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Phil Spencer Imagines His Ideal Xbox Handheld Experience

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Phil Spencer has professed that he is a proud owner of a Lenovo Legion Go handheld gaming PC, but has experimented with other mainstream portable devices in recent times. Polygon conducted an "extensive" interview with the CEO of Microsoft Gaming—headlines have been generated from this tête-à-tête, mostly focusing on his wishlist of additional digital storefronts appearing on Xbox platforms. Ecosystem familiarity seem to be a very important aspect (in Spencer's opinion)—something that the current crop of handhelds lack: "I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox. I brought (the Legion Go) with me to GDC. I'm on the airplane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget about the brand. More like: Are all of my games there? Do all my games show up with the save (files) that I want? I'll tell you one (game) that doesn't right now—it's driving me crazy—is Fallout 76. It doesn't have cross-save."

He continued: "I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social (experience) is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. (Except I want it) on those devices." Industry rumors have swirled around the possible existence of an in-development Xbox handheld—Spencer confirmed that his hardware design team, headed up by Roanne Sones, has weighed up: "different hardware form factors and things that (they) could go do...What should we build that will find new players? That will allow people to play at times when they couldn't go play (in the past)?"




Polygon's article outlines two different handheld approaches—as proposed by Spencer: "the hardware versus the software approach. As he said, he has strong feelings about what a handheld Xbox device should feel like. But he also recognizes—having learned from the console business—that players may choose brands other than Xbox. For those players, Spencer wants to improve the Xbox handheld gaming software experience, too—particularly for people who have devices running Windows, like the Legion Go and the Ally."

The chief of Xbox elaborated further: "I like the fact that Valve, Lenovo, and Asus went out and innovated in a new form factor. And I will say that when I'm playing on those devices, it almost feels more like a console than a PC—nine times out of 10. The things that usually frustrate me are more Windows-based than device-based. Which is an area I feel some ownership of. Like, I want to be able to log in with a controller. I've got my list of things we should go do...From a game creator standpoint...I can then go build a single version of my game that spans more hardware and reaches more customers. And I would say for players, it reduces the friction. Like, if I want to go play my console games on the go with a handheld, I don't want to only be able to buy one brand of handheld. Right? I want everything that we're doing in the hardware space to be great. But if somebody chooses to go play today (somewhere else), I don't want them to feel like a lesser Xbox (player/user)."

The Nintendo Wii was cited as major industry milestone/inflection point—with its hardware synergizing with software in a very creative way. Spencer clarified that he was not outright confirming the existence of an Xbox handheld (at the end of Polygon's interview session), but he stated that his hardware team is working hard on solutions that will match recent first-party-developed software innovations. Industry watchdogs reckon that Microsoft and Sony should circle back and dedicate more resources to core hardware and software experiences, rather than waste efforts on niche offshoots.

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Legion Go users unite! There are dozens of us :D
I would actually like to see an Xbox handheld, I think that would be pretty cool if they did it right.
 
'Fallout 76 doesn't have cross-save'...

Oh dear Phil. Yeah. Oh my. You're part of the in-crowd now boy. Come. I have a puke bucket here.
 
Hummm.....a pretty sad day when the "CEO of M$ gamin" resorts to using/shillin for someone else's product just to get his name in the press.....

must be a slow day @M$ corp offices :D
 
knowing microsoft ... they will probably use a variant windows 11 os that is locked to the handheld...
like the original surface 1 and 2 machine.. had i think windows 8.. or windows s
i cant really remember the os name ... you could only get the programs from the store... cant install anything..
 
knowing microsoft ... they will probably use a variant windows 11 os that is locked to the handheld...
like the original surface 1 and 2 machine.. had i think windows 8.. or windows s
i cant really remember the os name ... you could only get the programs from the store... cant install anything..
you're talking about windows RT?
Because you could switch out of S mode in Windows to have the regular experience.
 
you're talking about windows RT?
Because you could switch out of S mode in Windows to have the regular experience.
well i never knew that... learn something everyday
 
"Are all my games there?" - I don't know if all my games are on the Xbox or Xbox store though. I reckoned a big chunk of them are not on Xbox. And to be honest, assuming I can see my game on it, it does not mean that I can play it because I don't have sufficient storage to hold them all and it needs to be online all the time.
 
"Are all my games there?" - I don't know if all my games are on the Xbox or Xbox store though. I reckoned a big chunk of them are not on Xbox. And to be honest, assuming I can see my game on it, it does not mean that I can play it because I don't have sufficient storage to hold them all and it needs to be online all the time.
This, if Spencer is truly serious about Xbox app/service being a one stop shop they gotta integrate stuff not on Xbox, GoG launcher is great for this reason. But and I can't stress this enough without having to install the other brands launcher the way Xbox handles this now is messy.
 
screen-shot-2012-05-31-at-20-27-09-2218874696.png

Phil's ideal handheld.
 
Been using an ROG Ally since December and honestly, it's an amazing little device. It plays most of my games well enough to be satisfied with the experience. Haven't gamed on the gaming PC i a while. The VRR screen is a must though .... don't know why Lenovo didn't include one. Hopefully Mr Spencer understands this drawback.
 
Been using an ROG Ally since December and honestly, it's an amazing little device. It plays most of my games well enough to be satisfied with the experience. Haven't gamed on the gaming PC i a while. The VRR screen is a must though .... don't know why Lenovo didn't include one. Hopefully Mr Spencer understands this drawback.
I've had a Steam Deck since the Great Wait began during COVID. Updated to the OLED version when it released. I've been pleased with it as well. I like to hear from folks who have used both. Have you? Just curious.
 
Been using an ROG Ally since December and honestly, it's an amazing little device. It plays most of my games well enough to be satisfied with the experience. Haven't gamed on the gaming PC i a while. The VRR screen is a must though .... don't know why Lenovo didn't include one. Hopefully Mr Spencer understands this drawback.
I have the same device and I love it as well. I use it to stream my Series X to it and it’s been amazing. It’s kind of like Asus’s XG MOBILE eGPUs but wirelessly doing it and it uses the Xbox OS interface instead of Windows.
 
I've had a Steam Deck since the Great Wait began during COVID. Updated to the OLED version when it released. I've been pleased with it as well. I like to hear from folks who have used both. Have you? Just curious.
I went from Steam Deck to the Legion Go. What do you want to know? Windows means you can play any game on any launcher, or indeed not on a launcher at all. However with Windows comes a constant need to tweak graphics settings to get something playable & no amazing sleep & resume capability like on SteamOS. I personally also like the option of using an eGPU over TB3/USB4 which the Deck can't do unfortunately. Other pros for the Go are the much larger screen, at the cost of portability of course, & whilst not much will hit 144Hz on the Go it's really nice to have that smoothness for the things that do, & for general Windows use. I like the detachable controllers too, but rarely play with them detached.
 
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