Within the realm of portable gaming, devices such as the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go boast the versatility of running on Windows. However, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox and gaming at Microsoft, suggests that if the tech giant were to venture into the handheld gaming arena, the Xbox ecosystem might offer a more compelling experience. In an in-depth interview with Polygon, Spencer shared his vision for portable gaming consoles, emphasizing his aspiration for them to emulate the immersive experience associated with Xbox gaming. Notably, he pointed to inherent frustrations within Windows as potential hurdles, stating, “The things that usually frustrate me are more Windows-based than device-based.”
Acknowledging the evolution of the Xbox brand, which now spans across both PC and consoles, Spencer highlighted existing disparities in the integration between the two platforms. While the Xbox app on Windows does provide access to Xbox Series X games, Spencer noted that the experience isn’t entirely seamless. He hinted at potential avenues for enhancing portable consoles to align more closely with the Xbox experience, whether through hardware upgrades or software optimizations.
Despite Spencer’s remarks not serving as an official announcement of a handheld Xbox console, they certainly hint at a shift in focus. Praising the innovative strides made by industry players like Valve, Lenovo, and Asus in exploring new form factors for gaming devices, Spencer emphasized that gaming on these platforms often resembles the console experience more than traditional PC gaming. Microsoft’s longstanding interest in a portable gaming device is not a recent development, with the groundwork for enhanced portable gaming experiences being laid through updates to the Xbox app in 2023.
Ultimately, Spencer’s stance suggests that if Microsoft were to enter the portable gaming market, it would likely weigh the options between a Windows/Surface approach and an Xbox-centric strategy. Given Spencer’s authority within the gaming sphere at Microsoft, his preference for the latter underscores a potential direction for the company’s future endeavors in portable gaming.
