This is how Microsoft is combining Windows and Xbox for handheld PCs

The caller Xbox Ally X boots straight into a full-screen Xbox experience.

Microsoft and Asus person conscionable announced two ROG Xbox Ally devices that see a caller full-screen Xbox acquisition for handhelds. After promising to harvester “the champion of Xbox and Windows together” for handhelds earlier this year, Microsoft is present revealing precisely however it is overhauling the Xbox app, Game Bar, and Windows itself to amended vie with SteamOS.

Microsoft has needed to respond to SteamOS ever since the Steam Deck launched 3 years ago, and it has steadily been tweaking its Xbox app and the Xbox Game Bar connected Windows to marque some much handheld-friendly. But determination was ever a bigger overhaul of Windows required, and we’re starting to spot parts of that today.

“The world is that we’ve made tremendous advancement connected this implicit the past mates of years, and this is truly the instrumentality that galvanized those teams and got everybody marching and moving towards a infinitesimal that we’re conscionable truly excited to enactment into the hands of players,” says Roanne Sones, firm vice president of gaming Devices and ecosystem astatine Xbox, successful a briefing with The Verge.

Microsoft demonstrated this handheld-friendly operation of Windows and Xbox to The Verge successful a briefing earlier this week, but it was a virtual demo truthful we haven’t been capable to effort it afloat yet. It each starts by booting straight into a caller Xbox full-screen acquisition connected these ROG Xbox Ally devices that focuses connected the Xbox app and Game Bar, alongside being a launcher for each your PC games — yes adjacent Steam ones.

“We were capable to instrumentality radical who person been moving connected the Xbox OS for 20 years oregon much and person them enactment straight connected the Windows codebase and commencement reimagining what that operating strategy looks similar for this signifier factor,” explains Jason Beaumont, vice president of experiences astatine Xbox. “These 2 things combined led america to physique a clump of features.”

The Xbox full-screen acquisition is precise overmuch the compact mode of the Xbox app taking afloat power of the ROG Xbox Ally devices, alternatively of the acquainted Windows desktop and taskbar. “When the subordinate boots into the full-screen acquisition determination is simply a full clump of Windows worldly that doesn’t get loaded,” says Beaumont. “We’re not loading the desktop wallpaper, the taskbar, oregon a clump of processes that are truly designed astir productivity scenarios for Windows.”

You tin inactive exit this full-screen mode and motorboat the afloat mentation of the Windows desktop, but by default it volition by hidden away. “We’ve reduced galore notifications and pop-ups, and we volition proceed to perceive to feedback from players to marque continued improvements,” says Sones.

The Xbox app itself successful full-screen mode looks precise akin to what exists connected Windows close now, but the room is present afloat of each of your PC games from Steam and different stores, alongside ones from Xbox Play Anywhere and Game Pass. Where it truly gets absorbing is the Game Bar.

“We’ve made a batch of improvements to Game Bar implicit the past year, and truly it was driving towards this device,” says Brianna Potvin, main bundle engineering pb astatine Xbox. A abbreviated property connected the Xbox fastener connected the Xbox Ally devices brings up the Game Bar interface, and you tin usage this to entree instrumentality settings similar Wi-Fi oregon Bluetooth, Asus’ Command Center interface, and adjacent Microsoft’s caller Gaming Copilot. If you agelong property connected the Xbox fastener past you’ll adjacent get a much handheld-friendly task switcher, which lets you alt+tab betwixt apps and games utilizing the controller.

I’ll request to effort this caller interface afloat to truly get a consciousness for the Windows changes here, but Microsoft is promising that this isn’t conscionable lipstick connected apical of Windows. “This isn’t surface-level changes, we’ve made important improvements,” says Potvin. “Some of our aboriginal investigating with the components we’ve turned disconnected successful Windows, we get astir 2GB of representation going backmost to the games portion moving successful the full-screen experience.”

That’s a bully measurement to amended the show of Windows connected handhelds, but 1 of the large pieces of feedback astir the handheld acquisition is the slumber concern wherever Windows-powered devices often gully acold excessively overmuch artillery beingness erstwhile they’re idle.

“If you’re booting your instrumentality into the full-screen acquisition and you’re putting it down and it’s going to sleep, it draws 1 3rd of the idle powerfulness gully than if it was booting the aforesaid instrumentality into the [Windows] desktop experience,” claims Potvin. Microsoft is inactive focused connected artillery beingness and powerfulness ratio for this full-screen mode, truthful we mightiness adjacent spot further improvements earlier devices vessel aboriginal this year. Microsoft has besides made improvements to the Windows lockscreen, truthful you tin present usage a controller to log successful utilizing a PIN code, oregon navigate astir successful this portion of Windows.

This updated Xbox app volition present enactment arsenic a launcher for each your PC games, but you’ll inactive beryllium capable to interact with Windows apps and those different launchers freely successful this full-screen handheld experience. Sones says Microsoft is “working intimately with starring storefronts to person them optimize their afloat surface experience,” to marque it casual for everyone to play a afloat room of PC games from Steam, Epic Games Store, and elsewhere.

“The aggregated gaming room wrong Xbox connected PC volition beryllium disposable for each Windows 11 devices,” says Sones, truthful you’ll soon beryllium capable to spot each of your Steam games wrong the Xbox app connected immoderate PC.

Microsoft is besides creating its ain mentation of Valve’s Steam Deck verified program, allowing you to spot what games are optimized for handhelds similar the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. You’ll besides beryllium capable to entree your afloat Xbox console room connected handhelds acknowledgment to either Xbox Cloud Gaming oregon Remote Play from an Xbox console, but astir console games won’t play natively unless there’s a PC mentation oregon they’re portion of Xbox Play Anywhere.

The champion portion of each these Windows changes is that you won’t needfully request a caller instrumentality to payment from them. “The Xbox full-screen acquisition volition archetypal travel to the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, and our adjacent absorption volition beryllium updating the in-market ROG Ally and the ROG Ally X,” says Sones. “Similar full-screen Xbox experiences volition beryllium rolling retired to different Windows handhelds, starting adjacent year.”

Valve is besides supporting SteamOS connected the ROG Ally, truthful we should beryllium capable to comparison Valve and Microsoft’s handheld operating systems connected the aforesaid hardware soon. We don’t yet cognize if Microsoft has done capable to halt different PC makers from being tempted implicit to SteamOS like Lenovo has, but Microsoft’s efforts are truly mounting up a conflict betwixt Windows and Linux for the aboriginal of handheld gaming PCs.