Handhelds have a long and illustrious history in the gaming world. Although there have technically been several consoles, Nintendo's Game Boy broke new ground in portable gaming by offering an almost NES-like experience on the go. Nintendo continued to prove itself in the portable space with subsequent Game Boy iterations, and the company set a new standard for the entire industry with the launch of the Nintendo DS in 2006. However, PlayStation tried to compete with Nintendo. portable space, xbox Stayed clear. But that's about to change.
After over a year of speculation and rumors, Phil Spencer recently confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg that Xbox is indeed in the process of developing a portable device. Of course, Spencer claimed it will still be a few years before fans see this product on the market. But when the Xbox handheld eventually arrives, there will be one clear feature that will truly set it apart from the competition.
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Xbox Handheld will have an ace up its sleeve
Xbox's handheld gaming console could face stiff competition.
The portable market is busier than ever. The Nintendo Switch is now in its seventh year and has sold over 140 million units, along with the Lite and OLED models. Although its hardware is objectively inferior to previous generations of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, the Switch's portable nature, high level of brand awareness, and family-friendly bias have kept it at the forefront of the gaming world for the past decade. .
I figured that in 2022, Valve would try their hand at making a portable console. In the two years since its release, the Steam Deck has been widely praised as one of the best handheld devices ever made, allowing you to play the most demanding modern games with virtually no restrictions.
The portable console market may look a little different when Xbox devices hit store shelves, but it might not look much different either. The Nintendo Switch sequel is expected to be released next year, and Valve has already confirmed that a second-generation Steam Deck is in development. So the competition for the Xbox handheld might not be much different than it would be if it were released now.
PlayStation is also in the early stages of developing a new portable console, according to a recent Bloomberg report. If that's true, Xbox's handheld device will have some stiff competition when it finally launches.
Xbox Game Pass could be your Xbox handheld's secret weapon.
Over the past year, Xbox has been trying to market the idea that Xbox is not just a console, but anything that can run Xbox apps. Xbox Game Pass has been at the forefront of its marketing efforts lately, with frequent advertisements showing players enjoying their subscription across Xbox, PC, mobile, and a variety of other devices via cloud streaming.
Once Xbox's portable gaming console is officially revealed, it's very likely that Xbox Game Pass will be a major selling point for the game, and for good reason. Putting Xbox Game Pass front and center on upcoming handheld gaming consoles will be a huge boon both in the short and long term.
In the short term, Xbox portable players will have access to a massive library of hundreds of games at no additional cost. And with Xbox Game Pass's library of diverse gameplay experiences, players can immediately test the power of their handheld console, with tons of AAA and indie games ready and waiting for them from day one.
In the long term, Xbox Game Pass will ensure portable players have an ever-changing library of games they can keep coming back to. Additionally, while PlayStation's handheld devices will be able to bring the PS Plus library of titles, Game Pass will still have the edge, as PS Plus will not be adding any first-party games to the service on day one. And since Xbox's first-party products now include Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and Activision-Blizzard, that advantage will likely only sharpen over time.
