A founding member of the unique Xbox mission has weighed in on the brand new Asus Ally Xbox handheld, saying there’s “actually no motive to purchase” the brand new machine, whereas additionally saying that she personally thinks “Xbox {hardware} is useless” now. Previously the director of the Xbox Superior Expertise Group, Laura Fryer shared her ideas in a YouTube video, by which she mentioned Microsoft is now “betting the complete enterprise on Sport Cross.”
The brand new Xbox Ally handheld lineup was unveiled in June 2025, and it has the same spec to the present Asus ROG Ally X, however with the most recent AMD Ryzen Z2 {hardware}, slightly than the older Z1 chips. The machine was designed by Asus, slightly than Microsoft, and has Xbox-style controller grips on the edges. It stands in stark distinction to the Steam Deck, which Valve developed itself over a number of years, progressing by plenty of prototypes, slightly than simply sticking Steam branding on a third-party machine.
Comparatively, Microsoft is “leaving the {hardware} innovation to their companions at Asus,” says Fryer in her video known as The Way forward for Xbox, which you’ll be able to see above. “It is a lot simpler to slap an Xbox sticker on an present piece of {hardware} and name it a day,” she says. “In the event you do not care about console gross sales or unique video games anymore, why hassle innovating in {hardware}?”
I am sufficiently old to recollect when the unique Xbox got here out, and whereas it wasn’t fairly (it was an enormous clunky black field with an X on the highest), it introduced new PC tech to the console viewers for the primary time, together with an Intel x86 CPU and an Nvidia GPU with programmable shaders, to not point out a tough drive. Microsoft invested loads of effort and time into the design and ecosystem, securing customized components from key chip makers.
Extra importantly, not like a PC, you knew you may run video games on it without having to improve, and it additionally had exclusives, such because the Halo sequence. Likewise, the Xbox 360 introduced us an AMD GPU with a unified shader structure earlier than this tech had even made it to the PC.
That is all fairly completely different from placing Xbox branding on an Asus handheld that runs Home windows and relies on present {hardware}, particularly when you’ll be able to run Xbox video games on PC for probably the most half now. “Here is the issue,” says Fryer. “Xbox does not do exclusives anymore. Xbox Wherever means I can play that recreation on any platform. I can play it on Xbox or PC – I could even be capable of play it on the PS5 or the Change. So why would I purchase the ROG Ally?”
And this leads us to the killer line, which is that, in Fryer’s opinion, there’s “actually no motive to purchase this handheld.” In what’s both a contact of optimism or sarcasm, Fryer provides that possibly subsequent yr “the fog will clear and all of us will see the sweetness in these newest bulletins.”
Whereas Microsoft’s strategy to the Xbox Ally {hardware} is actually completely different from its strategy to creating the primary Xbox consoles, there’s additionally little question that the corporate now has an enormous array of first-party recreation expertise underneath its belt. Not solely does Microsoft personal Bethesda and Activision Blizzard as subsidiary manufacturers now, nevertheless it additionally has Double Tremendous Compulsion, inXile, Ninja Concept, and Playground in its roster.
In the event you’re seeking to purchase a transportable gaming machine your self, try our information to purchasing the perfect handheld, the place we take you thru all our favourite choices proper now.
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