Lots of people (not least Engadget’s personal ) have been asking Microsoft to make an Xbox-branded handheld for a very long time. And it seemed for some time like we may be getting within the not-so distant future. However Microsoft’s priorities have reportedly shifted to enhancing the broadly criticised efficiency of Home windows 11 on current third-party PC gaming handhelds.
In an unique report, claims {that a} devoted Xbox handheld system, which may have launched in 2027 alongside the successor to the Xbox Collection X, isn’t the corporate’s foremost space of focus proper now, even when it stays eager on the concept. An internally developed handheld, for which Home windows Central’s Jez Corden says he has seen a variety of totally different codenames, shouldn’t be at the moment being labored on, and he provides that no layoffs have taken place on account of the strategic shift.
Whereas a local Xbox gadget may be a way off, the report makes clear that Microsoft continues to be very a lot lively within the handheld market. A 3rd-party console that it has been engaged on with ASUS, codenamed “Challenge Kennan”, continues to be concentrating on a 2025 launch. It is seemingly this gadget, which may very well be outfitted with AMD’s Z2 Excessive chip, will ship with an improved Home windows 11 expertise higher suited to a controller interface.
The software program’s awkward integration in early iterations of PC handhelds just like the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally has been a giant downside, and it’s partly why persons are so excited concerning the expertise not being unique to the Steam Deck. The Lenovo Legion Go S began transport with SteamOS working out of the field this week, the primary handheld not made by Valve to take action.
