October

Microsoft has officially announced the release date for its handheld gaming PCs, the ROG Xbox Ally and indeed the even more bemusingly named ROG Xbox Ally X. Both devices will be available on October 16, but maddeningly, we still don’t know a price. However, we have learned that the portable gaming machine is going to feature its own equivalent of Valve’s Steam Deck verification system.

Microsoft and ROG’s team-up is a sort of stop-gap attempt at a portable Xbox, a concept Microsoft has recently be touting in ambiguous terms. This crossover with the already popular ROG Ally Windows 11 machine sees the device rebranded with Xbox buttons and, more importantly, with a new UI that should make it reasonably simple to play your Game Pass, GOG, and Steam games on the subway.

Today, Microsoft has made its release date official, declaring that on October 16 we’ll be able to get hold of both models, with pre-orders due “in the coming weeks.” Despite this, we still don’t have a price for either model. However, rumors about the potential cost continue to appear—see below.

The current ROG Ally comes with an AMD Ryzen Z1 processor, and costs $650. However, the basic Xbox version will be a step up, featuring the brand-new Ryzen Z2 with “four Zen 2 cores with eight threads and eight RDNA 2 GPU cores,” which sure sounds like a lot of threads and cores. It’ll also have 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD (which isn’t close to enough–that’s like two Calls of Duty). Meanwhile, the Ally X will beef that up to an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, which as you can see both has AI and is extreme. It features “a new 8‑core/16‑thread Zen 5 APU with 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores and an integrated 50 TOPS NPU,” and let’s all pretend we know what that means and feel impressed. It also bumps the RAM up to 24GB, and offers a 1TB SSD for up to four Calls of Duty at a time.

Xbox Ally has its own improved take on “Steam Deck Verified”

When Valve’s Steam Deck released, the company attempted to create a system, called Steam Deck Verified, that’d let owners know if a game on Steam was likely to be able to run on the handheld. It’s been sort-of useful over the years, although too often compromised by some games getting “Verified” status despite requiring super-low settings. It’s less and less useful these days, but then the Steam Deck is aging out. Microsoft is attempting something similar for the ROG Xbox Ally, with a system called the Handheld Compatibility Program, which the company says will “optimize thousands of PC titles for handheld compatibility” to “ensure day-one users have the best experience possible.” The system’s labels will have two tiers, “Mostly Compatible” and “Handheld Optimized.”

“Handheld Optimized means that the game is ready to go—with default controller inputs, an intuitive text input method, accurate iconography, clear text legibility, and appropriate resolution in full-screen mode. Mostly Compatible means that the game may require minor in-game setting changes for an optimal experience on handheld.”

Another neat feature is that the device will preload shaders while you’re downloading a game, so you won’t have to sit through a minutes-long loading bar the first time you launch a game after you already thought it was ready. The AI is being used for upscaling antics, and for the more dubious-sounding “Highlight Reels,” where it’ll capture what it considers to be “standout gameplay moments” and create shareable clips. It’ll be fun to see what nonsense that generates.

Microsoft says they’ve already got Gears of War: Reloaded running on the new handheld, which is an impressive boast.

Price rumors are already out there

According to an IGN report, Microsoft says it can’t announce prices yet because of “macro-economic conditions,” which is a bold claim considering the release date is in less than two months. You might assume the devices are already built at this stage, so the cost is not going to surprise the corporation. Clearly implying that Trump’s tariff jazz is a factor, an ASUS rep told IGN, “I think we will have to…we need more time to figure the macro-economic impact to pricing, and that’s why we’ll be sharing more later, in September and October.”

Reliable leaker billbil-kun is claiming to have the figures, however, stating the regular ROG Xbox Ally will be $549.99, while the ROG Xbox Ally X will be a mighty $899.99.

🚨 PRICING ALERT 🚨

Here are the final prices of Xbox Handheld consoles in USD:

🔸 ROG Xbox Ally: 549.99 USD
🔹 ROG Xbox Ally X: 899.99 USD pic.twitter.com/8sz1DKGFY7

— billbil-kun (@billbil_kun) August 20, 2025

$550 does seem low for the basic version, given the current ROG Ally is $650 and runs on an older generation of tech. However, it’s possible that Microsoft could be eating a lot of the costs to get the handheld out there and competitive. The company is said to have never made a single cent from the sale of Xbox consoles, instead relying on software and subscription sales to make up for the losses. Given the ROG Xbox Ally will essentially be a portable Xbox store, it’s very possible the company will be looking to make its money through sales, and of course the Game Pass Premium subscriptions that’ll make the machine worthwhile. At the same time, serious PC players will recognize that 16GB RAM is at the very lowest end of what’s useful these days, so will be tempted to lean toward the far more expensive Ally X to get that 24GB RAM and its considerably faster innards.

Given Microsoft and ROG will want a decent runway for pre-orders ahead of release, it does seem slightly unlikely that we’ll not get an official price before October. Expect that to appear in a couple of weeks, I’d reckon.

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