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The resurgence of dedicated gaming handhelds has been one of the most amazing things that we’ve witnessed over the past couple of years, with a ton of different manufacturers throwing their hats in the portable gaming ring – Valve, ASUS, Lenovo, you mention it; Nintendo is rumored to unveil its Switch successor within the next year or so.
Even veteran company Sony attempted to make a comeback of sorts with the PlayStation Portal handheld, although it’s arguably nowhere close to the impact that the PSP and PS Vita had. With all that being said, one big name in the gaming industry has still yet to release an actual portable gaming device, although it’s rumored that things could change soon.
Speaking to the folks over at Polygon, Microsoft’s Xbox head Phil Spencer mentioned that the Xbox hardware team is considering “different hardware form factors” with regards to future Xbox products. Spencer also stated that after trying the current crop of portable gaming systems including the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and Steam Deck, there was a missing element that possessed the unique Xbox feel. Part of his interview reads:
“I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox… I brought [the Legion Go] with me to GDC. I’m on the airplane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget about the brand. More like: Are all of my games there? Do all my games show up with the save [files] that I want? I’ll tell you one [game] that doesn’t right now — it’s driving me crazy — is Fallout 76. It doesn’t have cross-save.”
“I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social [experience] is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. [Except I want it] on those devices.”
The Xbox head also noted that Xbox could be made accessible on portable systems via a software approach, or going in a purely hardware-based route. On the other hand however, there was also a consideration that not all players will go with Xbox – as such, he states that the portable Xbox experience must also be improved from a software standpoint, which can then be brought over to devices like the handhelds mentioned earlier.
In a way, Microsoft has worked in bringing Xbox software to portable devices, such as the Xbox Cloud gaming service which allows users to play select Xbox titles on compatible devices including smartphones and such. There was even a dedicated Xbox app back in the days of Windows Phone that integrated achievements with exclusive games such as spin-offs from the Halo and Mass Effect franchise.
With all that being said though, Spencer didn’t formally acknowledge the existence of an upcoming Xbox handheld. However given all the unexpected surprises within the tech industry these past few years, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for this one.
Source: Polygon
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