The ROG Xbox Ally borrows a heck of a lot from the Steam Deck, proving that the old gated console concept is a thing of the past

With the ROG Xbox Ally set to launch in October and hands-on reports going live, Microsoft is opening up about how it'll feel to use the handheld on a moment-to-moment basis. And, well, judging by the latest info drop concerning the way it deals with compatibility and performance, it seems like the ROG Xbox Ally is less a handheld Xbox and more an Xbox Steam Deck.

Because it sure does borrow a lot from the Deck, especially when it comes to how it categorizes different levels of compatibility, though I would argue Xbox's approach is marginally better than Valve's. Games that run at 30 fps or above will be marked "Should perform well on your device", while games that hit 60 fps and above will be marked "Should perform great on this device".

I think this is an increasingly necessary distinction, and one that Valve could probably adopt: games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Avowed definitely run on the Steam Deck—both have Verified status—but they don't run well. Meanwhile, games that haven't been tested on the ROG Xbox Ally will be marked as such.

There's also a "handheld optimized" tag. To gain this distinction a game will need to work "seamlessly with a controller" with all "menus and prompts working as intended", while UI elements will need to be legible on a smaller screen. In other words, it's basically the equivalent of the Steam Deck's Verified tag. The Xbox homescreen—or at least, the version of it you'll see on the ROG Xbox Ally—will, like the Steam Deck, have a handheld optimized section.

If Microsoft had released a handheld, say, four years ago, I doubt it would have let you try to boot up games that weren't made to run on it. And I bet it wouldn't have let you optimize battery life, remap buttons, and toggle on a performance overlay. These are not the kinds of things a console has traditionally let you do, so the influence of the Steam Deck looms large here.

Not least because the ROG Xbox Ally will also let you download apps for Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, among other digital shopfronts, and you'll theoretically be able to enjoy games across those libraries seamlessly, though I'm not sure yet whether they'll be marked with the same performance badges as native Xbox games.

PC Gamer's James Bentley went hands-on with the ROG Xbox Ally earlier today, finding that those weirdly protruding back grips are actually a boon in terms of comfort. Using Windows 11 on it is apparently pretty stress-free, too. The question is whether the average PC player will want this over a normal ROG Ally, not to mention a Steam Deck, or a Lenovo.

Prices haven't been confirmed due to "macro-economic" impacts on costs, according to Microsoft speaking to IGN, but Dealabs claims the Xbox Ally will cost $550, while the Xbox Ally X will cost $900.