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Phil Spencer addresses the rumored Xbox handheld

Topher

Gold Member
Not going to transcribe the entire interaction,but here are the main points made by Phil Spencer....

Ryan: "It's been rumored, it's been talked about. We talked about it on the preshow, there was a big reaction from the audience here and that is an Xbox handheld?"

Spencer: "I think we should have a handheld"

Spencer: "The future for us in hardware in pretty awesome and the work that the team is doing around different form factors, different ways to play....I'm incredibly excited about it. Today was about the games. We showed some of our gen 9 consoles, Series S, Series X, the work that we are doing, but we will have a time to come out talk more about platform. We can't wait to bring it to you guys"

Ryan asked if a "hypothetical" Xbox handheld would be something like a Steam Deck or cloud based.

"I think being able to play games locally is really important"


Timestamped 25:52

Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
basically they will try to take over the prebuild PC market and handheld

The question is will it work? I mean steamdeck only sells 1 million units annually. I think certain things only work with Nintendo.
 
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Hip Hop

Member
Man, can’t believe we’re witnessing the renaissance period of handheld gaming. Nintendo, Microsoft, Valve and various 3rd party PC manufacturers.

Except Sony of course after the Vita bomb.
That is one of my favorite video game hardware of all time, the Vita.

Sucks the life of it was so short lived, it should have thrived all the way up until the Switch was released.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
I think it's the best way forward.

Releasing another dedicated console makes no sense, given that he finally flatout stated that they are moving toward 3rd party publishing.
Unless they'll be happy with 20-25M units solds.
 
Current minimum PC hardware requirements for Game Pass
  • OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11
  • Processor: Intel Core 5 quad core or higher, or AMD Ryzen 5 quad core or higher
  • GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon RX 560
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM, 3 GB VRAM
  • Storage: 150 GB
  • DirectX: DirectX 12 API
  • Monitor: 1080p
Can this be made handheld? Has it already been made handheld?
 
Current minimum PC hardware requirements for Game Pass
  • OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11
  • Processor: Intel Core 5 quad core or higher, or AMD Ryzen 5 quad core or higher
  • GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon RX 560
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM, 3 GB VRAM
  • Storage: 150 GB
  • DirectX: DirectX 12 API
  • Monitor: 1080p
Can this be made handheld? Has it already been made handheld?
There are plenty of handhelds running windows these days. I have one myself here. The more offers the better, just could do with newer apus
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Always have to look at what he doesn't say as much as he does. Interesting he switches from talking about 9th gen console to simply the term 'platform'.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I hope they get this out by 2026. Series s power with 16gb memory minimum and the ability to install steam as well as my game pass sub.

Absolute fire.
 

MrTired

Member
Man, can’t believe we’re witnessing the renaissance period of handheld gaming. Nintendo, Microsoft, Valve and various 3rd party PC manufacturers.

Except Sony of course after the Vita bomb.
A yet only Nintendo has sold more handhelds than the bomb that was the Vita. The "success" of these PC handheld are greatly overstated.
 
Well it’s not going sell if it’s just another steam deck, needs something different in both hardware and software, as Nintendo are experts at this, Needs some kind of gimmick to sell it, I would personally bring back glasses free 3d,
 

midnightAI

Member
Man, can’t believe we’re witnessing the renaissance period of handheld gaming. Nintendo, Microsoft, Valve and various 3rd party PC manufacturers.

Except Sony of course after the Vita bomb.
I'd keep quiet about that if I was you because if an Xbox handheld sells less then you will be quoted
 
Well it’s not going sell if it’s just another steam deck, needs something different in both hardware and software, as Nintendo are experts at this, Needs some kind of gimmick to sell it, I would personally bring back glasses free 3d,
I want a steam deck but the cost and form factor don't suit me. I wonder how many there are in my position?
 

Chukhopops

Member
I don’t see a branded Xbox handheld running games locally as it would be a nightmare making all games run on it, plus it would come really late in the generation and wouldn’t be future-proofed. Way more likely to be some local streaming from PC or Xbox, on Deck it works flawlessly and looks significantly better than running locally.

My dream is better support of GP on Linux so I can play the GP indie catalog on my Steam Deck instead of having to rebuy everything I want to play on the Deck…
 

bigdad2007

Member
Microsoft is almost as bad as Google for abandoning anything that isn’t their main line Xbox platform (which is on life support itself).

You are a fool if you buy an Xbox handheld and actually expect anything other than massive disappointment and for them to dump it about a year after launch.
 
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Bry0

Member
I don’t see a branded Xbox handheld running games locally as it would be a nightmare making all games run on it, plus it would come really late in the generation and wouldn’t be future-proofed. Way more likely to be some local streaming from PC or Xbox, on Deck it works flawlessly and looks significantly better than running locally.

My dream is better support of GP on Linux so I can play the GP indie catalog on my Steam Deck instead of having to rebuy everything I want to play on the Deck…

It’s not going to be based solely around cloud or streaming. The quote from Phil is in the OP

“I think being able to play games locally is very important”
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Why people are acting like Phil explicitly stated something is beyond me. Phil Spencer is a master at talking out of his ass. Will there be a handheld? We don't know for certain based on this, because he didn't actually address that. If there is a handheld, will it be cloud or local? We don't know because he didn't actually address that. Microsoft could release a handheld that is entirely cloud-based, and he would just turn around and say, "I think it's important to play games locally, but I never said that this handheld would deliver that."

This is the same Phil Spencer who said it wouldn't make sense for them to make Bethesda games exclusive, and then he turned around and immediately canceled PS5 ports for Bethesda games that were already in development.

I am not saying that there won't be a handheld. I am not saying that if there is a handheld that it will be cloud-based. I am saying that until someone from Microsoft specifically states that there will be an Xbox handheld, and that it will not be cloud-based, people shouldn't be taking this interview as some sort of gospel. Phil Spencer, and every other higher-up in virtually every company, sucks ass. They will say whatever they can to keep the hype-train up for their company's sake, and for the sake of their own paychecks (including bonuses). They are corporate politicians, and nobody should have faith in these people.
 
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Chukhopops

Member
It’s not going to be based solely around cloud or streaming. The quote from Phil is in the OP

“I think being able to play games locally is very important”
I missed that, don’t know how they can make it work. Seems very risky to launch a model with such a power gap at the tail end of a generation.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Why people are acting like Phil explicitly stated something is beyond me. Phil Spencer is a master at talking out of his ass. Will there be a handheld? We don't know for certain based on this, because he didn't actually address that. If there is a handheld, will it be cloud or local? We don't know because he didn't actually address that. Microsoft could release a handheld that is entirely cloud-based, and he would just turn around and say, "I think it's important to play games locally, but I never said that this handheld would deliver that."

This is the same Phil Spencer who said it wouldn't make sense for them to make Bethesda games exclusive, and then he turned around and immediately canceled PS5 ports for Bethesda games that were already in development.

I am not saying that there won't be a handheld. I am not saying that if there is a handheld that it will be cloud-based. I am saying that until someone from Microsoft specifically states that there will be an Xbox handheld, and that it will not be cloud-based, people shouldn't be taking this interview as some sort of gospel. Phil Spencer, and every other higher-up in virtually every company, sucks ass. They will say whatever they can to keep the hype-train up for their company's sake, and for the sake of their own paychecks (including bonuses). They are corporate politicians, and nobody should have faith in these people.
He's literally been saying it repeatedly for a while. This is incredibly transparent.


He basically confirmed it again yesterday.
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
He's literally been saying it repeatedly for a while. This is incredibly transparent.


He basically confirmed it again yesterday.

I like you man, but please read my posts before you respond to me. He has not specifically stated that they are making a handheld Xbox device. He also has not specifically stated that the [unconfirmed] handheld Xbox device will support local play. That is my point. Nothing should be treated as fact until it is specifically stated.
 
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