Everything we know about the Xbox handheld – Digital Trends

Between the Switch 2, the Steam Deck, and even the PlayStation Portal, handheld gaming is bigger than ever. Despite having some amazing games on the Xbox Series X and S, console sales this generation have been lackluster at best. Xbox has made a lot of gambles to try to stay competitive, such as Game Pass and making the biggest acquisition in gaming history with Activision Blizzard, but the question still remains how it will manage to regain its foothold in the industry after falling so far behind. One idea that has been teased many times concerns a dedicated Xbox handheld device that has many fans intrigued. Phil Spencer and the Xbox team are still playing coy with many details, but we do know a bit about what a likely Xbox handheld could be.In an interview with Bloomberg, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer gave a few interesting tidbits about Xbox’s plans for a handheld. He said that the “expectation is that we would do something” regarding handhelds and that the company is currently investigating what that would exactly be through prototypes. However, the immediate goals for the team involve improving the Xbox app for existing devices. “Longer term,” Spencer said, “I love us building devices. And I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now.”If Xbox is still only in the prototype phase of development, any new handheld hardware would be many years away from hitting the market.The only concrete news we have about the Xbox handheld was the previously mentioned Bloomberg report.Windows Central’s Jez Cordon claims to have insider information about a possible Xbox handheld announcement, though it does somewhat contradict what Spencer said later. According to Cordon on the Xbox Two podcast, “I don’t think you’re gonna see hardware at The Game Awards, but, I do think next year is a good year for revealing new hardware. Especially hardware you could hold in the palm of your hand.”There’s no information to go off for the real meat of what an Xbox handheld could be. That makes it impossible to even guess at things like price without first knowing how powerful the device itself will be. In terms of design, most handhelds have fallen into a fairly uniform form factor since the Switch, and Xbox would probably not stray too far from that. Until we see otherwise, we imagine it will look very similar to something like Steam Deck.We’re living in a golden age of classic franchises making a return. Games like Turok: Origins and Onimusha: Way of the Sword are bringing back cult-classic series that most fans never would have expected to get an upcoming video game release. Now, we can add Virtua Fighter 6 to that list. This used to be one of the best fighting games alongside Street Fighter and Tekken, but it hasn’t had a new entry in almost 20 years. It’s time to practice your low punches again as we run through everything we know about Virtua Fighter 6.We don’t know if we can put this game on our lists of upcoming PS5 games, upcoming Xbox Series X games, upcoming PC games, or upcoming Switch games yet, but they are otherwise fully fleshed out for your convenience.
Release window speculationCapcom has been firing on all cylinders for the past couple of years. They’ve given us some of the best PS5 games already, plus it has Resident Evil 9 and Monster Hunter Wilds as upcoming video games to which we’re looking forward. But there was one beloved series we never thought would make a comeback: Okami. This PlayStation 2 classic was a beautiful action-adventure game made by the now-defunct Clover Studio, whose former members went on to form PlatinumGames. However, not only has that studio been reborn as Clovers, but its first project is Okami 2, a direct sequel to the cult classic. Whether you’ve been waiting all these years for a sequel or this is your first time hearing about it, let’s go over everything we know so far about Okami 2.For a full accounting of upcoming PS5 games, upcoming Xbox Series X games, upcoming Switch games, and upcoming PC games, check out our dedicated lists.
Release speculationWhen you look at the best PlayStation 5 games, or even a list of the best video games of all time, odds are you will see at least one game from developer Naughty Dog. Our list of upcoming video games was already stacked prior to The Game Awards 2024, but the last announcement of the night added one more to the list that might beat out other heavy hitters like Ghost of Yotei and Wolverine. As this is coming from Naughty Dog, this is already one of our most anticipated upcoming PS5 game, but others might need more convincing. We took out a bounty on all the information there is on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and this is what we came up with.If you don’t have a PS5, there are plenty of upcoming Xbox Series X, upcoming PC, and upcoming Switch games, too.
Release window speculationUpgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.

Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/everything-we-know-xbox-handheld/