Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer warned in November that the legendary Xbox handheld is a couple of years away and solely on the prototype stage proper now. However when you learn the headlines this week, you may assume it’s truly arriving later this yr.
A brand new report from Home windows Central claims that “Xbox’s new {hardware} plans start with a gaming handheld set for later this yr, with full next-gen consoles focusing on 2027” and that Microsoft is engaged on a “Venture Keenan” handheld in partnership with an unnamed OEM. The report has generated loads of headlines about an Xbox handheld arriving in 2025, however the actuality is a bit more difficult and associated to Microsoft’s Xbox platform work to compete with SteamOS.
Sources accustomed to Microsoft’s plans inform me the corporate’s Xbox platform plans for this yr and past are centered on one large purpose: the unification of Home windows and Xbox. Jason Ronald, VP of Xbox gaming gadgets and ecosystem, revealed to The Verge in January that the corporate is combining “one of the best of Xbox and Home windows collectively” and that we’d begin to see adjustments later in 2025.
I perceive the Xbox work that has hit the headlines this week is definitely referred to as Venture Kennan, not Keenan. I’m advised that Kennan is the codename for a handheld that’s being manufactured by Asus, and it’s half of a bigger effort from Microsoft to unify Home windows and Xbox in direction of a common library of Xbox and PC video games.
I’m advised that Asus is without doubt one of the launch companions for these efforts, with an Xbox-branded handheld more likely to debut later this yr. I say doubtless as a result of numerous this platform work remains to be ongoing, so till Microsoft formally pronounces it, timelines may change.
The machine itself can be powered by Home windows beneath however with an interface that extra carefully resembles what you’d discover on an Xbox. I wouldn’t be shocked if Microsoft has some type of licensed {hardware} program right here, in order that solely authorized third-party gadgets can run “one of the best of Xbox and Home windows.”
A few of this platform work is codenamed Venture Bayside, a part of an Xbox UX framework that’s designed to make sure there’s a typical Xbox UI throughout a number of gadgets to assist mix Home windows and Xbox. Collectively, Kennan and Bayside symbolize a number of the work that Ronald was hinting at, opening up the advantages of Xbox to the broader Home windows ecosystem.
Microsoft can be engaged on combining Home windows and Xbox in a method the place there’s a single retailer of video games and a better path for recreation builders to construct titles that span throughout handhelds, console-like {hardware}, and PC gaming rigs.
The massive query is whether or not all of those platform adjustments will unlock the power to play Xbox video games on these new handheld gaming PCs. Microsoft has numerous expertise working emulators to get authentic Xbox and Xbox 360 video games engaged on the Xbox One and Xbox Collection S / X, so if anybody can convey Xbox video games to PC, it’s Microsoft.
Neighborhood efforts to get Xbox One video games working on PC are making stable progress, with XWineOne and WinDurango each engaged on layers to translate Xbox API calls to Home windows ones. It’s just like a number of the work Valve has achieved with Proton to get Home windows video games working on Linux.
A lot of the group progress with Xbox One video games working on PC has been because of a kernel exploit for Xbox One and Xbox Collection consoles that was uncovered final yr. This exploit, which was truly a flaw in Home windows, was patched rapidly by Microsoft, nevertheless it was too late to cease fanatics dumping Xbox One video games to get a greater understanding of how they’re totally different from their PC variations.
Whereas we wait to see if the group can provide you with a full answer to run Xbox video games on Home windows, it appears to be like like Microsoft is engaged on one thing related. Xbox president Sarah Bond created a brand new group targeted on recreation preservation and ahead compatibility in early 2024, which means that Microsoft is working by means of the licensing hurdles to someway protect current Xbox digital libraries for this common library of Xbox and PC video games.
It’s affordable to imagine that these Xbox platform adjustments will form the way forward for Xbox consoles, too. I wrote final month that “I don’t assume Microsoft is embarking on such a giant mission with out these handheld-focused platform adjustments being the inspiration for no matter Xbox {hardware} comes subsequent.”
Home windows Central experiences that Microsoft is engaged on a “premium successor” to the Xbox Collection X alongside its personal Xbox handheld that’s tentatively slated for launch in 2027. I’m totally anticipating Microsoft’s subsequent Xbox console to be much more PC-like, so the Kennan and Bayside initiatives will doubtless give us an early take a look at how the next-gen Xbox will take form on the software program aspect, no less than.
These Xbox platform adjustments may additionally assist fend off the specter of SteamOS. I wrote final yr that Microsoft is now in a handheld gaming PC race, with Valve permitting machine makers to supply SteamOS on their handhelds as a substitute of Home windows. Microsoft has been sluggish to reply to the Steam Deck, significantly round bettering the Home windows expertise on handhelds like Asus’ ROG Ally. Valve opening up SteamOS final summer time after which Lenovo introducing its personal SteamOS-powered handheld in January could have sounded the alarms inside Microsoft, as a result of if one Home windows OEM has already been tempted by SteamOS then what’s stopping extra of them from switching?
That is significantly related past the rising market of handhelds, too. Valve is now in a much better place to make its console-like Steam Machines a actuality, because of the success of the Steam Deck and its Proton work. If OEMs get snug with SteamOS on their handhelds, the following logical step is a requirement for SteamOS on one thing extra like a miniature PC or recreation console.
Microsoft is already struggling to compete with Sony’s PlayStation {hardware} gross sales, but when its next-gen Xbox platform is ready to run on extra PC-like {hardware}, it may compete much more carefully. It might additionally make these “that is an Xbox” advertisements make much more sense.
There are numerous ifs, buts, and maybes right here. In the end, it’s the execution from Microsoft that can be necessary. I’ve already laid out how I feel Microsoft can flip Home windows PCs into an Xbox, and all that’s left is to listen to from Microsoft on precisely the way it will merge one of the best bits of Home windows and Xbox.
- Microsoft is holding a fiftieth anniversary and Copilot occasion in April. The particular occasion can be held on April 4th and can embody “leaders of previous and current” and a few Copilot information offered by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. I’ll be attending this occasion in Redmond, Washington, subsequent month, so look out for a particular Notepad masking Microsoft’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations.
- Copilot will get a press-to-talk hotkey on Home windows. Microsoft is rolling out a brand new solution to summon Copilot in Home windows for voice interactions. The Copilot for Home windows app now has a keyboard shortcut that allows you to maintain the Alt and Spacebar keys for 2 seconds to start out chatting with Copilot, very similar to you used to have the ability to do with Cortana. Home windows Insiders get early entry to this new function, forward of a broader rollout to Home windows 11 customers within the coming weeks.
- Microsoft is changing Distant Desktop with its new Home windows app. Microsoft is ending help of its Distant Desktop app for Home windows on Could twenty seventh. To not be confused with the separate Distant Desktop Connection app, the Distant Desktop app is used to hook up with Home windows 365, Azure Digital Desktop, and Microsoft Dev Field machines. If you happen to connect with any of these gadgets, you then’ll want to change over to the brand new Home windows app. The opposite Distant Desktop Connection app will live on in Home windows, and Microsoft says it may well nonetheless be used to hook up with machines till Distant Desktop Protocol (RDP) is supported within the Home windows app.
- Forza Horizon 5 would require a Microsoft account on PS5. You’ll have to hyperlink a Microsoft account to your PlayStation Community account as a way to play Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 subsequent month. It’s not all that stunning given the net parts of the sport, nevertheless it’s disappointing that you just gained’t be capable to sync saves between the Xbox and PS5 variations of the sport.
- Final week’s Xbox Alpha replace reset consoles. Xbox testers woke as much as a uncommon bug with the newest Alpha or Alpha Skip-Forward builds final week, which reset consoles to default manufacturing unit settings. The one factor that basically bought worn out was settings, as by myself affected console I nonetheless had all my video games put in after I arrange the Xbox once more. Nonetheless, it’s a very good reminder to not run early Alpha software program in your primary Xbox console.
- A Home windows 11 replace is making USB printers print gibberish. It’s by no means a uninteresting day in Home windows replace land, and Microsoft revealed this week that one among its current Home windows 11 updates has been making sure printers unexpectedly print random textual content and knowledge, “together with community instructions and weird characters.” There’s a solution to roll again the change by means of Group Coverage adjustments for IT admins, and Microsoft is engaged on a future Home windows replace to repair the issue totally.
- Microsoft Edge on Android is getting six new extensions. Edge Canary builds on Android now have entry to a complete of twenty-two extensions for the browser, because of some new additions. Home windows watcher Leopeva64 found a consumer agent switcher, the Bitwarden password supervisor, and a web page monitor extension amongst six new additions in Edge Canary for Android.
- Microsoft reportedly is dropping some CoreWeave companies forward of a $35 billion IPO. Microsoft has reportedly walked away from some contracts with cloud computing supplier CoreWeave forward of its preliminary public providing (IPO) subsequent month. The Monetary Instances experiences that CoreWeave supplies Microsoft with computing capability to assist it scale AI fashions and that the partnership is “value billions of {dollars} to CoreWeave.” Microsoft has reportedly withdrawn some agreements with CoreWeave on account of “supply points and missed deadlines.” CoreWeave downplayed the report, noting that “all of our contractual relationships proceed as deliberate — nothing has been canceled, and nobody has walked away from their commitments.”
- Copilot is now built-in into GroupMe. Microsoft is perhaps killing off Skype in Could, however GroupMe — which was as soon as a part of Skype — will stay on. GroupMe is now getting Copilot integration, in order that the AI assistant will assist write responses within the messaging app or construct playlists.
Are you curious about a mixed Home windows and Xbox handheld? Drop a remark right here, or you may at all times attain me at notepad@theverge.com if you wish to focus on the Xbox AI adjustments in additional element. If you happen to’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret initiatives, it’s also possible to attain me through e mail at notepad@theverge.com or communicate to me confidentially on the Sign messaging app, the place I’m tomwarren.01. I’m additionally tomwarren on Telegram, when you’d choose to speak there.
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