Microsoft has finally revealed the price of its ROG Xbox Ally handheld, and it’s more expensive than an Xbox Series X.
Launching globally on 16th October, the handheld (much like its home console siblings) comes in two flavours:
- ROG Xbox Ally X (£799) – comes with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage
- ROG Xbox Ally (£499) – comes with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage
For comparison, an Xbox Series X currently costs £499.99 for its disc drive edition with 1TB of storage. The all-digital Series S costs £299.99 for its 512GB edition.
The ROG Xbox Ally is in direct competition with Valve’s Steam Deck, offering a handheld device that merges Xbox and PC capabilities.
While its user interface is inspired by the Xbox console, it has controller-like grips, and there’s a dedicated Xbox button offering a Game Bar overlay, the device also offers an aggregated gaming library across Xbox and other leading PC stores like Steam.
It also offers both Cloud Play to stream your games, and Remote Play to play games from your console.
Microsoft even offers a Handheld Compatibility Programme to indicate which games play well on handheld, just like Valve’s Steam Deck Verified system.
Full details can be found on Xbox Wire.
For further comparison, Valve’s Steam Deck costs £479.99 for its 512GB OLED model and £569.00 for its 1TB OLED model. The Ally isn’t OLED, but then neither is the Switch 2 and that has a gorgeous screen.
The handheld’s release is all part of Xbox’s Play Anywhere campaign, allowing players access to its games wherever they are and across a range of devices.
There’s no denying, though, that this comes at a hefty cost.
