SteamOS is probably the biggest risk to the Windows monopoly right now, so that tracks.
And it's absolutely Microsoft's cycle. New game changer product comes on the market, they rush a half ass version out with the promise of a really good one later, half ass one flops, they scrap the whole idea because no one wants the half ass version, they fade into obscurity.
Tablets, VR, video chat, phones
Anyone remember this?
Is that the table?
The iphone
Microsoft's new phone were supposed to spell the end for it.
Oh! This was an ad! Those cocky sons o bitches.
Not an ad. Microsoft employees held a funeral for iphone and blackberry when MS released windows phone 7.
https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-iphone-funeral-2010-9
Such a Steve Ballmer being CEO moment
I would never buy an Xbox handheld. Why would you want a handheld that is locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem even more than a Windows handheld? You’ll get maybe ten to fifteen years out of it, then it will become a brick that Microsoft has abandoned. You will never have fond memories of playing on the Xbox handheld that you can recreate with physical hardware. You’ll never get to show your kids what gaming was like on the thing, because the authentication servers were shut off years ago, and now it is a worthless paperweight.
You’ll get maybe ten to fifteen years out of it
That's way longer than most consoles last before the servers get turned off
Microsoft is at least good about supporting their gaming hardware for quite a while. But better than other consoles still isn’t good enough. I’ve got a computer from ~1990 that still works and can play contemporary PC games. You can bet the Steam Deck will still work in 2060.
Microsoft could just drop a Windows handheld that can play Xbox games natively.
The Xbox already runs on a custom VM based on Windows 10/11. Microsoft themselves are the only ones keeping the two who systems separated by artificial software limitations.
They could, but they won’t.
They could also release a handheld gaming PC that runs Windows under their Surface brand, if they wanted to go that route.
“Hey boss we have the tech from Surface Division to form factor the new Xbox and portable the same. People could just buy one device.”
*Out the Windows boardroom guy meme*
I'm assuming it's gonna be a lame attempt to capitalize on the steam deck's success with hope that popular DRM game exclusives will drive sales.
Although I'm pretty sure the MSI Claw already proved that won't work. Even if it had been good in hardware, the addition of only a few select games didn't justify the cost or performance of windows on a handheld.
Unless they put some actual development and research behind it, which they won't, it'll probably last only a few years before they have to cancel due to sunk cost and lack of game sales.
They'd need to properly place DirectX with a clean NT kernel on some good hardware, and make a completely new (and usable) UI like Xbox without sacrificing battery power, which even the deck struggled to accomplish.
Considering how cruddy windows 11 has been, Xbox nuking teams left & right, and MSFT throwing all their budget at AI, I just don't see it happening.
I consider this comment naive. Microsoft selling a powerful arm based handheld might be extremely successful and totally viable. They have already done the rnd for x86 backwards compatibility on arm and have a close relationship with Qualcomm.
On top of this, I doubt many of the Steam Deck's current competitors could have sold at a loss like Valve did (IIRC, they sold at a loss or at least pretty close to it). Microsoft, however, definitely has the spare money as a larger corp if they decided to really back the XBox/Gaming division. Price-wise, they could compete. If they're in the same pricing ballpark, manage a reasonable quality handheld, and can promise perfect windows compatibility with games, that might be something.
I could only see this working if it came with 6 free months of GamePass, or if it was some kind of loss leader to sell games on their store.
Unless it's as easy to install games from the other stores, why would you otherwise pay to live in a tiny, walled garden?
I would expect it to be a loss leader. The cheap price combined with brand recognition, advertising, and a streamlined experience could make it a successful product I think.
Even the ROG Ally comes with a free month of GamePass Ultimate, and a new Xbox comes with 90 days. I don't see why a MS first party handheld wouldn't come with some.
Can we also have a Windows Phone next? You can call it an Xbox Phone if you like.
"Quick, fresh bubble, flood the market!"
Do these other handhelds sell enough to justify all these different devices?
I think everyone is looking at Steamdecks success and wanting a piece of that pie.
Must be, there were at least 3 new handheld PCs announced last week.
If they can't pull this off as an ARM device and recompile all the games to run on it, then don't bother.
There's nothing they can really bring to this that the Steam Deck hasn't already done better.
If Microsoft stuck with what it already does, it would be better. They already have cloud streaming technology which makes playing games on their ecosystem possible on any screen. Having a separate handheld console would complicate things. I just don't see the appeal.
They are risking Linux becoming an actual thing in the portable, desktop & living room spaces.
Why would anyone buy this? You can already do this streaming through the Deck or any of the other handhelds, if Game Pass is your thing.
If they make a device that doesn't suck, will people not just install Steam on it?
For my money? It won't allow that without jailbreaking.
I doubt even Microsoft are stupid enough to think they could release a PC-based gaming handheld without Steam support and not fail spectacularly.
I saw a video on the extent they went to locking down the Xbox, I think they would do the same for the handheld.
Every console they release is so locked down you can't even install their own os on it, I think you're wrong.
"if only we had a way to like, take a desktop pc and make it, like, not tethered to a power outlet. and made the mouse and keyboard a part of the case. and added a screen and speakers too. too bad we have no idea how to do that." -Microsoft, as they shove the 10,000 laptops off of the desk. "guess we will have to do it ourselves."
(yeah yeah a laptop "isn't a handheld" but you get the stupidity all the same, surely. MS abandoned their platform just to make a different, more constrained platform, and charge people for multi-player. and they want to act like they couldn't do that 25 years ago for free. fuck off MS.)
To be fair, gaming laptops kinda suck (at least they did when I owned one). I would probably recommend a steam deck + a desktop over a gaming laptop.
Same. Every gaming laptop i have ever had the displeasure of using has been absolute garbage.
The steam deck on the other hand? Pure kino.
Called it months ago, they'll develop a handheld version of Windows and have their own handheld!
If the controller feels as good as my Elite 2 then I'm sold
Windows is already the handheld version of Windows but it's kind of terrible at it.
A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules: