Now Even Microsoft Is Making a SteamDeck

Well, no, not really, but they _are_ getting into the handheld gaming
device market, and their device is reported to look a lot like Valve's
machine. It won't, obviously, be running SteamOS but despite being
advertised as an "XBox Handheld", it's likely to be running Windows,
so it will probably be running PC games rather than XBox-native games
(or, as likely, streaming them from Microsoft's cloud service). It
also isn't clear if Microsoft itself will be building the device, but
likely not. Microsoft has been increasingly loathe to involve itself
in hardware manufacturing, and has apparently been in contact with its
OEM partners, but it's all very unclear.

Personally, I don't think Valve has much to worry about. While
handheld gaming PCs are a (slowly) growing market, Microsoft has not
been particularly adept with any of its mobile devices, whether its
phones or Zunes, or whatever. Even its Surface tablets haven't really
been taking the world by storm. Even if it were to make the device and
leverage its XBox library (e.g., "Play 'Halo 7 only on Microsoft XBox
Portable!") I don't think enough of console-fanboys would make the
transition to make it worth it for Microsoft. And all that is assuming
Microsoft could even make a handheld gaming device that was
competitive in performance and price.

Still, it does speak to the increased popularity of the form-factor...
and possibly how much of a threat Valve is as seen by Microsoft. And
Microsoft has surprised the world before; the original XBox was
expected to be a flop not seen since the 3DO days, and yet it became
one of the three top consoles. And maybe some good will come out of it
all, if Microsoft's focus on making its handheld work results in a
less bloated Windows OS.