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XBox (Games) Microsoft

Microsoft Re-joins Handheld Gaming Fight Against Nintendo's Switch (yahoo.com) 41

Posted by msmash from the microsoft-has-entered-the-chat dept.
Gaming handhelds are becoming the industry's new battleground as Microsoft launches its ROG Xbox Ally devices October 16, chasing Nintendo Switch 2's record-breaking 5.8 million units sold in seven weeks. The ASUS-manufactured handhelds run full Windows 11 with a gaming-optimized interface, accessing Xbox Game Pass, Steam, Battle.net, and other PC storefronts without platform lockdown.

Two models arrive at launch: the standard Xbox Ally with AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor and the premium Xbox Ally X featuring Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, 24GB RAM, 1TB storage, and 80Wh battery. Microsoft's Handheld Compatibility Program pre-verifies thousands of PC games for portable play. Pricing remains unannounced.

Microsoft Re-joins Handheld Gaming Fight Against Nintendo's Switch More | Reply

Microsoft Re-joins Handheld Gaming Fight Against Nintendo's Switch

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  • My bet is $799

    • Re:No price yet (Score:4, Informative)

      by Holi ( 250190 ) on Thursday August 21, 2025 @02:39PM (#65605668)

      $899

      https://www.theshortcut.com/p/... [theshortcut.com]

      • Yikes. People were upset over the PS5 Pro price and that was for a full console. The specs on this put it squarely below a 6500 XT. The AI cores seem like a waste of space that could have been devoted to more shader cores.

        I think that they'll at least be able to avoid having scalpers buy up everything and relist it on eBay though as I can't imagine too many people would want to pay that much for a handheld, much less anything on top of that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

          AI cores are useful for upscaling, the thing Nvidia calls DLSS.

          Unfortunately I would say, it is a big part of modern game engines: they render at a low resolution, allowing for costly effects like ray tracing, and then upscale using AI techniques, deep learning to be precise. They can even use similar techniques to artificially improve framerate (frame generation). I say "unfortunately" because when used by lazy developers as a substitute for proper optimization, as it is often the case, it looks like shit.

          • I thought that AMD's upscaling solution was done on their regular GPU cores, but I'll admit that I haven't been following that for a while. Frame generation is only really good if you have a high frame rate to start with anyhow, otherwise it's just going to create a lot of additional input latency and make the controls feel sluggish as the interpolated frames can't respond to input. A handheld is probably the worst use case for that kind of technology as the hardware isn't going to be powerful enough to del

        • Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR): A system-level feature that uses the power of the NPU to upscale games running at lower resolutions—delivering high-resolution visuals and smooth framerates across a wide range of games, with no additional changes required from game developers.

  • Microsoft's goal is pretty clear (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday August 21, 2025 @02:39PM (#65605670)
    Do away with the Xbox but keep the Xbox platform.

    What they want is what 3DO wanted but with a much bigger share of the pie. They want to have consumers pay upfront for unsubsidized hardware sold in a profit by companies like Asus. But then they want to have the platform so they can snatch 30% off the top of game sales.

    Steam does that and Microsoft wants to be steam. The difference is steam goes out of its way not to be evil and the platform they provide is extremely good at promoting games. So much so that many developers have made the point that steam promoting their games was so valuable it was worth more than their entire marketing budget and more than the 30% steam was taking.

    I can't see Microsoft doing that because I can't see them leaving even a scrap of a dime of a penny on the table that they could be sucking out of developers and gamers.

    • Re:Microsoft's goal is pretty clear (Score:4, Insightful)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Thursday August 21, 2025 @03:08PM (#65605762)
      It's way, way worse than you're suggesting. Steam at least sells you the game. Microsoft wants to sell you a subscription to Game Pass. In the future they hope bundle the pod you can live in and bugs you can eat along with the subscription.
      • You'll own nothing and enjoy it!! Honestly screw all subscription corporations. I pay for the product, I own it. End of story.

      • Microsoft wants to sell you a subscription to Game Pass.

        The fact they have a subscription services is not indication that anything is going away. They still sell games. Revenues from sales are still far higher than for subscribing to a leasing service if people actually play many games.

        The reality is a mix. They are hoping people who are active keen gamers buy games, while people who rarely game subscribe.

    • Microsoft Xbox makes their money on game licenses, not hardware. They are basically selling the hardware at cost. They would be more than happy to have someone else make the hardware for them.

    • They want to have consumers pay upfront for unsubsidized hardware sold in a profit by companies like Asus.

      Unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo just builds platforms that it can sell at a break even or slight profit price point on launch day. Microsoft is also not ready for the fact that the Switch 1 and 2 are very well designed machines that cost a lot less in a market that can't support mobile devices that are more expensive to the average buyer than a top of the line desktop console.

    • unlikely, what they want is even more gamepass sales, Hardware helps that, less hard options would hurt gamepass the more options the better for them

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Do away with the Xbox but keep the Xbox platform.

      What they want is what 3DO wanted but with a much bigger share of the pie. They want to have consumers pay upfront for unsubsidized hardware sold in a profit by companies like Asus. But then they want to have the platform so they can snatch 30% off the top of game sales.

      Steam does that and Microsoft wants to be steam. The difference is steam goes out of its way not to be evil and the platform they provide is extremely good at promoting games. So much so that many developers have made the point that steam promoting their games was so valuable it was worth more than their entire marketing budget and more than the 30% steam was taking.

      I can't see Microsoft doing that because I can't see them leaving even a scrap of a dime of a penny on the table that they could be sucking out of developers and gamers.

      Soooo... basically Microsoft want PC gaming but a poorer version of PC gaming that is locked down to Microsoft products.

      Valve can produce their Steamdeck at £500, all taxes and fees included working out of the box. A decent gaming laptop can be had for £600.

      With Nintendo's arsehattery I'm honestly thinking a steamdeck would be the only console worth going for.

      Meanwhile, Steam on Linux has become good and seems to be getting better by the day. Linux compatibility is going to be a priorit

  • I think one of the main reasons people are buying the switch because it's the only platform for nintendo games, it's nice that it's portable. The rest of the platforms focus on graphics which get's hampered if you go portable. I don't think MSFT will get the unit numbers that nintendo does, just because they are going portable, but they can always try. They definitely won't get good sales if they have a high price point and nintendo doesn't.

  • Where only one console comes out victorious, defeated by it's rivals!
    Except for the part where people buy multiple consoles, or have a specific game taste that is only catered for by a specific console or another, and different price points...
    Also the elephant in the room that is the iphone.
     

  • Been playing a lot on my PSP lately, actually.

  • Maybe they should come up with a handheld device to play music. After all, Microsoft is well known for innovation. Look for instance at that um er ...

  • "Doom will be... as you expect." He sounds like he ported his expectations to an expected xbox. Could Jiminy Glick not shock Howard Stern?

  • I swear those were pretty decent specs for a desktop PC just about... two weeks ago?

    And now you get that in a handheld?

    So this is what future shock feels like.

    • It's a laptop with a small screen and no keyboard.
      It has laptop specs. It's apparently Similar to a Ryzen 7 8840HS

      • I don't think there is anything stopping you from plugging a keyboard, mouse, and display into it and using it as a desktop. It's just a Windows box with a touchscreen.

        • Probably the interface.
          It's not advertised as Windows 11.
          It probably has its own interface, and is probably restricted to games from the Xbox store. No side loading. Secure Boot, no local admin, etc.

    • They are not. That 24GB is shared VRAM. This thing will struggle to keep up with a PC which has 16GB of RAM and an entry level video card.

  • Like maybe an 890m if we're lucky. Roughly equivalent to a RX 570. A little bit better because it'll have some more modern features but nothing extraordinary.

    AMD has better graphics but they don't want to put them into integrated systems except for their AI focused workstations that they can charge an arm and a leg for.

    I think the problem there is it's just not going to compete well with the switch 2. I get that you can bring your current steam library and that ain't nothing. But this is hardly Micr

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Virtex ( 2914 )

      The 890m iGPU is RDNA 3.5. See https://www.techpowerup.com/gp... [techpowerup.com]. AMD hasn't used RDNA 2 in their iGPUs since the 600m series.

      The 8060s would be nice, but given its high price and high power consumption, I'm not sure it would make sense in a handheld. Maybe that will improve with time, though.

  • It's a nice box, but it's running WIndows 11, so it's inherently slower and less efficient than the already established Valve Steam Deck. Even Microsoft Xbox employees prefer the Stream Deck.

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