Phil Spencer has been testing Steam Deck and says Xbox games ‘work well’

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed he’s been playtesting Valve’s upcoming Steam Deck portable gaming PC, and said that Xbox games such as Halo “feel good” and “work well”.

The $399+ device was announced last month, described as “a powerful all-in-one portable PC” capable of running the latest AAA games.

Steam Deck runs the latest version of Valve’s SteamOS software – which is based on Linux – allowing players to easily access their Steam games library and all of the platform’s features.

However, Valve insists that Steam Deck is also an open PC with the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware. That means players could be able to access other company’s game stores such as The Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass.

At the very least, users will be able to stream Game Pass title over the cloud via a web browser, according to Phil Spencer’s recent social media post.

“Was [at] @valvesoftware this week talking w/ Scott, Erik, Gabe about Steam Deck,” Spencer wrote on Friday. “After having mine most of the week I can say it’s a really nice device. Games with me on the go, screen size, controls all great. Playing Halo and Age feels good, xCloud works well. Congrats SD team.”

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can already stream their games to Android and iOS devices via the cloud, but Steam Deck could potentially offer an attractive solution for gaming on the go without having to worry about WiFi speed.

Steam Deck will feature a “powerful, custom APU” developed with AMD, a 7-inch touch screen, full-sized controls with gyro and trackpads, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD expansion slot and a USB-C port.

It will begin shipping in December with prices starting at $399 (64GB eMMC). Increased storage options will also be available for $529 (256GB NVMe SSD) and $649 (512GB NVMe SSD).

This week Xbox boss Spencer seemingly ruled out the possibility of launching Xbox Game Pass on other console platforms in the near future.

In a GamesRadar interview, Spencer was specifically asked whether Microsoft is planning to bring Xbox Game Pass to Nintendo Switch.

“We have no plans to bring it to any other kind of closed platforms right now, mainly because those closed platforms don’t want something like Game Pass,” he responded.

“There’s a ton of open platforms out there for us to grow in: the web, PC, and mobile. So all of our focus, frankly, is on those platforms.”