Nintendo Switch 2(3,4,5...) is a very targeted market so will always be successful in parallel.
The Switch line of consoles are a mass market product. We aren't anywhere near that with handheld PCs although what this market may become exciting. Owning a Steam Deck, Switch 1/2 I've no reason to think that handhelds aren't going to become more important. And devices like the Switch, PS Portal, PS6 Portable (or whatever that becomes), Steam Deck 2 are all going to accelerate that interest in portable/hybrid systems. Which is good, particularly with how stagnant desktop PC gaming has become in terms of components and pricing.
As someone that had a soft spot for handheld consoles like the Game Boy, DS/3DS and PSP it's nice to see renewed development in this area.
To be fair I think there is a bit of intentional mixed messaging from Microsoft regarding the 'Xbox' Alley, strongly pitching it as a 'console' experience while also being branded 'Xbox', in the video they say "it plays like an Xbox, It's an Xbox class experience.", "if you've played a console, it's what you'd expect it to be.", it's really not surprising people might be confused, especially main stream audience.
The misdirection around this thing has been quite incredible; BBC news stories about a new handheld Xbox etc. There is nothing console about this thing; it's a Windows 11 handheld PC.
Even this thread should really be in the PC Games sub-forum with the Official Steam Deck thread et al.
As in an Xbox shell experience.
All of the work they put into performance scaling and how easy it is to deploy Xbox games to windows…or heavily modified windows with an Xbox shell experience
It's Windows 11 with a new dashboard that we haven't seen working with the third-party storefronts yet. And in a PC market where people are tied to Steam. It can't play any
Xbox, 360, One or
Series S|X games beyond unofficial emulation, or cloud streaming. Things that any other Windows 11 PC can do. To me the appeal of this is you are looking for an more powerful handheld PC that can play more demanding games and have hit the power limits of the Steam Deck LCD/OLED, Lenovo Go etc. Or want something Windows-based to play all those games such as
Fortnite, COD, Apex which can't be played on Linux dues to the really invasive kernel-level DRM and anti-cheat programs they force you to install.
One of the rumours coming in off the back of this new ROG Ally is that MS has halted development of their actual handheld Xbox and is working fully towards their reference hardware with some degree of Xbox compatibility that will run some Xbox games (licensing with third-parties being the big issue). If that is the case then that next Microsoft Xbox hardware in 2027, or 2028 will be the true evolution for people still in their Xbox ecosystem. That's all assuming Microsoft doesn't just withdrawn from hardware fully in the intervening years. It often feels like they have a quarter-to-quarter, throw everything at a wall to see what sticks because they don't want to give up on the lucrative 30% digital cut even though they mis-managed the Xbox console was the didn't understand it was the Trojan horse to drive that eco-system. Ironically at a time when their software output is thriving (as a third-party publisher).
And part of me just wishes Microsoft could be more honest and admit 'we're a multi-platform publisher now who will be releasing PCs that play PC games that might have some of your old Xbox Console games available over streaming, or emulation'. Just so these 34m people don't get left out in the cold one day when their $1,000+ Xbox digital libraries stop being relevant.