Re: Now Even Microsoft Is Making a SteamDeck

On Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:57:17 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On the other hand...

Insiders are now reporting that " Microsoft's own Xbox handheld is
essentially canceled."*

Which doesn't mean we won't see more OEM-built handheld-PCs with XBox
branding, like the recently announced Asus ROG XBox Ally. But
Microsoft is backing away from making their own portable console
hardware. Or, really, any gaming hardware in general. They haven't
--yet-- given up the idea of making another XBox console, but on the
whole the company is a lot less bullish about hardware in general.
These days, it seems they're much more interested in streaming and
cloud services.

But if Microsoft isn't investing in the market, it's going to cast a
pall on other OEMs doing the same... or at least, they may not partner
with Microsoft if they make a handheld gaming-PC. Why bother if
they've no guarantee that Microsoft will continue to support the
form-factor? Valve, on the other hand, continues to support, develop
and partner with OEMs, so we while we may see fewer "XBox" handhelds,
the SteamDeck-clones will probably keep coming.






* is there an article? Of course there is an article!
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-handheld-device-essentially-canceled-report/1100-6532402/