For several years now, portable consoles have experienced a real resurgence in popularity. If the success of the Nintendo Switch is no longer in doubt, it is also and above all the arrival of the Steam Deck which has motivated many players in the sector to offer powerful “portable PCs” disguised as consoles.
While Valve, Asus and Lenovo are the first names that come to mind when we think of this new segment, it seems more and more likely that Microsoft and Xbox are also preparing to launch into the adventure, and the rumor of an announcement at the Xbox Game Showcase which will take place this Sunday is gaining momentum.
Portable Xbox: an open secret
The presence of a portable Xbox in Microsoft’s boxes is almost an open secret. Mentioned several times by insiders and journalists close to the brand, the console also and above all appeared in the 2023 Xbox mega leak, as part of its strategy aimed at attracting ever more players into its ecosystem.
At the end of March, Jez Corden, the Windows Central journalist, mentioned in particular that Microsoft was working on new prototypes of portable consoles.
Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft Gaming, said for his part that he had several ideas for a portable Xbox, and that the hardware team led by Roanne Sones was considering “different forms of hardware”.
The question is therefore no longer really whether Microsoft will launch a portable console or not, but rather what form it could take, and in particular whether it will be a portable Xbox, thus offering access exclusive to Xbox games, or a PC, allowing you to play any game from any of the launchers available on Windows.
Why a portable Xbox makes sense despite cloud gaming
When the subject of portable Xbox comes up, many players believe that it would be useless, since Microsoft has Xbox Cloud Gaming, allowing Xbox games to be played on a multitude of devices.
However, it is worth remembering that Xbox Cloud Gaming currently only offers cloud access to certain games, and is exclusively reserved for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. Plus, and this is probably the biggest reason why a portable Xbox would make sense: Xbox Cloud Gaming just doesn’t offer a good gaming experience.
Whether in terms of input or image quality, the service is, on a technical level, not at all able to replace a console as a service like GeForceNOW can, for example, claim. , which offers an ultra-quality experience to its users.
In addition, cloud gaming requires a decent internet connection to work, which, in addition to being a huge obstacle to using a portable console, also consumes a lot of data and generates additional costs.
A console capable of playing games natively is therefore essential to offer players a quality mobile experience; Players who want to take advantage of Xbox Cloud Gaming can already do so without needing a dedicated machine.
What would the perfect portable Xbox look like?
- An AI-generated portable Xbox
Currently, the market for PCs disguised as portable consoles is still young. If the Steam Deck, the Asus Rog Ally or even the MSI Claw are generally fairly traditional machines in their form factor and the possibilities offered, the Lenovo Legion Go and its detachable controllers similar to joycons or the different versions of the Aya Neo machines, prove that there are many possible alternatives.
In the case of a portable Xbox, potentially intended to appeal to a mass market, we try to imagine below the different criteria that would make a portable Xbox successful.
Foolproof ergonomics!
One of the most important points to make a portable console a success is obviously its ergonomics. The form factor of the machine is therefore decisive in attracting as many players as possible. If Nintendo offers relatively compact consoles, which can fit perfectly in the hands of the youngest, a portable Xbox should logically allow a larger size, similar to those of the Steam Deck and other Asus Rog Ally, due to its larger target. adult.
This also seems to us to be a limit that should not be exceeded, otherwise we would lose playing comfort with a machine that is potentially too heavy and bulky, as the Legion Go seems to be.
As with its controllers, it would be logical to see Xbox choose an asymmetrical stick placement as is the case on the ROG Ally, rather than the option chosen by Valve. Touchpads, on the other hand, would be very useful for certain games, as well as for general navigation.
A little Windows, but not too much
Who says portable Xbox obviously also says Windows. In order to natively enjoy PC Game Pass games in the best conditions, it is essential that Microsoft offers a version of Windows and its gaming applications, adapted to portable consoles.
As we have seen with the Asus ROG Ally, Microsoft’s OS is not yet ready, and can even sometimes, by its own admission, be a real weak point for mobile video games. It also allows you to enjoy any game and any launcher, unlike the Steam Deck running under Linux.
As we know, the firm is already working on improvements in this area, and notably offered at the start of the year a “compact mode” for the Xbox PC application, in order to improve ergonomics on small screens.
OLED screen or nothing!
The other determining point of a successful laptop in 2024 is the use of a nice screen, capable not only of enhancing games, but also of adapting to different image technologies.
In this sense, the use of an OLED panel seems essential for many reasons. As we have seen with the Switch OLED and recently the Steam Deck, the use of an OLED screen on a portable console seems to be obvious as the technology enhances games with its contrast, its almost zero response time and a unfailing precision.
Finally, OLED also offers the significant advantage for portable consoles of being among the most energy-efficient technologies on the market, which therefore promotes autonomy, while offering the best image quality.
Perfect balance between autonomy and performance
Battery and autonomy are the points that many portable consoles lack the most. This is mainly the case of the ROG Ally, which, although it displays top-notch performance, sees its autonomy melt like snow in the sun on the most demanding games, and currently offers one of the worst autonomy on the market.
For the portable Xbox, Microsoft will therefore have to find the perfect balance between performance and autonomy. If Valve’s Steam Deck performs prowess at 15 watts, its architecture and the fact that it runs under Linux make it an almost unbeatable machine in this segment, which is well ahead of its competitors under Windows.
A sober and elegant design, like the Xbox Series
In terms of design, we must admit that we are not fans of machines with a “gaming” look, with omnipresent LEDs, aggressive shapes and other joys of the kind.
This part is obviously subjective, but when we see the sobriety of the Xbox Series premium product in hands.
Concretely, we would therefore prefer a design similar to that of the Steam Deck and other Legion Go, rather than that of the ROG Ally and other MSI Claw.
What games on the portable Xbox?
If we have mentioned most of the important points on which Microsoft will have to focus to attract as many players as possible, there is one essential that we have not yet addressed: games.
Unlike other portable “consoles” on the market, the portable Xbox could take several forms. Either Microsoft chooses to limit its machine to playing Xbox games, thus making it a machine similar to the Nintendo Switch with a closed ecosystem; either it embraces a hybrid model offering both the possibility for players to enjoy their Xbox games, but also all the games available on PC.
If it may at first seem utopian to benefit from both the benefits of console games as well as those of PC games, given the latest rumors concerning the next generation of Xbox consoles, it is seriously starting to make more and more sense.
As indicated in the Xbox megaleak of September 2023, Microsoft’s next console will be a “hybrid” console, and we recently learned that Xbox could open up to other manufacturers for its machine.
A hybrid portable console could thus be a foretaste of the new generation Xbox from Microsoft expected in the coming years, offering not only players access to console games, but also to PC games via Steam, GoG or even the ‘Epic Games Store to name but a few.
Don’t hesitate to tell us in the comments if you want to see Microsoft launch into the portable console market, but also, and above all, what kind of machine you would like to use on a daily basis. If the rumors are confirmed, we will soon have official information on the subject.
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