Last month,Xbox finally unveiled its long-rumoured handheld console, the ROG Xbox Ally. With support for every major PC storefront out of the box, it was billed as “The ultimate high-performance handheld, built for the most demanding players.” Microsoft even described it as a “Great value” console during the showcase, but there was no price attached, leaving players to wonder how much it would cost.
As reported by3DJuegos(viau/AngieK22), we might already have an answer. A preview of the ROG Xbox Ally on Google via the ASUS website lists the console at €599, and the more powerful X version at €899. These figures could be placeholders, as they match exactly with the existing ASUS ROG Ally handheld, but if true, it would make the console significantly more expensive than the rival Steam Deck (€419-679).
It’s unlikely that we’ll see a 1:1 conversion from Euros to USD and GBP, but we can still glean what the price tag might be by looking at the standard ASUS ROG Ally. Given that the two consoles have matching prices—assuming that these previews are accurate—the Xbox handheld could be priced at $499/899 and £449/799. That would make the standard model $50/£54 more expensive than a Switch 2.
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Nintendo got a lot of flak for how expensive the Switch 2 was, but it’s an unfortunate reality of the post-COVID world, especially withPresident Trump’s tariffs. Given that the ROG Xbox Ally is shaping up to be a more powerful console, even outpacing the Steam Deck, it’s no surprise that it’d be more expensive. Some were braced for this possibility, but for most, nearly $1,000 for a handheld isn’t going to be easy to stomach when $449 was already pushing it.
“Yeah I’ll watch the second to the second hand [sic] market,” u/cwilfried said. “Wtf is Microsoft smoking?” added u/kuro_snow. “They can’t even manage to sell home consoles… How are they going to sell handheld consoles at that price?” u/infel2no asked. “My god that’s going to be an extremely hard sell,” u/grilled_pc argued. “Everything is so fu**ing expensive,” u/healthy_weed0 said, clearly frustrated. Already, it’s shaping up to be a controversial console.
With pre-ordersreportedly set to go live in August, with a rumoured October release, we’ll find out how accurate these numbers are soon enough, and just how well the general public responds to them.
