Xbox Announces Release Date for ROG Xbox Ally Handhelds
Today, during the Xbox broadcast at gamescom 2025, Xbox announced that the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X will launch on October 16, just in time for the holidays. First revealed earlier this year at the Xbox Games Showcase, these devices deliver an era of handheld gaming that makes it easier than ever to access your favorite games from Xbox, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts wherever you go.
On October 16, 2025, the Xbox Ally handhelds will be available in Australia. Stay tuned for more details about pricing and pre-orders in the coming weeks.
In addition to the above, Xbox also announced the Handheld Compatibility Program, a new Xbox initiative designed to make more games ready to play on your supported handheld. At launch, players will be able to see handheld compatibility directly in their game library by looking for the “Handheld Optimized” or “Mostly Compatible” badges. By working with game studios to test, optimize, and verify thousands of games for handheld compatibility, players can jump into games without having to tweak settings, or only requiring minor adjustments. Games will also feature a Windows Performance Fit indicator to reflect expected performance on their supported device.
Xbox is continuing to build new features and options to elevate the handheld experience. Today, we’re excited to introduce the following features for the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds:
- Advanced shader delivery: A new feature that preloads game shaders during download, so select games launch up to 10x faster, run smoother, and use less battery on first play.
- New upcoming AI-powered features starting early next year on the ROG Xbox Ally X that enhance play, including:
o Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR): A system-level feature that uses the power of the NPU to upscale games running at lower resolutions—delivering high-resolution visuals and smooth framerates across a wide range of games, with no additional changes required from game developers.
o Highlight reels: AI captures your standout gameplay moments—like epic boss battles or victories—and generates short replay clips for you to share with friends or on social channels.
Players can also check out the ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless Controller, created by ASUS through the Designed for Xbox program, that features a 1000Hz polling rate in PC mode, anti-drift TMR joysticks, and dual-mode triggers.
For more information about the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, check out the Xbox Wire post here.
About the Author
Adrian Gunning Adrian lives in Melbourne Australia and has a huge passion for gaming, technology and pop culture. He recently finished his a Bachelor of Journalism and is currently focusing on games journalism. When not writing and playing video games, Adrian can be found in Comics 'R' Us debating the pros of the DC Universe and cons of the Marvel Universe.
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