This isn’t quite what we expected to see last year, but the ROG Xbox Ally still marks a new chapter in the rapidly developing “handheld war.” Microsoft’s announcement of the Ally during its annual Xbox Showcase broadcast on Sunday only came a few days after Nintendo’s release of its latest console,

Ayaneo is a Chinese brand that released its first Windows-based handheld system a year before Valve's Steam Deck. Since then, it has launched successively more capable devices with more powerful internal hardware.

Xbox Game Pass may have crossed 35 million subscribers sometime in mid-2024, based on a LinkedIn listing spotted by user Timur222 (via GameRant ). Microsoft hasn’t officially confirmed the number or timing, but the milestone lines up with previous growth trends.

Xbox appears to have given up on supporting physical media for first-party games on its own console, much to the frustration of fans.

June 9, 2025 at 2:10 PM ET: The 4TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is official. Following an apparent leak last week, Seagate has since announced the new accessory. The card retails for $499.99 but is currently discounted to $429.99.

Maybe it shouldn't always be purely about the numbers, Mason.

Xbox and Asus haven’t exactly kept their intentions to create a handheld secret. The device the two brothers-in-arms finally showed off at Microsoft’s weekend games showcase diverges from the flat-panel design established by the Nintendo Switch back in 2017.