Microsoft Confirms Xbox Handheld Development: What to Expect and Timeline Ahead

Microsoft is indeed working on a concept for the Xbox handheld, but this will take several years.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer told this during a met interview with Bloomberg (paid, but via Reset Era). Been going there for a long time rumors about a possible Xbox handheld after reporting last year through documents from the lawsuit between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission.

Spencer now brings the dream a little closer. He said in the interview that a concept for a mobile device is actually being worked on internally and that research is being done on this market, but that such a device may have to wait “several years”. In any case, it seems to confirm that the Xbox handheld is being considered, but also that we should not expect it anytime soon. So patience is a virtue!

In the meantime, according to Spencer, Xbox will focus on making the Xbox app work better on existing mobile devices, and the company wants to work with software makers. hard to make sure their products work well together. “But in the long term, I’d like to see us build tools. I think our team can do innovative work, but we want to do that based on what we’ve learned and what happens now.”

In the interview, Spencer also talked about the fact that there are basically no limits to bringing Xbox games to competing platforms. There you can read more about it here. Finally, Spencer said it cannot be ruled out that Microsoft will make more purchases after buying Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, among others. For example, he talks about developers who are “geographically diverse” – for example, a studio in China – and the opportunity to buy a mobile game developer. Spencer emphasizes that future purchases may not be at the level of Activision Blizzard.