The era of Windows gaming handhelds is here — almost. It just needs Microsoft. At this year’s CES, much like in previous years, there’s an increasing number of relatively small and very capable gaming handhelds running Windows. Acer’s new 8- and 11-inch ones and the Lenovo Legion Go S, to name just a few, and there are already ones from MSI and Asus.
In Lenovo’s case, the new Legion Go S will go on sale this year in two flavors: one with Windows, and one with Valve’s SteamOS. The SteamOS version will run like Valve’s Steam Deck, which, if you haven’t followed the space, feels like a complete game console that runs Steam software and works with a lot of verified Steam games. I’ve come to love the Steam Deck; it’s easy to use (but can be customized and hacked), has an impressive amount of games that work well on it, and everything feels well optimized for the hardware’s display and lower-power processor.
If only that were the case for Windows.
The last time I tried playing games on Windows handhelds, it was a weird process. For all the flexibility of Windows and the freedom to run multiple app stores and customize however you’d like, a lot of things act weirdly and are very hit-and-miss. Not much has changed since then. Custom software skins to run games and apps on these handhelds aren’t as elegant as on the fully ready-to-go-feeling SteamOS.
Microsoft has already conceded it wants to make an Xbox gaming handheld someday. Last year, Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer even admitted that Windows game handhelds should feel more like an Xbox experience. When that day will come, we don’t know. But it should be now.
Microsoft’s recent marketing push has been to celebrate Xbox being everywhere. Your TV can be an Xbox. Your phone can be an Xbox. And yet, why do these Windows handhelds not feel like they can instantly, effortlessly become Xboxes, too? You can, of course, run Windows games, and also Xbox games via cloud streaming. But Microsoft hasn’t made efforts to put an Xbox experience, with a similarly optimized and easy-to-use environment (with verified optimized games) on these Windows gaming handhelds yet.
Is it hard to do? I don’t know, Valve is doing it. I’m not really much of a PC gamer, but the Steam Deck has turned me into one via Steam. Microsoft should be doing the same thing with at least more of a concerted effort on Windows handhelds this year, especially as the Steam Deck flexes its SteamOS third-party hardware support — which will be on Lenovo’s Legion Go S handheld, but also in beta form for other Windows gaming handhelds as well this spring. It seems especially critical to achieve that soon as Nintendo readies its more powerful Nintendo Switch 2.
Maybe Microsoft just doesn’t care to accelerate that initiative right now. Windows exists, and Xboxes and cloud gaming — and maybe that’s good enough for what Microsoft wants to do. But these assorted Windows game handhelds need some help to make their software feel better, and Microsoft really is the only one that can help. Unless, of course, you just choose a SteamOS game handheld instead, or convert a Windows handheld to SteamOS.
The hardware is already here. It’s the software that needs work. As CES wraps up and 2025 gets underway, I hope Microsoft chooses to act sooner rather than later to push attempts at Xbox-focused software to handhelds ahead of whatever hardware it might be pursuing in the future. There are plenty of games already, and gamers that are ready, too. Otherwise, will we just be looking at a bunch of Steam Decks instead of a bunch of handheld Xboxes?
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