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Microsoft should make their own version of the Switch (Targeting Series S performance)

DSN2K

DSN2K

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,261
United Kingdom
Out of them and Sony they are ones who should be targeting Portable play for me. It will allow them to leverage Gamepass and Xcloud in a new form factor and another entry point into the living room.

The tech is there for a Series S level like Device as well. AMD recently announced Z1 line somewhat shows that. They will always have xcloud available on Mobile but I think a dedicated device would be a win for them. It could eventually replace the Series S line altogether and just have a Portable / dockable Xbox + Series X for high end.
 
Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
23,876
targeting Series S performance in a handheld is literally not feasible right now
 
Gavalanche

Gavalanche

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 21, 2021
17,718
Even the Steamdeck isn't at Series S performance. For it to have a decent battery life, it would cost an absolute heap of money.
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,888
DSN2K said:
Out of them and Sony they are ones who should be targeting Portable play for me. It will allow them to leverage Gamepass and Xcloud in a new form factor and another entry point into the living room.

The tech is there for a Series S level like Device as well. AMD recently announced Z1 line somewhat shows that. They will always have xcloud available on Mobile but I think a dedicated device would be a win for them. It could eventually replace the Series S line altogether and just have a Portable / dockable Xbox + Series X for high end.
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The tech is not there, memory bandwidth on mobile is very hard to increase and is the limiting factor on these handhelds for a while, until they solve that they wouldnt be able to make a handheld console like that, heck even a PS4 Portable that runs PS4 software natively is unachievable for that reason yet.
 
Gay Bowser

Gay Bowser

Member
Oct 30, 2017
17,738
I don't know. I think the limitations of the handheld form factor would be too great. The difference between a reasonable Xbox portable and a contemporaneous top-of-the-line Xbox console would be far greater than the difference between the Series S and Series X today. If people complain about the Series S "holding devs back" today…

There's room in the market for a sub-$300 home games console and right now Microsoft has that market all to themselves. I'm not sure why they would instead choose to go after the Switch with something that would almost certainly be way bulkier and heavier, way more expensive, and not have Nintendo games.
 
Derbel McDillet

Derbel McDillet

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 23, 2022
15,532
I'm more interested in a dock only Switch that's closer to the Series S. I like my Switch Lite for actual handheld gaming that actually comfortable.
 
Mobius and Pet Octopus

Mobius and Pet Octopus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,679
I think that while this would be interesting, I don't think it's necessary for their cloud or game pass strategy.

I don't think it would replace the S line but there is no reason why they couldn't have a third tier.
 

TitanicFall

Member
Nov 12, 2017
8,311
I think it would be less compelling if it's Xbox games only. Integrate a Windows mode also then you have my attention.
 
brokenswiftie

brokenswiftie

Prophet of Truth
Banned
May 30, 2018
2,921
Jawmuncher said:
MS seems to be backing the Rog Ally in some form so I think that'll be the "Xbox Portable" people want even if unofficially.
Would love an actual "Xbox Portable" but i'll easily take that to fill the void.

www.theverge.com

Another leak: the Asus ROG Ally will start at $600 with AMD Z1 and 256GB SSD

Just a few bills more than Steam Deck.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
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this one actually has twice the performance of a Series S
the GPU is rated for upto 8.6 TF

ryzen_z1_announce.jpg
 
Red

Red

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,763
MS is in an awkward position for this kind of thing, I think. On the one hand, they have Xbox as their flagship gaming brand. But they also have Windows. And the market for "handheld gaming PC" is already hot without them putting in the work to design or manufacture. Having a dedicated Xbox handheld would be a weird move when they are competing with products that already offer their services and a much broader library of games.
 
Bowl0l

Bowl0l

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,608
If we think like Microsoft infamous business model, Embrace, Extend and Extinguish.
Embrace:
Build Steam Deck for Valve.
Extend:
Add Game Pass like feature that casually destroy the storage for security purposes.
Extinguish:
Release an update that adds Microsoft store client that only shows ad for Game Pass but doesn't sell anything.

Pay Don Mattrick to release a video that says one line, XBox One.
 
Comet

Comet

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,533
They should simply work with ASUS and Valve and get their stuff working well on those devices both natively and via streaming. MS wants subscriptions to GamePass, they don't want to get into the expensive capital race that comes with hardware.
 
Mobius and Pet Octopus

Mobius and Pet Octopus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,679
The more I think about it, the more I think they should make something. I'd love to see more competition to the steam deck. So I'd rather see a windows pc device rather than a console.

This device would likely work similar to the deck. LOOKs like an xbox out of the box, has full integration, etc.. play anywhere games supported where feasible. Not running console versions though.
 
Anno

Anno

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,971
Columbus, Ohio
The more companies in the space the better I guess but it feels like Microsoft's money is way better spent on the software side supporting existing/upcoming devices.
 
KanameYuuki

KanameYuuki

Member
Dec 23, 2017
2,658
Colombia
MS studios is already having troubles making games for both Series consoles and PC and you want to spread them thinner but more hardware?
 
Orioto

Orioto

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,716
Paris
I guess Series S tflops in a portable device isn't something possible for a mainstream device now, but i hope something like Switch 2 gets there cleverly. Not the 4 Tflops but lower resolution target + dlss will give you some nice graphics and ports. Microsoft could do that to.
 
StarsTurnCold

StarsTurnCold

Avenger
Apr 30, 2018
656
It'd be better for them to just get Valve to make GamePass compatible on SteamDeck without having to hack it or whatever
 
LordRuyn

LordRuyn

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,912
No, what Microsoft need to do is start offering a version of Windows specifically for gaming, with one flavor specifically targeting handhelds. They can call it the Windows Xbox Edition and make money from volume licensing it to OEMs for handhelds
and selling licenses for the desktop version to enthusiasts that want as minimalist of a Windows edition with only the gaming apps pre-installed, such as the Xbox app (ugh...), gamebar, etc. Those are becoming really popular but are unfortunately ripe for abuse due to lacking security features or malware with projects like AtlasOS and Tiny11/10.

Then they can certify handhelds with the "Designed for Xbox/Xbox Certified" stamp/sticker like they do for mobile controller peripherals that attach to phones and Seagate hard drives.

Microsoft took over the OS space in large part because their software could run on anything and this concept goes back to their vision of putting Windows on as many devices as possible. Unfortunately, in recent years they have decided to go after tablets and ARM and have completely ignored this market that is now starting to blow up. I don't see them striking a partnership with Valve over SteamOS and making Xbox services available on that platform, as the suits would likely see it as a competing OS.

EDIT: I'm stupid, I forgot Windows is free for devices with screens under 9" for OEMs.
 
Iwao

Iwao

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,829
It would be a bad idea on a number of levels.

I think they're more than satisfiied playing third-party to the already successful hardware that's out there.
 
gifyku

gifyku

Member
Aug 17, 2020
2,755
LordRuyn said:
No, what Microsoft need to do is start offering a version of Windows specifically for gaming, with one flavor specifically targeting handhelds. They can call it the Windows Xbox Edition and make money from volume licensing it to OEMs for handhelds and selling licenses to enthusiasts that want as minimalist of a Windows edition with only the gaming apps pre-installed, such as the Xbox app (ugh...), gamebar, etc. Those are becoming really popular but are unfortunately ripe for abuse due to lacking security features or malware with projects like AtlasOS and Tiny11/10.

Then they can certify handhelds with the "Designed for Xbox/Xbox Certified" stamp/sticker like they do for mobile controller peripherals that attach to phones and Seagate hard drives.

Microsoft took over the OS space in large part because their software could run on anything and this concept goes back to their vision of putting Windows on as many devices as possible. Unfortunately, in recent years they have decided to go after tablets and ARM and have completely ignored this market that is now starting to blow up. I don't see them striking a partnership with Valve over SteamOS and making Xbox services available on that platform, as the suits would likely see it as a competing OS.
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Windows is free for devices under 9 inch, which is contributing to a lot of the growth in the handheld market. While there are optimizations to be made, charging for a gaming specific Windows would not be good for growth in this space.
 
kubev

kubev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,533
California
Frankly, I think it'd make more sense for Nintendo to go for an X|S split of its own, but its X would target Xbox Series S performance levels while its S would target whatever Switch 2 is going for. Have three performance modes: handheld, handheld docked, and console.
 
Ambient

Ambient

Member
Dec 23, 2017
7,184
They should just focus on making Windows more handheld friendly. If they were really smart they'd make the Windows Store a great place to buy and launch games but that ship has sailed with the prevalence of Steam.
 
gogojira

gogojira

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,906
Seems like they should focus on getting more interest in their already released hardware first.
 
meenseen84

meenseen84

Member
Feb 15, 2018
1,955
Minneapolis
Can the Series S be made into a handheld device this soon? Seems like it's as small as they could make it already.

If Microsoft is committed to cloud gaming, it may be more prudent to wait until the technology is fully developed and go that route.

Cloud gaming does not require any additional work from developers.

Optimizing games for two console SKUs and PC seems to be an already time-consuming process.
 
LordRuyn

LordRuyn

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,912
gifyku said:
Windows is free for devices under 9 inch, which is contributing to a lot of the growth in the handheld market. While there are optimizations to be made, charging for a gaming specific Windows would not be good for growth in this space.
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Yeah, you are right. Completely forgot about that, I was even reading a thread a couple of days ago when it came up. Thanks, I've edited accordingly.

A Windows 10/11/12 Pro Xbox Edition with almost every unnecessary thing and preloaded ads stripped out would sell to desktop gamers though. I know I would get that for my next rig if they offered the option.
 
NinjaScooter

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,457
Just because the Series S is "lower powered" compared to the X doesn't mean you can feasibly just slap a screen and a battery to it and produce a mass market device. The Series S wasn't designed to be mobile.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,218
Xbox developers REALLY don't need another, even lower-power, hardware spec to have to target and playtest every single game toward.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,309
It would cost way more than a Series X right now and have terrible battery life.
 
Dragonyeuw

Dragonyeuw

Member
Nov 4, 2017
4,378
Doesn't seem necessary to do this when devices like Steam Deck, the upcming Asus ROG Ally and AyaNeo can natively tap into both Microsoft's and Sony's PC offerings on Steam. Isn't MS already working on a native app for the Deck or am I thinking of something else?
 

Zedelima

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,737
If nintendo manages to get nvidia put dlss for a resonable price on the switch 2…
 
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