Xbox Boss Fuels Speculation of Xbox Handheld

An Xbox handheld may be "inevitable".

By Cade Onder

Fans think Xbox boss Phil Spencer may be intentionally fueling hype for an Xbox handheld. During a good chunk of the 2010s, handheld gaming largely died off as phones become more prevalent for mobile gaming. The PS Vita died with a whimper, but Nintendo managed to retain its hold on handhelds with the Nintendo DS. There weren't many other attempts at trying to enter this sector of gaming hardware until Nintendo totally changed the game in 2017 with the Nintendo Switch. It became clear that console games could become playable on a handheld device and that there was an audience for this, a pretty massive on in fact. This has led to things like the Steam Deck and other PC handhelds hitting the market and finding tons of success, giving players the opportunity to play games like Marvel's Spider-Man on the go.

With that said, there are all kinds of rumors that the other platform holders may enter this space. Xbox has reportedly considered making an Xbox handheld for quite some time and as the idea of playing Xbox Game Pass games on the go becomes more of a reality via these PC handhelds like the Rog, more and more people want to see a dedicated one from Xbox. Given Microsoft makes both Xbox and Windows OS, it seems like a matchmade in heaven. Earlier this week, Windows Central writer Jez Cordon wrote a story about why an Xbox handheld is inevitable given the state of the gaming market. It's a big opinion piece with some nods to rumors of one in the past and Xbox boss Phil Spencer liked the article twice. He liked a tweet about it from Windows Central and then liked Jez Cordon's tweet about this. Spencer is notorious for teasing things subtly, such as when he put the Xbox Series S on a bookshelf behind him during an interview well before it was properly announced. Given he liked it twice, it's safe to say it wasn't an accident.

Fans are now speculating this is about to become a real possibility. It doesn't necessarily mean Xbox will do it, but it sure seems to be on Phil Spencer's radar in some capacity. This also comes just days after PlayStation became rumored to be making a new, dedicated handheld like a PlayStation Vita 2 rather than a new version of the recently released PlayStation Portal.

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