Microsoft is combining ‘the very best of Xbox and Home windows collectively’ for handhelds

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has been dropping hints about an Xbox handheld for months, however what about Home windows handheld gaming PCs? Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of “Subsequent Era,” tells The Verge that we should always anticipate to see the Home windows handheld gaming expertise change inside this calendar 12 months.

Ronald was a roundtable panelist this night at an AMD and Lenovo occasion titled “The Way forward for Gaming Handhelds,” which was largely a coming-out get together for Lenovo’s new Legion Go S. However he did trace on stage that Microsoft plans to deliver the Xbox expertise to Home windows PCs, quite than the opposite means round — and expanded on that significantly after we caught up with him later.

“We’ve been actually innovating for a very long time within the console area, and as we associate throughout the business it’s actually about how can we deliver these improvements that we’ve incubated and developed within the console area and produce them to PC and produce them to the hand held gaming area,” stated Ronald.

After we caught up with him after the occasion, he confirmed that Microsoft is taking a look at combining Xbox and Home windows experiences collectively — and that we should always see adjustments this very 12 months, quite than needing to attend for an Xbox handheld which may nonetheless be years away.

“I might say it’s bringing the very best of Xbox and Home windows collectively, as a result of now we have spent the final 20 years constructing a world-class working system, however it’s actually locked to the console,” says Ronald. “What we’re doing is we’re actually centered on how can we deliver these experiences for each gamers and builders to the broader Home windows ecosystem.”

Proper now, Home windows sucks on handhelds, to place it quite bluntly, to the purpose {that a} community-created fork of Valve’s SteamOS expertise is usually a much better strategy to decide up and play video games. Ronald is clearly conscious of the problems. “We’re centered on actually simplifying that and making it way more like a console expertise. Our aim is to place the participant and their library on the heart of the expertise and never all of the [Windows] work that you must do right this moment.”

Microsoft has completed compact modes for Xbox apps on Home windows which can be centered on bettering the hand held expertise, however it’s loads like placing lipstick on a pig as a substitute of addressing the core expertise. “I feel we’ll have much more to share later this 12 months,” teases Ronald. “I feel it’s going to be a journey and I feel you’ll see loads of investments over time that you just’re beginning to see already, however we’ll have much more to share later this 12 months.”

How Microsoft goes about this merging of Xbox and Home windows will probably be key, however it doesn’t sound like the corporate is instantly going to port a customized Xbox working system to Home windows. It sounds extra like Microsoft desires to make Home windows all up higher at gaming with an Xbox expertise on high so the pesky desktop, notifications, and legacy of Home windows is hidden away.

“I feel, on the finish of the day, our aim is to make Home windows nice for gaming on any gadget,” says Ronald. “The truth is the Xbox working system is constructed on high of Home windows. So there’s loads of infrastructure that we constructed within the console area that we are able to deliver to the PC area and actually ship that premium gaming expertise on any gadget.”

Particularly, Microsoft has to sort out loads of the very fundamentals of creating Home windows extra pleasant to controllers and getting that Xbox expertise to essentially drive issues as a substitute of the taskbar, Begin menu, and different components. “There’s simply sure issues in Home windows that weren’t designed for for those who don’t have a keyboard and mouse, like thumbstick assist or joypads and stuff like that,” Ronald admits.

“There’s elementary interplay fashions that we’re engaged on to ensure that whatever the working system particulars it feels very natively like a gaming-centric gadget and a gaming-centric expertise.”

Ronald says the aim is to place an Xbox expertise on the heart — “not the Home windows desktop that you’ve right this moment.”