When I sat down with leaders from the Xbox hardware and Xbox ecosystem divisions a couple of weeks ago, it was to get an early look at two new consoles. The ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, handheld gaming PCs that have been brought to life as part of a surprise collaboration between ASUS, Xbox, AMD, and the Windows division at Microsoft.
What became clear is that this isn't the existing ROG Ally systems with a simple Xbox rebrand, but rather an effort to finely tune the internal hardware and operating system to make a Windows-powered handheld feel as if it's a part of the broader Xbox ecosystem. I also started to wonder whether this work was a sign of what's to come from Xbox – an open borders approach to building a sustainable platform, unlike anything we've seen from any of the primary competitors in the console market.
