Despite Microsoft\u2019s many successful forays into the world of gaming, the company has never tried its hand at creating something for the portable market. Sony, of course, devoted resources to two handheld projects: the rather successful PSP<\/a>, and the decidedly less well-received Vita (which we still say is underrated). Nintendo is arguably better known for its handheld offerings than its home consoles, which is why marrying the two worlds with the Switch made so much sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Microsoft, however, has stayed away from this area of the gaming world. There are likely to be several reasons for this. The company itself has stated that it just hasn\u2019t had the resources<\/a> to dedicate to creating a handheld machine; several handheld Xbox proposals have been submitted, but they were all rejected. In addition, it\u2019s worth noting that Nintendo currently has a vise-like grip on the handheld market, and that Microsoft could well have seen Sony\u2019s relative failure in this area and baulked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, thanks to an enterprising TikTok content creator, we now have an idea of what a portable Xbox might look like. Kashama, who goes by the username @imkashama, created a prototype of the Xbox Series Z and showed it off in a video<\/a> a few months back. The design of the console is incredibly impressive; it\u2019s a clamshell device that opens up when pressing in the Xbox button built into its lid, showing a bezel-less screen and a series of controls including a touch screen at the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re sure we don\u2019t just speak for ourselves when we say that Kashama\u2019s prototype of the Xbox Series Z is truly breathtaking. The menu screen displays games like Far Cry 6<\/em>, FIFA 22<\/em>, and Among Us<\/em>, as well as Cyberpunk 2077<\/em>, Gears 5<\/em>, and others. It\u2019s a very impressive feat of engineering; we especially love the attention to detail, like the way the analogue sticks pop up from their housing and the touch screen slides itself into position upon opening up the console.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the Xbox Series Z is completely fictional, or at the very least it\u2019s not an official Xbox device. Microsoft hasn\u2019t made an Xbox handheld, and it probably never will; with its move into cloud gaming, there\u2019s no real reason for Microsoft to create a dedicated piece of handheld gaming hardware, since gamers can just access Xbox titles by streaming them with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. The Xbox Series Z must, therefore, remain a pipe dream, it seems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how did Kashama make this prototype? Well, it\u2019s worth noting here that he\u2019s an incredibly famous and successful TikTok content creator who imagines what tech might look like in the future, then brings it to life. His previous creations include a fold-up iPhone, a smartwatch by luxury car manufacturer Lamborghini, and a snazzily futuristic Xbox controller that we\u2019d love to get our hands on. It seems Kashama\u2019s stock in trade is making us feel FOMO for gadgets that don\u2019t even exist in the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the advent of that video, though, one spanner has been thrown in the works, and that\u2019s Valve\u2019s Steam Deck<\/a>. This device is, in essence, a dedicated handheld gaming PC, capable of playing the entire Steam library. Many have seen it as competition for the Nintendo Switch, but that\u2019s not entirely accurate; it\u2019s better to see it as a device that can sit alongside Nintendo\u2019s hybrid console, an option for when you want to play PC-exclusive games but you don\u2019t want to fire up your expensive desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could the Steam Deck persuade Microsoft to work on a handheld to try and compete with both Valve and Nintendo? Well, in short, probably not, no. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said that he doesn\u2019t see Nintendo and Sony as his competition<\/a>, explaining that he wants to compete with Amazon and Google in the nascent cloud gaming space instead. This makes a lot of sense; with Microsoft shifting its strategy towards emphasising Xbox Game Pass, its cloud gaming utilisation is going to be much more integral in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, Spencer\u2019s comments could suggest that not only is Microsoft not interested in producing a handheld, but the company may actually not make another next-gen console. There will inevitably be a PlayStation 6<\/a>, most likely followed by more hardware such as a PS6 Slim<\/a>, as well as whatever Nintendo is positioning the Switch\u2019s successor to be, but we wouldn\u2019t be surprised at all if Microsoft did not make an Xbox Series 2. Instead, expect to see the company try to increase compatibility between its Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming segment and existing hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what does this mean for the little old Xbox Series Z? Unfortunately, all signs point to Microsoft never creating anything that looks as sexy as this little gadget does. However, all hope is not lost. If Microsoft does want to emphasise cloud gaming in future, then there\u2019s absolutely nothing stopping someone – perhaps even Kashama – from making this device a reality and installing software on it that allows users to play Xbox Game Pass games. That Xbox Series Z could become a reality yet, just in a different guise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, of course, you can play Xbox games – whether on Game Pass or simply by purchasing them – on the Xbox Series X and Series S. Cloud gaming means you can access many of these games on your smartphone or tablet, too, and the Xbox wireless controller is compatible with many mobile devices, so you don\u2019t need to use touch controls (although many games on Game Pass do support them now!). Whatever happens in the future, one thing\u2019s for sure: Xbox isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite Microsoft\u2019s many successful forays into the world of gaming, the company has never tried its hand at creating something for the portable market. Sony, of course, devoted resources to two handheld projects: the rather successful PSP, and the decidedly less well-received Vita (which we still say is underrated). Nintendo is arguably better known for … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6966,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"close","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,29,26],"tags":[218],"class_list":["post-6964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videogames","category-rumors","category-tech","tag-f2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7039,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964\/revisions\/7039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}