ROG XBOX Ally handhelds announced

[Dr. Zoidberg]

ROG Xbox Ally Handhelds Revealed: Experience Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Gears of War: Reloaded and More – Wherever You Go

Summary

- Announcing the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two new handhelds crafted in collaboration with ASUS that combine the power of Xbox with the freedom you expect from Windows.
- Both launch holiday 2025 in select markets, with additional markets to follow.
- Information on pre-orders, pricing, accessories, and more coming soon.

Everything at Xbox starts with the player. That’s why we’ve dedicated years to reimagining how to make it easier to enjoy the games you love—wherever you are—through Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta), Remote Play, and more. Whether you’re at home or on the go, your favorite games should follow you.

ASUS shares that same commitment. Known for pushing the boundaries of handheld gaming, ASUS is similarly driven by innovation that delivers high-performance experiences that put players first.



Together, we’ve combined our strengths and technical expertise to introduce something entirely new: the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. These handhelds are built to make it easier than ever to access your favorite games—from Xbox, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts—all from a single device.

This holiday, with ASUS, players can discover another way to play as we combine the power of Xbox with the freedom you expect from Windows. And this is only the beginning.

Meet the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X

- ROG Xbox Ally: The essential handheld at a great value for everyone from the casual player to the avid enthusiast.
- ROG Xbox Ally X: The ultimate high-performance handheld, built for the most demanding players.

Both handhelds allow players to play natively, via the cloud, or remotely with their Xbox console in another room.

Next-Level Features Designed for Play Anywhere

With the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, players can look forward to an approachable gaming experience that travels with you wherever you go, featuring several new and first-of-their kind features on both devices—from an immersive Xbox full screen experience, an aggregated gaming library with access to installed games from leading PC storefronts, and more.

We’ve optimized Windows 11 to be easy to use on the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X from the moment you power on. Game Bar makes it easy to return home, browse your library, launch or quit games, chat with friends, open apps, adjust settings, and more. Now, with the integration of ASUS’s innovative Armoury Crate, Game Bar also gives you streamlined access to advanced device and input controls. Details like the lock screen and task switcher have also been adjusted for easy navigation with a controller.

Because these handhelds run Windows, you have access to games you can’t get elsewhere, so you can enjoy the full freedom and versatility of PC gaming—download games from your favorite storefront, run apps like Discord, watch your favorite streamers on Twitch, and play with your favorite mods—all straight from the Xbox experience. The choice is yours.
Introducing the Xbox Experience for Handheld



When you power on your Xbox Ally, you’ll boot directly into the Xbox full screen experience, a new feature optimized specifically for handheld gaming. With new modifications that minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks, more system resources are dedicated specifically to gameplay. That means more memory, higher framerates, and a fully immersive experience for players—all made possible by the versatility and freedom of Windows.

The Xbox Ally has more familiar Xbox touches, including:

- Xbox button: With a dedicated Xbox button, players have access to chat, apps, and settings through an enhanced Game Bar overlay, allowing you to quickly switch between running apps and games.
- Contoured grips: Created with player comfort in mind, and using the same design principles as Xbox Wireless Controllers, the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X feature contoured handgrips to accommodate a wider range of hand sizes.
- Accessibility features: Game Bar and the Xbox app have also been optimized for handheld use, bringing along familiar accessibility features from Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, with much more to come in future.

Easy Access to Games from Xbox, Leading PC Storefronts, and More



Locating and accessing games across multiple channels can be a challenge —navigating through various browsers, storefronts, and login credentials can sometimes make gaming feel anything but fun. But with the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, getting into the fun is easier and faster than ever.

Within the Xbox full screen experience, players will see their aggregated gaming library, giving them quick access to games from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts. With this new feature, your Xbox library, hundreds of Game Pass titles (membership required), and all your installed games from other PC game stores are always at your fingertips.

We’re also making handheld gaming more seamless through our investment in Xbox Play Anywhere. With support for over 1,000 games, a single purchase means you can play with Xbox, including your progress and achievements, across Xbox console, PC and Xbox Ally—at no additional cost. And when you power on your Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X, your favorite games are already there, ready to play. Whether you’ve been gaming on Xbox console, Xbox on PC, or in the cloud, everything syncs effortlessly. With Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) or Remote Play, you can access your full Xbox console library and keep playing—wherever you are.

And yes…there’s still even more to come:

We’re excited to partner with Roblox for the launch of Xbox Ally. For the first time ever, Roblox will be playable natively and optimized for gaming handhelds, enabling players to play with millions of people and discover a variety of immersive games on day one.
We are working closely with our game developer partners on a brand-new program designed to help players easily identify which games have been optimized for handhelds, including the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. We will share more details soon.
Players who purchase an Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X and are new to Game Pass will also be able to get started at no additional cost, accessing hundreds of games like Balatro, Gears Tactics, Vampire Survivors and more, straight from your device.
Players on either device will be able to tap into Gaming Copilot via Game Bar, a personalized gaming companion that helps you get to your favorite games faster, improve your skills, and connect you with your friends and communities.

Two Great Choices & A First Look at Specs

The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are perfect for players looking to take an approachable gaming experience with you during travels— whether it’s between airports, or between the comfiest chairs in the living room.

Both handhelds run on AMD processors that deliver premium gaming performance, immersive visuals, and more.



The Xbox Ally offers great value for anyone looking to take their favorite games wherever they want to play, whether it’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Gears of War: Reloaded, Lies of P, South of Midnight, or many more. It’s powered by the AMD Ryzen™ Z2 A Processor—balancing performance and power consumption to maximize battery life without sacrificing gameplay quality—16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.



The Xbox Ally X offers more for players looking to get the best level of performance and visual settings from their favorite games on a handheld. It features the AMD Ryzen™ AI Z2 Extreme processor—allowing us to power the latest AI features as they are introduced— double the storage to have more native games at your fingertips, and 24GB of high-speed RAM that more demanding games crave. The Xbox Ally X also features impulse triggers for more immersive play.

Here’s how the specs compare between the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X:



Pre-orders, Pricing, Accessories and More – Coming Soon

At launch this holiday, the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X will be available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with availability to follow for other markets where ROG Ally series products are sold today.

But that’s not the only thing to look forward to. In the coming months, we’ll share even more details about the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, including pricing, compatible accessories, and pre-orders. Interested in pre-ordering? Please sign up here to be notified when pre-orders go live.

We can’t wait to share more about the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. Thank you for joining us on this journey as we continue to fulfil our vision of delivering a consistent, approachable gaming experience anywhere—and meeting more players where you want to be.

Source: Xbox

[ian]

Hmm. I like the ally, it was just let down by its flappy paddle back buttons being completely wrong, and more critically, windows.
Windows alone turned the ally from a must buy to a beautiful bit of useless hardware.

But if this windows has a focus on games, it might be a bit better. (Still waiting for the Xbox to actually get some new games though)

The Xbox button is too close to the stick, and that D-Pad LOOKS like the worst, cheapest D-Pad ever made...

Looking forward to playing with the hardware, even if I doubt I'll buy one in a hurry.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

The X version is going to be pricey in Australia. I'm interested though.

The fact that other companies might release handhelds with this "XboxOS" is interesting too, especially if they can release it at a bit cheaper of a price. If it's nearly as good as SteamOS but with Xbox, Steam, GOG and Epic Store, then that could end up being pretty cool.

[Skynet]

The X version is going to be pricey in Australia. I'm interested though.

I have a Steamdeck but if the X does well, I will be tempted

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Just need to wait and see how good it is.

The handheld market is getting huge. It will probably end up replacing the consoles.

[pixel]

I'd expect Microsoft to be the big-name portable maker among normies in a few years. The first manufacturer that gets a portable into Walmart/Target displays across America will get a big boost. Unless Sony or Valve have some huge secret hardware launch planned in the next 2 years, it seems like MS will be first to local store shelves sometime soon.

Valve has only sold ~4 million Steam Decks up to this point, so I'm worried about their long-term plans in the portable space. It's great for the enthusiest but the average joe doesn't give a flip. I'll prefer SteamOS over Windows 11 any day of the week because it's wide open for tinkering. But maybe MS will turn a new leaf and leave the software wide open on its supported hardware?

My worst fear is that Microsoft steamrolls other competitors in the portables market and homogenizes it.

[ian]

I'd expect Microsoft to be the big-name portable maker among normies in a few years. The first manufacturer that gets a portable into Walmart/Target displays across America will get a big boost. Unless Sony or Valve have some huge secret hardware launch planned in the next 2 years, it seems like MS will be first to local store shelves sometime soon.

Valve has only sold ~4 million Steam Decks up to this point, so I'm worried about their long-term plans in the portable space. It's great for the enthusiest but the average joe doesn't give a flip. I'll prefer SteamOS over Windows 11 any day of the week because it's wide open for tinkering. But maybe MS will turn a new leaf and leave the software wide open on its supported hardware?

My worst fear is that Microsoft steamrolls other competitors in the portables market and homogenizes it.

You're absolutely right about needing to get them in stores, but I don't think Microsoft will steamroll anything. Every time they've had a chance to (With a shitload of great games on their system) they fumble with shit that could have been easily avoidable like RROD, Kinect, always online one, ads at the core of their menu screens etc.. but they fumbled when they actually had games worth buying their systems for. And they just don't right now.
I think it's more them trying something new because the series sales are apparently abysmally pathetic.

Valve won't steamroll anyone and it's basically in their name, the deck won't take off because most people don't play computer games, they see a thing in a shop and think, hey that looks like fun.
and how did valve even get to where they are? They made a lot of great fucking games and the only way to play them was with steam.
Steam is only relevant still because it has the biggest range of games on the market, is the easiest way to buy and play actual computer games, and then they fumbled by not having the deck in stores.

Sony's got nothing... They had the perfect device nearly 20 years before the market for gaming portables exploded and right as handhelds do what the PSP did they've simply made worse and worse constantly.

They started by making a spin off phone that was a worse system but an awesome phone, then they made a follow up and forgot to put games on it, and then in a fantastic move after their vita with no games flopped they went back to the drawing board and decided that their next portable wouldn't even be portable. GENIUS!!!
Did Sony learn nothing from Nintendo? Let's make a huge flop tablet that can't game on its own without being tethered to the wiiu system and sell 12 of them... AHHH, but if we take the identical thing, hack off the built in controls and make it portable we have a system that's sold PS2 levels!
So Sony simply need PS5 games (which they have the benefit of actually having) to play on a handheld. But that won't happen because they sell enough home consoles.

Actually on second thought, Microsoft COULD steamroll everyone if all the games their 60% of all the developers in the world have been developing for half a decade come out and they get their Xbox ally into stores for the right price.

[melancholy]

I'd expect Microsoft to be the big-name portable maker among normies in a few years. The first manufacturer that gets a portable into Walmart/Target displays across America will get a big boost. Unless Sony or Valve have some huge secret hardware launch planned in the next 2 years, it seems like MS will be first to local store shelves sometime soon.

Both correct and wrong. Microsoft likely will be the company that breaks into the standard retail market, but they will not be the manufacturer. Remember a few months ago when I said the Series X will likely be the last console Microsoft makes? This is just more proof of that. Why make the hardware when you can license out special software to anyone that wants to make a ‘Microsoft certified’ device? Soon we will see PCs doing the exact same thing, you watch. Looking for the next Xbox? Check out our new Xbox PC by Lenovo!

[pixel]

I'd expect Microsoft to be the big-name portable maker among normies in a few years. The first manufacturer that gets a portable into Walmart/Target displays across America will get a big boost. Unless Sony or Valve have some huge secret hardware launch planned in the next 2 years, it seems like MS will be first to local store shelves sometime soon.

Both correct and wrong. Microsoft likely will be the company that breaks into the standard retail market, but they will not be the manufacturer. Remember a few months ago when I said the Series X will likely be the last console Microsoft makes? This is just more proof of that. Why make the hardware when you can license out special software to anyone that wants to make a ‘Microsoft certified’ device? Soon we will see PCs doing the exact same thing, you watch. Looking for the next Xbox? Check out our new Xbox PC by Lenovo!

Yes that's correct but I don't want the Microsoft-certified devices to choke out the market. I'm worried that consumers will lose when the big players like Microsoft have real investment into the portable market. It'd be like smartphones, where the hardware gets locked down and enshittification makes the software experience worse.

I trust Valve at this point because I'm buying hardware that isn't locked down. If SteamOS became bloated, I can wipe the device and start fresh with any compatible OS. I'm not locked into one digital storefront and Valve seems to keep SteamOS focused on performance. It's a very pro-consumer device.

Will the same be said about Microsoft? The first line of Xbox handhelds look great and they promise a debloated version Windows 11. ROG is still in control of the hardware so I'm sure the consumer could switch operating systems. But maybe with the next generation, Microsoft gives an ultimatum: Lock down the hardware or we'll pull Windows support. Or maybe some new shiny Copilot AI feature requires a locked down bootloader.

I love how open these portables are, and I'm so jaded by big business not to assume that fun will be over sometime in the future.

Prior to the original Xbox, I hated Microsoft for their OS business as I did Sony for the PS2. I just don't trust them to keep the pro-consumer spirit alive in the portable market if they can make tons of money off of Game Pass subscriptions. All the while, Valve will ditch the Deck as another failed experiment because a new CS version will have even cooler gun skins.

[Dr. Zoidberg]