The amount of speculation about the Xbox handheld has raised expectations. It's understandable that some are disappointed by the absence of this announcement at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, where Sarah Bond spoke at the end. As the president of Xbox confirmed the hard work on the next generation of consoles.
Her short words were followed up by Phil Spencer. In an interview with the American IGN, the head of Microsoft's gaming division focused a little on hardware. He stated that their future in this area is great, in different formats and playing options. But he did not go into details. He explained that at the Xbox Games Showcase they talked about games and sometime later there will be an opportunity to talk more about platforms. He himself is looking forward to it.
Xbox is known for being where its users are. So it makes sense to get a piece of the handheld gaming pie, where the Nintendo Switch reigns supreme in the company of Steam Deck and ROG Ally. When Spencer was asked about the handheld by an IGN editor, he got this response:
“I also think we should have a pocket console,” he said, but immediately cautioned that his words should not be taken as confirmation/announcement. Sarah Bond has to do that. At least he commented on what he thinks the handheld should be able to do run games natively and not rely on the cloud.
In the next part of the interview, Spencer praised the work they did on the computers. On pc they have seen great progress and now this platform is a huge asset for them. “We're thrilled to have so many users on PC, more than ever before,” Spencer stated.
“If you're trying to look at the industry through the lens of tradition, 'who sold the most consoles,' as the only way to improve gaming, I'd say Xbox is trying to do something different“ he added with a postscript that they now have more users on Xbox consoles than at any time in the history of the platform. According to him, it's thanks to Game Pass.
He also believes that the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 has brought the answer to what benefits come from playing on Xbox, Xbox console and PC. If you didn't know, they are interesting games, the possibility to play them on consoles and PC, as well as Game Pass subscription. And it won't change anything releasing more titles on competing consoles. In the interview, Spencer mentioned other platforms:
“You will see more of our games on more platforms. We see it as a benefit to the series we create.” Spencer said without naming the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. So far, four titles have been released on other consoles: Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, Grounded and Hi-Fi Rush. At the Xbox Games Showcase, DOOM: The Dark Ages was confirmed for PS5, as well as PC and Xbox Series X/S.