Microsoft Pauses First-Party Xbox Handheld to Enhance Windows 11 Portable Performance

Sure, let’s dive into this all over the place report. So, apparently, Microsoft decided to play a bit of hopscotch with its plans for handheld gaming. There’s this murmur that they’re setting their Xbox handheld gadget plans on a dusty shelf and instead are going all gung-ho on making sure Windows 11 plays nice with handhelds. Crazy, right? But uh, that’s what this thing from Windows Central says.

Why, you ask? Well, supposedly it’s ’cause SteamOS is doing a little jig and making people happy without Windows throwing a tantrum. Imagine running games super smooth on SteamOS with, like, a Windows-able gadget (think Lenovo Legion Go S). Although, yeah, you’ll miss Game Pass. But hey, the game’s afoot with great performance, or something like that.

Now, if you’ve been living under a rock about Xbox handheld news — join the club. Anyway, Microsoft was rumored (or maybe it wasn’t?) to be tinkering with handhelds for an eternity. They had this in-house Xbox thing and then this other doohickey with Asus called “Project Kennan.” Sneaky, isn’t it? The rumor mill’s given Kennan a late-year stage debut. Its gear? Pretty much ready to roll.

The whole ‘first-party Xbox experience’? Yeah, that’s snoozing in a corner. Zzz. Microsoft had this idea for a new Xbox handheld — like a portable Xbox magician playing magic tricks with full Xbox games. Boom! Now it’s snoozing, at least for now.

Anyway, back to the world of Windows 11, which remains the old faithful on handhelds till SteamOS danced in. Legion Go S? Asus ROG Ally? You can run both Windows 11 and SteamOS there. Steam OS seems to have the speedster crown, while Windows 11? Oh, it’s all about that ecosystem embrace.

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