Happy ROG Xbox Ally day! Both versions of the new ASUS and Xbox handheld are officially releasing today in many regions across the world, and therefore it's no surprise to see developers and publishers highlighting their support for it.
In fact, some are actually rolling out additional support for the device, with Hogwarts Legacy being the first one we spotted yesterday - the game's latest update mentioned that it now has "full handheld compatibility".
DOOM: The Dark Ages is another one that's even more interesting. Update 2.2 for that game adds multiple handheld PC optimisations for various devices, and it now has a "Handheld" graphics preset in the menu.
The patch notes mention that it will autodetect your settings when playing on handheld, and the target performance for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are 720p at 30FPS and 1080p at 60FPS respectively (when plugged in).
For what it's worth, we've been getting up to 100FPS on the default "Performance" (17w) mode with AMD FSR turned on, so don't read too much into those performance targets.
And finally, ROBLOX is another game that we've spotted being advertised for the ROG Xbox Ally launch. That game will offer a "smooth, optimized experience built for handheld play, including support for gamepad and touch controls".
The team has shared a bit more detail about why they're keen to support new devices like the Xbox Ally:
"With Roblox on these devices, we are able to bring a rich catalog of games to a whole new set of PC, console, and mobile players —games like RIVALS, Grow a Garden, 99 Nights in the Forest, Dandy’s World, Driving Empire, FRONTLINES VERSUS, and Build a Plane.
Our efforts to expand on devices and storefronts are also aligned with players’ behavior and the way they engage and transact with their favorite games on Roblox. Players who engage across multiple devices spend 2.5 times more and play 20% longer than those who don’t."
So, there you go! We're surely going to be hearing about a lot more games that have been optimised for the ROG Xbox Ally over the next few days and weeks, and that's great news for anyone who owns a PC handheld to be honest.
None of these games needed an update to coincide with the launch (Hogwarts and DOOM played fine during our pre-release testing), but it's nice to see developers going the extra mile to support PC handhelds and specifically the new Xbox-branded handheld.