Microsoft Desperate For An Xbox Handheld Launch

The console war between PlayStation and Xbox has long ended, and Microsoft probably accepted their defeat. It's not that we really care anymore about who won or lost the war; Microsoft is surely no longer attempting to gain a competitive advantage over Sony in the console race. After Xbox started promoting their Xbox Support Virtual Agent, a new commercial that they have been marketing since November 14 suggests that the Xbox is no longer merely a gaming console but can also be used as a gaming handheld for your television, phone, or PC.

Naturally, we were aware of this before, but now we can see Microsoft actively promoting it. Nonetheless, neither the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld model nor its claims have been tested. If gamers aren't interested in purchasing a console, are they really going to shell out $20 a month for an Xbox Game Pass subscription and buy an Xbox controller separately to play these games online?

Then again, Xbox lacks the games, especially their own live-service titles, that would keep their subscriptions generating enough revenue. Perhaps the missing component is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 if they can improve the multiplayer mode in the future patches or upgrades. Perhaps next year, Microsoft will try to get Grand Theft Auto VI onto Xbox Cloud so that it can be played at the lowest possible price. It would be something great if they were able to do it, and I hope they do. Nevertheless, it has not shown any signs of being profitable for them thus far.

That being said, they still intend to keep manufacturing consoles and extend their Game Pass catalog despite all this. Even though it will be available for quite some time, Xbox is desperately trying to develop and introduce a specialized gaming handheld to the market to stay in competition with the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, especially because Sony is also planning on launching their PlayStation handheld before the PlayStation 6 release.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has stated that not even the next Halo will be off-limits to Nintendo or PlayStation in terms of porting Xbox games. One of the main reasons the upcoming Halo game is moving to Unreal Engine 5 is so it can be more easily ported to PlayStation, which is something we already know. And it also appears that Starfield will be released on PlayStation 5 in 2025.

Phil Spencer has said in several interviews that not all games require expansions, which is an intriguing point. To what extent it serves the project's goals is irrelevant. He went on to explain that Avowed's postponement from 2024 wasn't due to quality issues but rather to the abundance of similar releases; the game will finally be released on February 18, 2025.

There is no doubt February 2025 is going to be a massively competitive month for game relapses. Avowed would have been better launched earlier rather than later; it is currently wrapped between Kingdom Come Deliverance II (February 11, 2025), Assassin's Creed Shadows (February 14, 2025), Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (February 21, 2025), and Monster Hunter Wilds (February 28, 2025). A more appropriate launch date would have been in January 2025, but they've probably pushed that to February since Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is releasing on December 9, 2024.

Nonetheless, to get gamers in Avowed early in the game on February 13, Xbox has introduced a Premium Edition with an additional $24.99 with five days of early access. But we know that gamers don't fall for these editions that easily nowadays. As far as it seems, this will fail, but I hope that everything works out well for them.

We know that Ubisoft will be desperate for Assassin's Creed Shadows's success, and the Kingdom Come Deliverance sequel is releasing after seven years. It’s highly unlikely that neither that game nor Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will be released beyond February. So if Xbox Game Studios is planning to shell out cash from Avowed, the game must deliver. Xbox has bigger things to worry about now before they can focus on their future handheld device.