- Microsoft’s Xbox full-screen experience comes to all Windows 11 handhelds
- This is happening from today, at least for major providers
- Smaller players in the Windows 11 handheld market might take longer to roll it out, but in the meantime, support may be rigged.
If you’ve been eyeing the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) that comes with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, here’s some great news: it’s now available for all handhelds.
As VideoCardz reports, during its Xbox Partner Preview broadcast, Microsoft revealed a number of new games and also announced that FSE was “generally available” starting today, November 21, on “all gaming handhelds currently on the market.”
As noted, initially this simplified interface, which makes the UI much friendlier for a gaming device with a small screen, was only featured on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally when it first appeared.
Shortly after, however, it was brought into the MSI Claw (as a preview), but we are now releasing it to all Windows 11 handhelds as a full version.
Microsoft further notes: “Additionally, we will soon expand FSE to more Windows 11 PC form factors through the Xbox and Windows Insider programs. »
This was seen as a hint that the next-gen Xbox PC would be built on the FSE, which would of course be an obvious path for Microsoft to follow.
Analysis: FSE for all – well, almost, but some tweaking may still be necessary for now
While you can rig it so that an unsupported Windows 11 handheld runs FSE, it’s obviously better to have the officially shipped version on your laptop, and that’s the case for everyone starting today. Microsoft appears to be well ahead of schedule here, as it was initially thought that some gaming handhelds wouldn’t get FSE until early 2026.
This is great news because FSE not only comes down to a simplified interface that makes it easier to navigate with a controller, but it also saves system resources (freeing up RAM), which is a huge bonus for handhelds in terms of smoother running of games and better battery life.
While I was saying that everyone gets the FSE now, that may not be the case for some players yet. While device owners from major handheld manufacturers including Asus, MSI, and Lenovo should benefit from ESF now (or shortly), it’s unclear when this feature might debut with some of the more obscure brands—at least in mainstream terms—like Ayaneo or GPD.
It depends on how quickly these vendors make their respective rollouts, and we’ll just have to see, but for now, the most avid gamers (the typical buyers of these models) have been dodging support anyway.
It’s worth noting that FSE isn’t a panacea for all the problems you’ll encounter using Windows 11 on a handheld, but it’s nonetheless a considerable step forward in terms of catching up to SteamOS.
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