Xbox says its handheld will combine ‘the best of Xbox and Windows’
Microsoft’s planned Xbox handheld will focus on gaming but incorporate Windows elements
Microsoft is once again talking about its as-yet-unannounced handheld, this time claiming it will combine “the best of Xbox and Windows.”
As attended by The Verge, Microsoft’s VP of “Next Generation,” Jason Ronald, took part in a roundtable at CES titled “The Future of Gaming Handhelds,” where he shared further details about Microsoft’s planned portable.
“We’ve been really innovating for a long time in the console space, and as we partner across the industry it’s really about how do we bring those innovations that we’ve incubated and developed in the console space and bring them to PC and bring them to the handheld gaming space,” he said.
Microsoft’s gaming CEO has repeatedly hinted that it could create its own Steam Deck-style Xbox device. In an interview with Bloomberg in November the exec said that the “expectation is that we would do something” in the category.
The Verge spoke to Ronald following the roundtable about the potential for the Xbox handheld.
“I would say it’s bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it’s really locked to the console,” said Ronald.
“What we’re doing is we’re really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem.”
He added: “I think, at the end of the day, our goal is to make Windows great for gaming on any device. The reality is the Xbox operating system is built on top of Windows.
“So there’s a lot of infrastructure that we built in the console space that we can bring to the PC space and really deliver that premium gaming experience on any device.”
Ronald says the goal of the handheld is to create an experience that puts Xbox at the center of its focus, “not the Windows desktop that you have today.”
In March 2024, Windows Central claimed Microsoft was working on “fully native Xbox handheld” prototypes. And in a Polygon interview published a few days later, Microsoft Gaming CEO Spencer discussed what he’d like to see in a potential Xbox handheld.
The executive returned to the subject during an IGN interview following last summer’s Xbox Games Showcase, in which he dropped his biggest hint yet that a handheld could be in the works.
When it was put to Spencer that Xbox has been building its business around the strategy of being where the players are, be that on PC or more recently on other console platforms, he said: “So we should have a handheld? I think we should have a handheld too.”
