A Cool Handheld Dealing with An Uphill Battle

The ROG Xbox Ally X shocked me with how mild it felt the primary time I picked it up. Despite being one of many heaviest PC gaming handhelds, it doesn’t truly really feel overbearing or burdensome. The controller grips on the perimeters would possibly make it look goofy however in addition they make it extra snug, so the battery life will cease me from taking part in lengthy earlier than drained arms or cramping wrists. And none of this may matter if the worth isn’t proper.

An October 16 launch date for the Xbox-branded Asus {hardware} was revealed at Gamescom 2025. That was two weeks in the past. Now we’re 42 days from launch and there’s nonetheless no pre-order web page and even an official price ticket. The latter is seemingly underneath overview following the most recent U.S. tariff updates from President Trump’s White House. But if, for no matter purpose, it finally ends up costing double the worth of a Switch 2 or Steam OLED as some leaks have suggested it will, it’s going to have some large footwear to fill. I’m unsure neat paddles on the perimeters, a brand new AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, and a slick UI overhaul alone will have the ability to justify the experiment.

I went hands-on with the Xbox Ally X (the extra highly effective of the 2 upcoming fashions) at Microsoft’s workplaces final week in Seattle throughout PAX West and got here away with what felt like a glimpse of the place the tech large might take Windows gaming sooner or later, in addition to numerous questions on the place it can truly be come this fall. When he tried it at Summer Game Fest earlier this yr, Kotaku‘s Kenneth Shepard lamented handheld gaming’s newfound obsession with replicating high-end PC and console experiences on the go. I got here away from my hands-on demo extra inquisitive about how the PC gaming handheld might reshape the Xbox residence console expertise transferring ahead.

The Xbox Ally is Microsoft’s try to bolt a gaming OS onto Windows so the common particular person can flip it on and boot up a sport with out ever having to navigate a process bar or desktop shortcut. Turn the hand held on and it boots immediately into the brand new OS layer operating on high of Windows 11. Accidentally crash it by attempting to navigate round too quick or hitting a button while you’re not alleged to, as I did a number of occasions, and that dreaded error window will pierce by means of the overlay like an undesirable virus alert.

The experiment received’t be price it if Microsoft and Asus can’t work out an honest price ticket, nevertheless it received’t imply something in any respect if they’ll’t preserve the brand new UI secure sufficient to efficiently trick you into forgetting that the Xbox Ally, opposite to catchy advertising and marketing, remains to be truly a Windows PC. When it does work, the promise of the Xbox Ally shines by means of unmistakably: your PC sport library made simple to navigate and play on already confirmed {hardware}. Tags for each sport let you know if it could possibly run at excessive settings or if it’s but to be examined.

Much has been made from how the Xbox UI will mechanically pull in video games you already personal on Steam, letting you launch them from throughout the Xbox layer with out having to individually descend again into Windows and open them manually. Can you purchase Steam video games immediately from throughout the Xbox layer as properly? Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that but.

The concept could merely be that most individuals will purchase Steam video games on their precise PCs, then have them simply accessible once they transfer over to the Xbox Ally the place they may then even have Game Pass ready for them. The Xbox Ally is step one in a brand new race with Valve to see which firm could make accessing its competitor’s merchandise by itself gadgets extra frictionless, and Game Pass on SteamOS is still a pain.

Perhaps the most important coup for the Xbox Ally group inside Microsoft is a function that permits you to maintain down the devoted Xbox button to shortly navigate between apps identical to you would possibly on a smartphone. It appears like an evolution of Quick Resume on console, by far Microsoft’s largest contribution to the present console era expertise outdoors of Game Pass. If solely each gaming handheld made it really easy to toggle between video games, Discord, and the online. If solely each gaming handheld even had Discord.

Speaking of the Switch 2, I introduced it to the demo for dimension comparability functions. I spent most of my time on the Xbox Ally taking part in Hollow Knight: Silksong, a sport I will likely be shopping for on my Switch 2 when it comes out this week. The authentic sport on the unique Switch was a really perfect handheld expertise, as evidenced by how few of Kotaku‘s staff at the time even played it before it came to Nintendo’s console. The sequel solely prices $20 and won’t be testing any PC gaming handheld benchmarks. Do you actually need a $600, $800, and even $1,000 PC gaming handheld to get pleasure from it?

Over 150 million Switches offered proves there’s a marketplace for low cost gaming handhelds. Six million PC gaming handhelds offered, in the meantime, suggests there’s not but a marketplace for the high-end ones, at the least not one that may meaningfully revenue a public firm investing $80 billion a yr in AI. But even when a commerce struggle in the end makes the Xbox Ally useless on arrival, at the least within the U.S., I’m glad to see corporations attempting. There are a whole lot of cool concepts in there and I’d like to see how they could possibly be utilized to console gaming sooner or later.