For months, rumours have spread that Xbox is looking to dive back into the console game, having quietly surrendered the console war, leading the company’s exclusives to land just about everywhere. A new plan of action was hatched to launch a handheld console of its own, meant to rival Nintendo’s Switch (2) and Valve’s Steam Deck. Now it seems that Xbox has teamed up with Asus to deliver that new handheld.
Asus briefly teased an announcement over on X/Twitter, briefly showing off the company’s ROG Ally handheld and an Xbox-like ROG Raikiri Pro controller, further fuelling the Xbox connections. In early March, Jez Cordan revealed that Xbox’s “first full foray” into the market would kick off with a partner device, known internally as “Project Kennan”. Those rumours are finally bearing fruit, it seems.
It’s all coming together
Our little robot friend is cooking something up…#ROG #ROGALLY #PlayALLYourGames #NextLevelGaming pic.twitter.com/nDG7rlEIhH
— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) March 31, 2025
Xbox’s reply to the tweet all but confirms that it’s at least lightly involved in its development. Whether the console will be more of an Xbox affair with Asus hardware sprinkled in, or if Microsoft is simply piggybacking off of Asus’ established brand, remains to be seen.
Seeing as how it was Asus that teased the new console, we’re inclined to believe it’s the latter. Could we see the next generation of the ROG Ally, perhaps? Maybe one touting a fully-functional Xbox software suite? Only time will tell, unfortunately. It seems certain that a full announcement is coming sooner rather than later – likely timed to destabilise the upcoming Switch 2 Direct.
Read More: Asus ROG Ally X review – Again, but better
One keen-eyed user spotted what appears to be the ROG logo with the Xbox logo shoved in, with another shot teasing new features like “more capacity,” a “fresh look,” and “faster speeds,” which seems to indicate that this will be a continuation of the ROG Ally series rather than something wholly new from Microsoft.
How those promises will translate to actual specs is still a mystery, though we can expect Asus to stick with AMD hardware used in both the ROG Ally and ROG Ally X.
Pricing, too, is being kept under wraps, but if this is truly a ROG Ally successor, it’ll likely target that same $800 price tag, converting to R18,000 by the time it hits SA.