Why no portable windows gaming device from MS?

[Drael646464]

There are now two successfully funded crowdfunder projects.

This:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gpd-win-intel-z8700-win-10-os-game-console-laptop#/

Which is selling all over the place, it's pretty popular on places like aliexpress for example.

And this, which is definitely got enough funds, and should ship later this year.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smachteam/smach-z-the-handheld-gaming-pc/description

Literally all MS would need to do is release a virtual xbox controller for windows on ARM, and make a phone with a decent GPU and a joystick controller add on (but you could just use it as a phone without the add on). Extra points for haptic feedback on the touch screen so you can feel the buttons (which would also be nice for productivity and a keyboard).

Or make something dedicated an high end like the smachz (which admittedly looks dope)

MS is king of the game space, but the biggest growth is in mobile gaming. Seems to me they are like a half-arsed development effort away from a product already.

Y no portable MS?

 

[Josiah23]

That's a great question!

Microsoft sadly isn't going that route like Sony or Nintendo a while back. They want to just focus on there Xbox line of consoles.

I would actually like to see a handheld gaming device from Microsoft as it does sound interesting, but it's just not in Microsoft's plans anytime soon.

If you research it a little bit, you can find that Microsoft entered an early development stage, but never got passed the drawing and sketches of such device.

I'm not sure if it's a smart move or a mistake from Microsoft because they could make a lot of profit from doing this and adding even more popularity than before, but then again just focusing on the Xbox makes things easier for the Dev team to handle.

MS is king of the game space, but adding a handheld device puts the crown on the kings head.

 

[fpena911]

To me this was the next logical step for the Lumia line of phones. Ok so MS lost the race and got beat by iOS and Android. But then why not repurpose the cell phones as portable XBox systems? That would increase the footprint for W10M and create a unique selling proposition for the operating system.

 

[Josiah23]

To me this was the next logical step for the Lumia line of phones. Ok so MS lost the race and got beat by iOS and Android. But then why not repurpose the cell phones as portable XBox systems? That would increase the footprint for W10M and create a unique selling proposition for the operating system.

They know they're getting beat by iOS and Android but they still don't want to head in that direction, MS and the Xbox Dev team are putting all of their work and attention on their already existing console.

Going portable is and should be the smart move for Microsoft but they aren't planning on doing this anytime soon.

 

[Drael646464]

They know they're getting beat by iOS and Android but they still don't want to head in that direction, MS and the Xbox Dev team are putting all of their work and attention on their already existing console.

Going portable is and should be the smart move for Microsoft but they aren't planning on doing this anytime soon.

Well the console is also a good move. Unify the OS more across devices.

But a smartphone running full windows 10 with a console type UI could pretty easily be a winner in the phone space based on gaming alone. Now they have windows on arm too.

 

[fdalbor]

They missed the boat. There are a good bit more Android and IOS phones out there than Xboxes and Win 10 computers. Too bad, I tried Win phones for a couple of years and then just gave up when Microsoft failed to support them. I doubt very many people trust Microsoft enough to ever invest in a mobile Win device.

 

[greedo_greedy]

An Xbox portable is one concept the Xbox team is happy they never pursued. Especially with the advent of smartphones, a dedicated portable gaming device is difficult to sell.

Microsoft missed opportunity though is as we all know is WINDOWS PHONE if marketed and designed correctly could have been the Xbox portable.