Handheld PC gaming is hot right now. At least, it feels hot.
Chasing the coattails of both the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch, devices like the Asus ROG Ally have quickly been given the label as “the next big thing.” But is there really enough gas in the tank for a bright future for this form factor?
After sitting down for an exclusive talk with leaders at Acer at IFA 2024, I’m left questioning some of my own preconceived notions about where this is all going.
Lowering margins
One of the great benefits of handheld gaming is the price. Being able to buy a $400 Steam Deck felt like a revolution in making PC gaming more accessible — both in terms of form factor and in terms of price. Somehow, it felt reasonable to buy this to complement the tech you already have, whether that’s a full-blown DIY gaming PC, a gaming laptop, or even a console.
But as it turns out, that’s also part of the problem. At least, for the tech companies hoping to expand the category. One such company is Acer, which just so happens to be launching its first gaming handheld, the Nitro Blaze 7. It’s an AMD-powered 7-inch handheld not unlike the competition, but to my surprise, Acer itself doesn’t actually have high hopes for the future of the category.
When I asked Jerry Kao, the chief operating officer at Acer, he responded in a surprising way. “We do not believe it is a big market. But when people think about gaming, Acer is one of their choices, so we shouldn’t be absent. But do we think there will be a big success? My personal opinion up until now is not so optimistic.”
Kao went on to discuss that pricing was at the heart of the problem. The Steam Deck kicked off the category at such a low price point that it made scaling up from there very difficult. As he notes, even the ROG Ally had to drop its price to compete. There’s only so much you can add to differentiate yourself from the competitors, especially since they mostly rely on the same chip. There’s some variation with the more powerful Intel Core Ultra Series 2 to launch in the MSI Claw AI 8+, but we still don’t know how that will be priced.
As we learned just a few days later, the Nitro Blaze 7 isn’t actually a homebrew product for Acer. According to an observation by ETA Prime on YouTube, the Nitro Blaze 7 appears to be a rebranded version of the Terrans Force Handle 5, an attempt at another ROG Ally competitor by a lesser-known Chinese manufacturer. Acer put its own spin on it aesthetically, but clearly the Nitro Blaze 7 isn’t what I’d call a labor of love from engineers and designers at Acer. And importantly, the company hasn’t yet revealed its price.
All the while, Asus has already launched its second-generation ROG Ally X, while Lenovo has confirmed development on a follow-up to the Legion Go. It’s far from a dead category, but Acer is trying not to get its hopes up.
A new direction
When asked, Acer was, however, aware of the unique convergences happening between console and PC gaming, which is where its new concept laptop enters the equation — Project Dualplay. The experimental laptop puts a game controller into the body of the chassis, which can be used wirelessly and even split into two for multiplayer gaming on the go.
It’s quite a different product than the Nitro Blaze 7, but still speaks to an interesting crossover happening, specifically around the universality of joysticks and wanting to game on them regardless of the platform — whether that’s on smartphones or PCs.
“Controllers have somehow become a common language,” Kao explained. “This is something we want to give a try and listen to customer feedback. So far, it’s been overwhelmingly good feedback.”
I can attest to that myself. Having attended the press conference, which had been fairly tame throughout, the introduction of Project Dualplay got a huge reaction from the crowd. That’s exactly the type of reason you bring a far-out concept to a show like IFA, hoping to make an impression. Part of the positivity around the device is surely about the novelty of the project, but there’s also something about making game controllers more accessible to PCs.
I also spoke with James K. Lin, Acer’s general manager of Notebooks, who noted that Dualplay is all about trying to open people’s minds to new ways into the PC gaming ecosystem.
“Of course, when you design a product with the controller inside, you have to sacrifice something, and which one we can sacrifice is always a tough decision,” Lin told me. “This time, we sacrificed the battery, which is the easiest way.”
Acer hasn’t provided details on how small the battery is on Project Dualplay — or even if the laptop will materialize into a real product. But I like to see Acer exploring new possibilities and opening up the ecosystem for PC gaming.
And ultimately, we don’t know how large of a category gaming handhelds will become, and I take Acer’s skepticism seriously. That won’t dull my excitement for the future of the form factor though, even if the Steam Deck will continue to be the go-to option.