OPINION : How do you recognize a product category might not be long for this world ?
The death knell is almost certainly sounding when a CEO snug to the situation is publically describing how they ’d reinvent it . The category is Windows handhelds and it ’s Xbox ’s Phil Spencer that think they can do better .
It ’s nothing new , as there ’s been plenty of chattering and rumor swirling around the idea of an Xbox gambling handheld , especially as we ’ve seen PlayStation release thePortaland more manufacturer join the PC handheld rat race . I ’ve even compose about it in this very column previously , declaring ‘ The ROG Ally shows why we call for an Xbox handheld ‘ . Xbox CEO Phil Spencer appear to entirely agree .
“I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox”
TheSteam Deckoffers a tremendous value - packed streamlined experience for play your personal computer games on the go .
By comparison , Windows 11 - powered handhelds have offer variegate degrees of success in this department , often dependent on the performance of the hardware in spite of appearance as well as how in effect the manufacturer ’s software works in bringing all your games together .
In our followup experience , theAsus ROG Allydoes this well but theLenovo Legion Go … not so much .
And , base on a recent interview withPolygon , Xbox CEO Phil Spencer intend the exact same , and he ’s begun meditate on how Xbox could make that experience well .
I brought [ the Legion Go ] with me to GDC . I ’m on the airplane and I have this leaning of everything that establish it not finger like an Xbox … Are all of my games there ? Do all my biz show up with the save [ file ] that I want ? I ’ll state you one [ game ] that does n’t correctly now — it ’s driving me crazy — is side effect 76 . It does n’t have cross - save .
I desire to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full sieve , but in a compact mode . And all of my societal [ experience ] is there . Like I want it to feel like the hyphen of my Xbox when I bend on the goggle box . [ Except I want it ] on those twist . ”
Same , Phil , same . Coincidentally , I , myself , used the Legion Go on a plane during my test period with the gadget . As well as the package queerness , the hardware irked me as it would n’t ride steadily on the tray table . Add that to the list , Mr Spencer .
On to the main point the Xbox CEO is crap , the current Windows - based hand-held experience is n’t groovy and I suspect he ’s look on in enviousness at a machine like the Steam Deck . I ’ve made the specific controversy for an Xbox handheld but , while Xbox keep to have a cardinal focus on hardware , it ’s clean that getting Xbox Game Pass everywhere is the priority above all else .
But, when (and what)?
Phil Spencer has n’t , of course , instantly tell that an Xbox handheld is come . Instead , he says the Xbox ironware squad is look into ‘ different computer hardware shape factor ’ .
Spencer tote up that the Xbox team were specifically looking into a gadget that would allow mass to play games when and where they normally would n’t be able to . That does sound a lot like it could be handheld , but sceptic would indicate he could simply be referring to Xbox Cloud Streaming being uncommitted on Android , and the threshold now receptive for it to retrovert to iOS .
However , it ’s well-defined to me that Spencer is talking aboutnewavenues to get into . cave in Xbox has its console , and you’re able to find the Game Pass app on mobiles and some Smart television receiver , where else is there for Spencer to boom the Xbox ecosystem into ? I ’m not certain I desire to play Starfield on a smartwatch .
Further , Spencer is so clearly thinking about it and what it would need to be . When utter about microcomputer gaming handhelds he stated , “ The things that usually frustrate me are more Windows - free-base than gimmick - based . ” And , the foreland honcho cognize who is intimately positioned to define that : “ [ It ’s ] an expanse I finger some possession of . Like , I want to be capable to lumber in with a comptroller . I ’ve got my tilt of thing we should go do . ”
So , an Xbox handheld must be a go , right ? Herbert Spencer does add a fundamental caution that suggests handhelds from the likes of Asus , Lenovo , MSI and others are n’t going away . “ If I want to go fiddle my cabinet games on the go with a handheld , I do n’t want to only be able to buy one brand of handheld … I desire everything that we ’re doing in the hardware space to be great . But if somebody pick out to go encounter today [ somewhere else ] , I do n’t want them to sense like a lesser Xbox [ thespian ] . ”
All that bestow up to an added level of machination on my part regarding the next evolution of Xbox on handhelds , but it largely brings more questions than solution . Will we get PC handhelds that have a much more siloed Xbox experience so you could populate in that space without the stress of tackle the awkwardness of Windows and producer software ?
Or , could we see those novel dash handheldsandan Xbox handheld for those who ’d like it , as it does n’t seem like an Xbox handheld completely take over that space is something Phil Spencer want to do ?
My intellection are : just do it . An Xbox console - similar experience on a handheld sounds like a stress - free dream and , if Xbox did improve the operate organization experience for all personal computer handhelds but still bring in its own hardware , I ’d require users to clump to the Xbox adaptation anyway .
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