Xbox President Confirms Microsoft’s Commitment to Continue Developing Gaming Hardware and Sets the Record Straight Regarding ASUS ROG Ally Pricing

Peter_Brosdahl

Peter_Brosdahl

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A new era has begun for Xbox following the launch of the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds, as folks wonder what's next on the horizon.

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Cool

It would also be great if MS honchos can give some kind of roadmap / milestones etc.

Otherwise given their past history (R.I.P zune, windows phone et al), the sense of unease remains. Sad. But true.
 
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On the first party handheld this is what happened

  1. MS tasked the surface team with doing a first party handheld (as per Jez Corden, windows central)
  2. The surface team (as they usually stupidly do) went with a new hardware architecture that was ARM based (as per MLID)
  3. Sony meanwhile has gone for a conventional x86 low power monolithic handheld (that competes switch 2 / steam deck on both price & power)
  4. It is not clear if microsoft had another team working on an x86 first party handheld
  5. Parallelly, microsoft openly admitted they lost their 'console war' with Sony (& Nintendo )
  6. Now microsoft's biggest existential risk was Valve with their Linux based Steam Deck
  7. To combat valve microsoft focused all their attention on conventional PC handhelds such as Asus Rog Xbox Ally X etc
  8. Now AMD asks microsoft, valve, & Sony to commit to minimum order sizes (probably 10 million over lifetime), if they want custom APU models
    1. Sony agrees — this is the canis APU
    2. Valve baulks — no steam deck 2 until 2029 or 2030
    3. Microsoft — "shelve", "sideline", "pause", cancel etc. their custom APU plans
  9. Now this is what you have from microsoft
    1. Z2 extreme — first partner ASUS (& probably more to follow)
    2. 2027 z3 extreme — unlike canis this is a chiplet based medusa premium APU
      1. 24 CU GPU (AT4) — aka 50xt of RDNA 5
      2. Zen 6 cpu (14 cores — mix of p, c, & lp)
      3. GPU performance equivalent to next gen series S
  10. Basically for handhelds, microsoft has gone all-in behind their AIB partners such as ASUS, Lenovo, MSI etc
  11. Microsoft's main focus with handhelds is valve steam deck & not Sony.
So going first party handheld apu like PS6 canis will distract from microsoft's main focus of competing with valve

You can spin this however way you want
But I doubt if we'll ever see an first party true xbox handheld
 
I forget where but I was reading something over the weekend that they want to look past Sony/Nintendo and make something that can compete in the PC user space. Some folks said it sounded a bit similar to Steam Machines.
 
Peter_Brosdahl said:
I forget where but I was reading something over the weekend that they want to look past Sony/Nintendo and make something that can compete in the PC user space. Some folks said it sounded a bit similar to Steam Machines.
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Right they are not competing with Sony or Nintendo anymore

But rather with valve & their Linux based gaming platform

So the next gen Xbox should have steam access & performance easily between 5070 ti & 5080 (basically a 5070 ti super, I'd guess)

So you can guess the price if it launches in 2027
 
Honestly, they need to release the next one as a set. A home unit that can do 4k with upscaling. And a hand held unit that you get remote play access to for the games you have on your home unit as part of a subscription. A effectively complete gaming bundle. At least that's my take.
 
Grimlakin said:
Honestly, they need to release the next one as a set. A home unit that can do 4k with upscaling. And a hand held unit that you get remote play access to for the games you have on your home unit as part of a subscription. A effectively complete gaming bundle. At least that's my take.
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I think that's a great idea. I don't think that would help Microsoft out.

Microsoft's issues are much deeper than just hardware.
 
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