It sounds like Xbox wants a piece of the Nintendo Switch pie, as a new report claims it’s working on a “fully native” handheld console

Where game console Choosing the cloud-based handheld route, a new report claims Xbox Prototypes for native handheld devices are in progress.

Last year, in an effort to take advantage of some of the features Nintendo had to offer on the Switch, Sony released the PlayStation Portal, a weird little cloud-based handheld device for everyone and anyone. While many people are troubled by the unstable stability of handheld devices due to their reliance on a good internet connection, Overall well done, it’s clear that this is a device that people feel they need to use. Now, it sounds like Microsoft wants a piece of the pie, though it looks like it’ll be closer to the Switch than the PS Portal.

Jez Corden says on Xbox 2 Podcast that he knows “[Xbox] A handheld prototype is now available. He clarified that they were “new prototypes” and not the old prototypes that were previously said to be in development, and he also made it clear that it was “not a cloud handset” but “completely native.” This was also pointed out in the podcast , but it should be noted that just because Xbox is working on a handheld prototype, if it is, that doesn’t mean it will actually be released. Projects like this get canceled all the time, so don’t write any reviews complaining about it never coming out, Because it was never guaranteed in the first place.

Considering Microsoft’s overall intention to make its games playable in as many places as possible, a handheld Xbox console is no surprise. Games like Pentiment, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of ​​Thieves have all made their way to rival platforms or are about to come to rival platforms, a new move by Xbox to truly make its games ubiquitous. With products like the Steam Deck also seeing a lot of success, a handheld option for Xbox might work well too, especially when paired with Game Pass. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if this is true.