We've reported on Microsoft's development of a custom Xbox gaming handheld a number of times, with Microsoft Gaming head, Phil Spencer, recently confirming a foray into hardware was in the works. Now, though, it seems as though Microsoft has shelved the idea for the meantime, instead putting its wei...
It’s their own fault they couldn’t see a demand for handheld gaming.
To be fair, every company was sure handhelds would die and mobile games would take over everything. Then the Switch happened.
So far as I can think, wasn’t the only handheld that failed the Playstation Vita? And that had very visible reasons for the failure - designing itself around an obtuse storage medium, and requiring first-party memory cards. Even with those drawbacks and with no first-party support, it had a tremendous following.
It honestly could still be a worthwhile device to chain off of, since none of the current offerings fit in a pants pocket.
I love the Vita, and you’re right, you can hack it to accept SD Cards, use native PSP/PS1 emulation in any game and a lot of homebrew ports.
PS: If you’re willing to get third party PC Handhelds, the Ayaneo Air 1S is the closest thing the Vita form factor I know. 5.5" OLED screen, but the bezel is thicker and it has longer grips. It’s a 2023 device, so I’m interested to know what they’ll do with the next line of AMD chips
And how many years since the Switch? Even the Steam Deck was an open secret for years.
This is how Microsoft has operated since day 1:
“Let” is that the wrong word. Microsoft was setup specifically to make BASIC for the Altair. DOS they stumbled into because CP/M dropped the ball. Every other product, they’ve been chasing new markets that they didn’t think of being in.
I’m critical about Xbox handheld/portable because it was so obvious that that’s where the demand would come from.
However, they’ve been better at monetizing their other software and services better than anyone else though.
My point here is that none of these cases feature Microsoft inventing a brand new product and trying to market it for the first time. Their whole strategy from the very beginning was to look for existing products with existing markets and try to conquer them. They even had a name for a variant of this strategy (targeted at open standards) which the US DoJ famously discovered during the antitrust trial:
Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish.