The ROG Xbox Ally Hasn't Put a Dent In Steam Deck's Sales

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The handheld PC market has been steadily expanding ever since the Steam Deck came out, and recently, competition has been heating up. What started as ASUS and Lenovo getting into the market has now culminated in Xbox joining in with a joint venture: The ROG Xbox Ally. These handhelds are more powerful than the Steam Deck, but also cost more; some would say the extra power is worth the price. However, it sounds like the majority of people would disagree.

In an interview with Mat Piscatella from Circana conducted by Luke Lohr (@InsipidGhost) for the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, Mat doubled down that the ROG Xbox Ally sales didn't come anywhere near the Steam Deck. He does mention after that the ROG Xbox Ally might be able to now, since the Steam Deck is out of stock, but it's less about it being a better deal and more about the Deck being unavailable.

Before this, Mat discussed the ROG Xbox Ally's sales as well, which had a fantastic first month, but have dipped sharply since then. It's what you would expect at the price point for the audience, which is exactly what I expected. While I love seeing handhelds expand the market further, there hasn't been one that can touch the Steam Deck. None has been able to find a good balance of power and price, with great features, that can compete with the Steam Deck.

Still, it's interesting to see how other handhelds are selling and whether it has been worth it for the companies. It must be somewhat worthwhile if other companies are still releasing handhelds, but I would love to see more details. We recently got a GDC survey that showed heavy interest in the Steam Deck and not many other handhelds, and this mention of ROG Xbox Ally sales tends to fall in line with interest from developers.

I highly recommend checking out the full interview for more insights into the industry. In the podcast, they go over how GTA 6 could be critical to the industry, big company's strategy shifts, the hardware crisis, and why gaming still feels unstable despite record growth.

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