At the Tokyo Game Show 2025, Xbox president Sarah Bond was not only surprising but she was also shifting the focus of attention to the rival games. She stated that the newly launched ROG Xbox Ally handheld could run games of PlayStation Studios, for instance, Marvel’s Spider-Man.
For Microsoft, this sends a very loud signal amid the debate about the future of gaming: “Behold — within our ecosystem, everything is playable.”
The Appeal of Flexibility
The ROG Xbox Ally is primarily a universal tool that can do wonders. The gadget that is compatible with multiple platforms such as Steam gives users the liberty to have game ports of both PS4 and PS5 on their handheld without actually buying a gaming PC. Now, one can enjoy Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, Helldivers 2, and MLB: The Show anytime, anywhere — a move that is redefining the whole discourse about consoles’ ecosystems.
Pressure on Xbox Consoles
However, the fans word are still more focused on the issue of the Xbox Series X|S condition rather than anything else. The sales trend is gradually declining while prices keep rising. In a move to address the situation, Bond promised “consoles remain a very important part of the Xbox ecosystem.”
Nevertheless, this plan is not considered attractive by some. The rivalry between Xbox and Play Station has already cooled down a bit and the companies have become less strict about the release of exclusives but the fact that the ROG Ally is a handheld Windows-based device makes the situation even more complex. The device cannot really be referred to as a standalone console as it still depends on emulators or cloud streaming to play the older Xbox exclusive games.
What Comes Next for Xbox?
Microsoft is in quite a predicament right now. It is “all up in the air” as they say: on the one hand, it supports the concept of hybrid gaming and player freedom, whereas on the other hand, it is still holding on to traditional consoles that are going to lose market share in an increasingly platform-agnostic world.
This change is a sign that the era of post-exclusive is here, where the focus is not on hardware but on how easily game libraries can be accessed by the players.
While some are rejoicing with this new reality, others remain skeptical, asking if it makes sense for the Xbox to continue as a console at all?
