There has been chatter of Microsoft putting out its own handheld Xbox console; in fact, there were rumours of it being announced at the recent Xbox Games Showcase. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but when asked about said rumours, Xbox boss Phil Spencer didn’t deny the existence of such a device, even saying he thinks Microsoft should make an Xbox handheld.
In an IGN interview following the showcase, when the topic of the rumoured handheld was brought up, Spencer bluntly said, “I think we should have a handheld,” though quickly refused to comment any further than that. Although he did say being able to play games locally and offline on any such hypothetical device is “really important.” This all makes it sound like an Xbox handheld is, at the very least, being strongly considered, if not outright in the works. If it wasn’t, you’d think Spencer would have shot the very idea down.
There have been suggestions of Microsoft abandoning future Xbox hardware entirely thanks to its decision to release some of its first-party exclusives on other platforms. The likes of Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush are now on PlayStation 5, Bethesda’s next Doom game is confirmed to be multiplatform, and there’re rumours of even more Xbox IPs following suit, including Halo.
And yet not only has Spencer teased an Xbox handheld, but the recent showcase also revealed no less than three new Xbox Series X|S consoles; all of which are slated to launch later this year. “The future for us in hardware is pretty awesome, and the work that the team is doing around different form factors, different ways to play, I’m incredibly excited about,” added Spencer.
At the very least, an Xbox handheld could prove popular, and aid in Microsoft’s goal of making its games more widely available. There’s clearly a market for portable gaming, as demonstrated by the successes of the Steam Deck, the PlayStation Portal, and, of course, the Nintendo Switch. When Microsoft will formally unveil such a device and what it will look like, however, are anyone’s guess.
