Xbox is always telling us it wants us to play Xbox games anywhere, and that might about to become very literal.
A new report from well-known leaker eXtas1 says that Microsoft is getting ready to debut new handheld Xbox hardware at its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, June 9, a fill-in for what may have used to have been a big E3 show around this time. So if there was ever a place to do it, it’s probably there.
In March, Phil Spencer said the team had been exploring “different hardware form factors” implying the Xbox may evolve beyond boxes like the Series X and S, and the most likely avenue for that is mobile, as Spencer talked about using his Lenovo Legion Go on an airplane, and the heavy implication is that this is something he wants to pursue.
It of course makes a ton of sense, given both Xbox’s stated philosophy of where it wants its games played, its ability to do game streaming, and the runaway success of a handheld like the Nintendo Switch.
However, what form this takes may make or break the entire concept. PlayStation introduced the PS Portal this year, but that has somewhat limited, tethered streaming capabilities and is far from a true handheld like the Switch. Would that be the road Microsoft goes down, or do they want hardware that actually plays its game natively? I’m just not sure something that functions the same way as the Portal would move the needle here. It could have the functionality of both, in theory, though I really doubt that Microsoft would make handheld Xbox hardware without streaming being a core feature, if not the main one.
Microsoft has been attempting to blast out Xbox games far and wide, with day one PC releases, streaming on mobile devices and recently, even bringing formerly exclusive games to PlayStation and Nintendo. So if we’re analyzing the ways they might continue to do this, there are only a handful of avenues left to them, and yes, a portable device is at the top of the list. It seems we will know more this weekend, but if this doesn’t pan out now, there’s no reason to think it might not later down the road, as it’s a hole in the market that does not seem to be going away.
Source: Forbes