ASUS’ Xbox-branded ROG Ally – maybe the closest we’ll get to an official Xbox gaming handheld anytime quickly, if current experiences are true – launches this October, says a dependable leaker.
Particularly, it is claimed ASUS is focusing on a sixteenth October European launch date for the Xbox ROG Ally and its beefier-specced sibling, the Xbox ROG Ally X. That is in line with Dealab’s Billbil-kun, who has a protracted historical past of correct leaks.
Each machines have been formally unveiled in June, when it was confirmed the Xbox ROG Ally would come with an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor alongside 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, whereas the Ally X – described as a machine for “essentially the most demanding gamers” – options an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Excessive processor and 24GB of high-speed RAM.
Xbox ROG Ally reveal trailer.Watch on YouTube
On the time, ASUS would solely say the machines have been launching this “vacation” throughout choose international locations together with the UK and US, and different particulars have been restricted. Nevertheless, Billbil-kun lately claimed the Xbox ROG Ally will value €599 (round £520), whereas the Xbox ROG Ally X variant is claimed to be priced at €899 (roughly £780). Pre-orders for each machines will reportedly start on twentieth August, with an official announcement anticipated throughout Microsoft’s Gamescom showcase, which begins at 2pm BST on the identical day.
The Xbox ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, as we discovered beforehand, are each powered by Home windows 11, embrace a full-screen Xbox interface, and have an aggregated gaming library with entry to put in video games from a spread of PC shops, together with Steam, Battle.internet, and GOG. And, after all, the machines help Xbox Play Wherever titles.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has lengthy teased Microsoft’s plans for an official Xbox gaming handheld, and experiences earlier this yr prompt the corporate had settled on a multi-pronged technique that might initially see it companion with a third-party to launch an Xbox-branded transportable machine earlier than the tip of 2025 whereas it labored by itself in-house venture to launch someday in 2027. Nevertheless, later experiences claimed a change in technique, with Home windows Central saying Microsoft’s inner handheld venture had been “sidelined” in favour of extra third-party partnerships, whereas The Verge went additional, calling the venture “basically cancelled”.
Curiously, nevertheless, Xbox president Sarah Bond lately introduced the corporate was partnering with AMD to “co-engineer silicon throughout a portfolio of units together with our next-generation Xbox consoles in your front room and in your palms”. For now although, the one certainty is ASUS’ handhelds, and we must always get a confirmed launch date very quickly.
