're not going to be seeing it anytime in the near future.

You're also not getting an AMD powered series s into a handheld until 2026 at least.