Unsurprisingly, the Redmond firm is indeed planning to launch itself into the PC console market. Since the Nintendo Switch blurred the boundaries between portable and home consoles, hybrid machines of the genre have invaded the video game industry. Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go... There is no shortage of options to allow gamers to take their library of titles everywhere with them. However, Microsoft is slow to launch and is relying on competitors' machines to offer portable access to its PC Game Pass catalog. But that will not last.
After having mentioned a hypothetical portable machine at several times, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has finally made the development of such a platform official. It was during an interview with Bloomberg that the gaming giant has revealed the first details regarding this project. The time for speculation is over: Xbox's portable console is well into the prototyping phase. But we're going to have to be patient. Unsurprisingly, Spencer specifies that the machine still has several years ahead of it before it sees the light of day.
“In the long term, I like to see us design new machines and I think our team has the potential to produce something really innovative, but we want to learn from what's currently being done,” he explains. The CEO does, however, reveal some ideas that could set the portable Xbox apart from other current platforms on the market.
Building a flawless experience
For now, the Redmond firm wants to focus on improving its Xbox application. In this way, current portable devices will be able to benefit from a better quality Xbox experience while serving as a training ground for the future home console. For gamers, a PC console signed by Microsoft will have to meet many criteria in order to be attractive. First of all, if the Redmond firm chooses to limit its OS to the Xbox application catalog, the product risks losing a large part of its interest.
Even if the Game Pass continues to gain popularity, many users want to enjoy other libraries in nomadic mode: Steam, Epic and GOG to name a few. If Microsoft manages to modify Windows to offer total compatibility in a packaging worthy of the simplicity of the Steam Deck, the manufacturer will have all the keys in hand to overturn the market. In a previous interview with IGN, Phil Spencer also mentioned the possibility of offering local multiplayer, similar to what is done on Nintendo Switch. Concretely, the future Xbox machine has a lot of potential but its success will lie in the execution. Now, all that remains is to wait.
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