Microsoft has been ramping up its gaming ambitions for quite some time, and now it looks like the gaming giant is working on a new gaming handheld. According to a recent report by Windows Central, Microsoft is working with PC gaming OEMs to make an Xbox-branded gaming handheld that might see the light of day sometime later this year. Codenamed “Keenan”, this device is said to have an Xbox like design and guide button and run on Windows out of the box. Since the handheld will be sold by Microsoft, we might see less third party OEM bloatware and the tech giant will use widgets available on the Xbox Game Bar on PC to control aspects like TDP, fan speed and other things. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report also suggests that next-gen Xbox consoles “will be closer to Windows than ever before”, thereby helping reduce the amount of work developers will have to do to port games from PC. However, the next-gen Xbox might be launched sometime in 2027. Earlier this year, Microsoft’s VP of “Next Generation” Jason Ronald told The Verge that they are looking to combine Xbox and Windows experiences together and that it is working on making Windows on gaming handhelds better than how it is today. With this strategy, Microsoft seems to be taking a different approach than what Sony does with the PlayStation. Since the game maker already has a large amount of games that can be ported over to a handheld type gaming device, it is highly likely that these future devices might be compatible with older systems.
