The choice of going handheld is very understandable given the recent success of the formfactor with the Steam Deck. But the most interesting aspect is its cloud gaming focus. While it might seem like an odd decision at first, there’s a massive pricing advantage there for Logitech and Tencent. A cloud gaming handheld wouldn’t need expensive hardware like the Steam Deck, and given the console will use 3rd-Party steaming solutions like xCloud and GeForce NOW, the overall scope of OS and compatibility issues will also reduce. With the advent of 5G, and fast fibre internet across the world, cloud gaming is an increasingly viable option. If the console manages to integrate most of the big cloud gaming providers, it will have a sizeable library as well, given the ever expanding selection in xCloud, Stadia and other such services. While the experience of having the hardware available locally is still supreme, it’s not very hard to imagine a future where gaming has fully adapted to cloud. This ultimately could be Logitech and Tencent’s attempt to stay ahead of the tech curve, and carve out a niche in the extremely competitive gaming console business. The partnership announcement blog post doesn’t delve into further details about the handheld console itself, but does mention that it’s going to arrive sometime later this year.
