Highlights
- Microsoft will reportedly tease an Xbox handheld console at the June 9 Xbox Games Showcase.
- While an Xbox handheld console has been rumored for a while now, all past reports on the matter suggested that it won’t be out before the next console generation, circa 2028.
- The possibility of a mid-2024 teaser casts some major doubts on that purported release timeline.
Microsoft is planning to confirm the existence of an Xbox handheld console in June 2024, an established leaker has said. The claim suggests that the much-rumored Xbox device could be significantly closer to hitting the market than initially expected.
Xbox handheld rumors have been circulating online for a while now, with the most recent wave of such reports dating back to early 2024. But all insider accounts asserting that a portable Xbox device is in the works have labeled it as part of the next, tenth generation of gaming consoles. Microsoft itself doesn’t expect that console generation to arrive before 2028, according to some chat log transcripts between its executives that surfaced in the discovery phase of the company’s recent legal battle with the FTC over the Activision Blizzard deal.
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Next Xbox Games Showcase Rumored to Include Handheld Console Teaser
Spanish leaker eXtas1s has now cast some major doubts on that release timeline, asserting that Microsoft will confirm its first portable console’s existence as early as this month. Specifically, the company is planning to tease the handheld device at the June 9 Xbox Games Showcase, eXtas1s said in a late May YouTube video. The plan is to offer just a “small” teaser, the leaker claimed, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Even if the upcoming showcase doesn’t deliver a full reveal of the device, the rumor itself suggests that Microsoft’s first handheld may not be part of the next-gen Xbox lineup. Since the upcoming console generation is still estimated to be at least four years away, sharing any kind of hardware teasers—no matter how small—would be an entirely unprecedented move for Microsoft to make. It hence appears plausible that if eXtas1s’s information is accurate and such a glimpse of an Xbox handheld device does arrive come June 9, whatever it ends up showing will likely be ready to hit the market way before the next generation of consoles does circa 2028.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has himself recently stoked Xbox handheld console rumors on social media. Several early 2024 reports have also suggested that the tech giant is currently in the process of transitioning to an “every screen is an Xbox” gaming strategy. A portable console would align with that purported approach.
Microsoft May Shadow-Drop a New First-Party Game at the Xbox Games Showcase
Aside from this blockbuster handheld claim, eXtas1s has recently also shared some additional insights into the June 2024 Xbox Games Showcase. Among other things, the leaker reported that Microsoft plans to shadow-drop a first-party game that has already been announced as part of the event. Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed and Stoic Studio’s Towerborne both fit that description, especially since both are currently targeting a 2024 launch but neither has committed to a firm release date. The leaker also estimated that the June 9 showcase will see Microsoft share around a dozen first-party game trailers in total.
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