Microsoft points finger at Asus for the ROG Xbox Ally’s hefty pricing

The new ROG Xbox Ally handheld costs $600, despite Asus’ implication that it’s for “casual gamers.” And if you want a better processor and other upgraded specs, you’ll need to spend a whopping $1,000 for the Xbox Ally X. If you’re feeling sticker shock at those prices, Microsoft says you should blame Asus.

Okay, the company didn’t put it in those exact words. When talking with Variety (spotted by Tom’s Hardware), Xbox president Sarah Bond said, “And it really was Asus, because this is their hardware… That is all of their insight into the market, into the feature set, into what people want, to determine the ultimate prices of the devices.” Alrighty then. Considering how closely Microsoft and Asus have worked on this process, and how frequently they’ve said as much, I find it hard to believe that Redmond didn’t have much input on the final prices.

The price is extremely high if you buy Microsoft’s marketing claim that “This is an Xbox,” despite the ROG Xbox Ally clearly being PC hardware running Windows 11. Putting the new handhelds in line with the current consoles, the ROG Xbox Ally is 50 percent more expensive than the base model Xbox Series S while the ROG Xbox Ally X is $400 more expensive than the cheapest Xbox Series X.

For context, other devices with similar Ryzen hardware are in similar price ranges. The Lenovo Legion Go S, with a base model Ryzen Z2 chip, costs $650… or $760 if you go with the Windows 11 version. (The cheaper model uses SteamOS provided by Valve, which might be a plus for a lot of users.) Lenovo’s more premium option, the Legion Go 2, is even pricier than the Xbox-branded handhelds at $1,100 to $1,350, though it’s more mechanically complex and comes with an OLED screen. Potential buyers weren’t thrilled with those prices, either (nor with Lenovo’s explanation).

All that being said, I think it’s worth noting that consoles are generally loss-leaders, sold to consumers at under their manufacturing cost on the assumption that they’ll make up the difference in game sales. If Microsoft wants us to believe that “this is an Xbox,” on the strength of the platform and the now-more-expensive Xbox Game Pass, maybe it needs to push a little harder on those consumer scales to get the price down.

Especially with a $400 Steam Deck still looking very affordable—and a lot easier to load up with games, even with the Xbox Ally’s shiny new interface—as the holiday shopping season approaches.