Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that the Xbox handheld, of which he has expressed a lot of interest, is in the works at the company. Spencer says there is an expectation that Xbox would release a handheld gaming device, but such a device is “a few years out”.
The comment comes from an interview with Bloomberg regarding the current state of the Xbox brand. Spencer says that Microsoft is currently working on handheld prototypes and considering what it might do. He claims that the development team is designing the Xbox portable device based on what it learns from the current market trends.
Phil Spencer has been quite open with his view on the Xbox portable device. He has expressed his interest in owning one and even shared his ideal dream to have a dedicated Xbox handheld that runs an Xbox-themed operating system and can run games internally. He said he could imagine booting it up and having all your Xbox Game Pass games available on-device with the ability to connect to cloud services and play other games.
Spencer has stressed that it is important for gamers to play games locally and not only rely on cloud-based gaming. While Microsoft has pushed its xCloud service, it is limited to certain regions and relying on the internet to play games means you are at the mercy of networks when travelling.
The rise of handheld gaming devices swept through the market in the most recent years. This was all triggered by Valve’s release of the original Steam Deck. Up to then, Nintendo owned the market with the Switch. Every tech brand now has a portable for sale. Some are better than others. Valve just announced the Steam Deck OLED Limited Edition device.
With an oversaturated market, there is still a lot of room for dedicated handhelds that are not PC-based. This means Xbox could release a handheld and it would likely do very well. The same goes for the Switch successor and Sony’s rumoured portable device too.
Source: Bloomberg
