My PC gaming handheld has usurped my Xbox, and I’m not sorry
As I was walking through my living room today, my eyes alighted on my Xbox Series X and lingered on the thick layer of accumulated dust covering my controller.
Rebecca Spear, Gaming Editor
This week: I’ve been replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 on my ASUS ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC while also watching my husband play Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on our gaming desktop.
I’ve gotten so used to the cuboid console decorating my entertainment area that I’d almost forgotten it was even there.
It was then that I realized that I hadn’t touched my Xbox console for months, probably not since playing Avowed in February.
To be clear, I have played dozens of games this year, but I’ve mostly done so on my ASUS ROG Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go PC gaming handhelds.
This realization honestly shocked me, but it’s also put in perspective for me what a good move it was for Microsoft and ASUS to come together to create the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X launching this holiday season.
For me, handheld gaming is the future.
There are fewer and fewer reasons for me to use a console over a handheld
I’m going to be honest.
Throughout my life, gaming PCs and consoles have both been equally important to my gaming experiences. However, times have changed, making consoles far less appealing to me.
For one thing, you’ve got Xbox and PlayStation releasing more of their titles on PC, so it’s easier to stick to the one platform. Then there’s Xbox Game Pass, letting me play a large library on handhelds. And that’s not mentioning the wealth of PC gaming services like Steam, Battle.net, and more already out there.
Then there’s the freedom that gaming handhelds give me.
Whether I’m sitting at my kitchen table, lounging on my sofa, or settling into bed, my Ally is often in my hand. It goes where I go rather than me going to it.
Between the number of services and games on handhelds and the freedom it gives me, it’s going to be very hard to convince me to come back to consoles going forward.
What’s more, I frequently take a gaming handheld PC on trips and play games during flights or while sitting in hotels thousands of miles away from home. That’s not something you can easily do with a console.
Between the number of services and games on handhelds and the freedom a handheld gives me, it’s going to be very hard to convince me to come back to consoles going forward. But Microsoft seems to be aware of people like me.
The confusing “This is an Xbox” campaign tells people they don’t need a console to enjoy Xbox games. One way or another, this signifies that Microsoft understands the need to move away from a console-only focus, and the company has found the perfect solution in the ROG Xbox Ally.
I’ve been covering handheld PCs for the last three years, and based on what I’ve seen, the Steam Deck is by far the most popular, with the Windows 11-toting ASUS ROG Ally seemingly coming in second.
Obviously, Microsoft has strong reasons to support the sales of Windows 11 gaming devices, so it makes sense that it decided to team up with the company that has created the most successful Windows 11 handheld to date, especially now that Microsoft cancelled its own first-party Xbox handheld.
Some people strongly dislike using Windows 11 on handhelds and point to SteamOS as the superior operating system. That said, Microsoft is currently working on Windows 11 PC gaming handheld optimization, so if done well, this might solve the issues people have.
Now, my one big concern with handheld gaming PCs is that they do tend to be relatively expensive. For instance, the upcoming Xbox Ally is rumored to be in the neighborhood of $800 and $1,000 — that’s a whole lot more than the $729.99 of the most premium 2TB Xbox Series X price.
But there’s still hope.
Over the last couple of years, the ASUS ROG Ally has repeatedly gotten significant discounts during sales events, sometimes reducing the price by $200 or more. So it’s possible that this could eventually happen with the upcoming Xbox Ally line and make them more affordable.
If nothing else, I’m sure the price of handheld gaming PCs will go down over time. They’re still relatively new, after all, we just need to hit a point where there are more budget options with solid performance on the market.
I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t happen in the next few years.
One way or another, I’ve transitioned from a console and gaming PC user to a handheld PC gamer, and I have no intention of going back. I won’t be surprised at all if this is the way most non-mobile gaming goes in the next few years.
In case you’re interested, the Ally and Ally X are my current handhelds of choice. You can learn more about them below.