Weebleman

@Coletrain its an xbox branded rog ally. Its absolutely not an xbox handheld.

@owlhead1 xbox won't be losing anything, they didn't make it.

If you think this is gonna sell cheaper than the current, older tech versions of the rog ally then you sir are a wild man.

@Wilshiire Not on steam, my bad there, but g force now. They only have to block the device once it registers. So they dont have to block steam, they just block them being played on an xbox device or associated device.

Despite sonys blunders and, let's be honest, they've face palmed themselves repeatedly this gen, they continue to shift consoles far in excess of its direct competition. Do you really think those xbox games would be multiplatform if it was the other way around?

They continue to sell consoles and those people either buy games or sign up to plus. They aren't exactly drying up on the revenue front. Plus they just got a cut of the MS games without paying a penny to develop, port, or publish them.

Xbox has been the number one publisher because they bought so many massive properties. Its hardly like they grafted their way to the top.

My point is you likely won't be playing Sony games on an xbox developed device anytime soon.

@Wilshiire you are aware Sony can and have blocked access to their games via steam on certain devices?

@endlessleep the z2 chip in the xbox ally x is more powerful than the current ally x. There is no chance it sells for cheaper than the current, less powerful model unfortunately.

@Kaloudz dont be sucked in brother, this is not an xbox handheld. Its a rog ally that runs an xbox app behind a skin and has a button.

It will run xbox games the same way the rog ally does now (albeit with a better chip in the premium version), but it isnt an xbox handheld.

By xbox 2025 handheld you mean the 3rd party xbox branded rog ally handheld, right?

Edit: I see the headline changed. I did chuckle theatre you highlighted 'Rog Ally'. Touche 😂

@themightyant this isnt going to be cheap is it. Im hoping someone puts up a comparison of specs with the current Rog's so we can get an indication of price.

Solid C for me, mainly because they didn't really show anything I wanted to see. A few decent games in there but nothing earth shattering.

Ive played all the final fantasy games that got announced but I hope the folks who haven't enjoy them!

Nearly gave it a D for ending on CoD though. Sheesh 😂

We should probably be greatful the rumoured 64 gig of ram was just that, otherwise we'd likely be selling kidneys if we wanted one.

@Kaloudz Im still working my way through AC Shadows. Ive not played an AC game since Origins as I had a bit of the Ubisoft burnout from it. Really enjoying Shadows though. Just taking an age to get through it between work and kids!

What about you?

@Kaloudz I will probably be long gone before kingdom hearts arrives I think 😂

@BacklogBrad Im not saying they didn't, im just saying that they probably made less than Sony as that port cost is on top of the development and publishing costs as well. Which are a lot more than the porting costs.

@BacklogBrad the catch here is Sony is already making 30% profit of those sales with zero development or publishing costs. When the books are balanced they likely come out better than xbox as they have nothing to recoup.

Good lord. Some folks.

@Kaloudz if you go back and look through the games history, the release date of 20th August has significance. They even dropped trailers on the same date as well. That didn't have an exclusivity date. They just seem to release everything regarding the game on this date.

But folks are gonna see what they want to see.

Edit: I see somebody already clarified this better than I did, apologies.

The problem xbox has at the minute is while this albeit lacklustre generation continues, the majority of folks are building a library of games on their playstation.

While we all keep constant tabs on news, tech, updates, etc... the majority of sales and money come from folks who dont. Regardless of if the next xbox has steam or another storefront, the majority number of users will just go where they can still play their games.

Hell, even most steam users have a PC that can run games better. I dont think the majority will care about a new box that runs or (whisper it) streams games at inferior quality.

Yes Microsoft has stacks of cash, but it has them because it likes to make cash. If something ain't bringing that money in and puts them at a loss you can bet your ass they will cut it. I still see them going full publisher at some point as thats money. I also expect to see a MS studio only version of gamepass on PS as no way they will get 3rd party agreement off Sony. Which means a cheaper priced sub and price rises down the line for everyone.

@Friendly probably the same place the analysts predicted the death off consoles two generations came from.

@Friendly GP is not growing, its levelled. The recent increase was purely based on PC subs and, considering the low increase, its clear they lost subs as well. PS plus is hardly on the up i imagine or we would have heard about it as well. However, as of last official numbers, Plus has quite a large number more subscribers and as they sell far more consoles, will likely attract more.

Either way, somethings gotta give on the sub front.

Edit: for context, plus had 47.4 million subscribers in March 23. GP still hasn't matched that across all platforms and tiers. While I doubt plus has gone up, the more hardware sales likely means its hovering around that figure i would imagine.

At this point I'd be surprised if they dont sideline all hardware. Not saying they will of course (before folks jump on me), just every other MS hardware that has been announced and arriving soon has been sidelined. Why not go the whole hog at this point.

(The rog is not MS hardware, its Asus with xbox branding).

@Millionski completley agree mate, sadly.

@Millionski sadly I think even subsidised the price will shock a few folks. Taking the hit on console cost was always balanaced out by software sales. Most people who buy this will likely already be GP subscribers, so there's going to be little extra revenue to subsidise it with.

Being an xbox focused website, I'm genuinely surprised at the lack of interest in the comments. I didn't spot to many of the seasoned faithful in here and the ones that are seem uninterested.

I'm also in the nope camp. I am interested to see what they price it. Not because it will sway me, more because it will set a standard moving forward.

Loved the first but this just didn't land as well for me. The sound design was amazing again but it was a (thankfully short) slog.

This was awesome right until I tried it and found everything unplayable. Just let folks download it for god sake.

@OldGamer999 I remember the excitement at getting our first VHS top loader. Then the anger when I wedged the cassette in the wrong way 😂

@Kaloudz sadly just the times we live in. It all just felt a bit grubby shouting about how much money they made and then following with this.

As you say though, sadly it's just a sign of the inevitable way things are heading.

Hugs brother. To you and yours.

@Kaloudz this is all true, yet it feels like the record profits they boasted about yesterday would cover it without the price rises.

I tried Blue Prince on playstation and it literally has consumed my life. Superb game.

I imagine this is simply because the majority of sales will be on PS, where as xbox/PC has it on gamepass. The money made from those sales will by far outweigh any additional folks signing up for one month using a discount code to play it and then cancelling. Everyone else that already has a sub, well, they already have that money so why go searching there.

@fatpunkslim love to get some links to these studies and statistics my friend.

@Friendly Sony has been making a profit off each PS5 sold for a few years now. They don't sell at a loss.

@Fiendish-Beaver you can jump into all parts at anytime from what i recall 👍

@Kaloudz it's wild man, truly wild.

@Kaloudz the only saving grace for xbox/PS is that their games hit sales and get a fairly decent price drop. That simply doesn't really happen on Nintendo titles. At least if they initially go up we know they will drop into a sale at some point that's more reasonable.

Folks will still be paying 89.99 for Mario kart world in 5, 6 years time. Even more wild is it will still be selling bucketloads at that point as well.

@Titntin I'm with you. The whole thing felt like a grubby cash grab.

So far I'm on my third set of joy cons, two dual senses replaced and as of yesterday, three x box pads down, all with stick drift.

My dual senses probably get most ware and tare but still, at the price of pads these days you'd think they'd last longer.

The bottom line of it all is MS ported their games to bring in more revenue due to the stagnation of services and plunging console sales. Not to be every gamers friend. Sony simply doesn't have to port them yet as console sales continue to grow and ps plus has millions more subs than GP at the last released figures (though they likely are in the same stagnation).

The caveat being the word 'yet'.

I could have dreamt it in a middle aged fever dream to be fair pal 😂

@Fiendish-Beaver that's the one. Glorious collectors edition. It is indeed going to playstation as well though.

@Fiendish-Beaver is that the one with the tablet? If so, that's going to bud.

@themightyant we're here all week my man, here all week 🙂

@Kaloudz ahhhh man, I didn't know about your medical side of things and I'm sorry to hear that. 100% agree that refund policies across the board should be more like steam. Especially when it comes to reasons beyond a simple 'I didn't like it'.

Thanks for taking time to explain your viewpoint. While it differs from mine, I can't disagree with anything you said as to why it fits for you. The fact we are all different just makes the world more interesting. If only others could solve their differences with a conversation eh!

@Kaloudz I appreciate you man. I felt obliged to highlight it as most folks instantly think it's a dig.

100% respect and understand your points. Value wise they are untouchable, especially for folks like you.

I think I just struggle with the new direction. It feels like the death of the competition between them and Sony, and that's the thing that really pushed them both to be better.

Then again, maybe I'm just an old drama queen 😂

@Millionski I picked up a pro more for the upcoming games than the patches for the ones we already had. It seems assassins creed shadows is the first to really use it to that extent. DF describe the pro features as a generational difference. Hopefully (hopefully) this is the start of the trend.

@OldGamer999 wait wait wait. You returned your pro. After you got your series x back because your son came to stay after you sold your series x. Now your getting stuff on your pro again.

@Kaloudz first off, this is not a pop buddy. What right moves have MS made recently because everything looks like missteps to me.

They spent billions to get exclusives but that resulted in them having to go multiplatform.

They've basically killed off interest in their consoles.

Gamepass just isn't growing, even with call of duty. Yes, pc subs went up by 30 percent but revenue only increased by 2%, even after a price increase, meaning they lost a ton of subscribers.

Now that they have games, they can't keep them on their box or they simply don't make enough to justify it.

I just don't see any positives.

@Ricky-Spanish @themightyant I'm with you man. Also the amount of times games update and reinstall the old gen version as well as the new gen version gets right on my nerves.

Can't see see this catching on as nobody on xbox buys games. Or their consoles.

Am I right or am I right?

I'll get me coat.

(Jokes people, stay calm)

Folks should give it a go if it arrives. It's a decent 7 out of 10. It won't start a revolution but it certainly won't ruin your week either.