Handheld consoles have experienced a renaissance in recent years. While Nintendo has been steadily trucking on with its handhelds since 1989, it wasn’t since the Switch hit our living rooms that the handheld console market has absolutely exploded; pocket-sized retro consoles, uber-powerful handhelds, and slim streaming devices havegiven consumers a tremendous amount of choicefor gaming on the go, and that’s just considering the Android options. But with such a range out there, especially with handheld PC devices in vogue right now, is the humble mobile game in danger? Why settle for devices stuck with the Play Store’s options when you pick up a PC handheld for less than $300 and start playing full-fledged PC games?
PC handhelds push the boundaries of mobile gaming
For years, playing the best PC games meant shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars on a top-of-the-line gaming PC. While the nature of PC games meant you didn’ttechnicallyneed the latest hardware to play, it’s tough to spend less than $500 on a gaming setup today without making numerous sacrifices on how you play your games.
Enter the Steam Deck. Starting at $400, this bulky Linux-based handheld console allowed people to play any PC game they wanted, wherever they were. No longer were AAA PC games locked to the realm of enthusiasts with too much desk space; they were in the hands of anyone with room in their backpack.
But the competition is growing. The ASUS Rog Ally recently entered the arena with a Windows alternative to the Steam Deck that’s also less noisy and bulky, and brands like Ayaneo and GPD offer excellent handheld PC experiences, testing the bounds of what a PC handheld gaming device can be.
But here at Android Police, we care about mobile games. It’s easy to think we’re going full circle that the handheld consoles of today will take the same place as the Game Boys of the early 2000s. After all, whileplenty of fantastic games are available on the Play Store, why settle for mobile ports when you could play Baldur’s Gate 3 or Halo Infinite by whipping out your Ally? Are you going to reach for Alto’s Odyssey when you have the power of a gaming PC in your bag?
Handheld consoles are a nifty choice, but not for casual gamers
Mobile games get a lot of flak for good reason.98% of the Google Play Store’s revenue comes from free apps, incentivizing developers to create cheap, free games filled with plenty of in-app purchases. Of course, there are gems out there, but the idea that the Play Store or App Store’s selection of games is comparable with Steam, for example, is pretty freaking laughable.
You could point out the cost of owning two devices as a reason to avoid purchasing a handheld console, but a good quality budget Android phone can be picked up for less than $300 (The Pixel 6a,our favorite budget Android phone, regularly goes on sale for $300 or less). Buy a Steam Deck on top of the 6A, and you’ve spent around $600-700 on two devices, one of which can play any game you want, and you’ve still spent less money than you would on an Android flagship like thePixel 8 Pro($1000) or a top-of-the-line gaming phone like theAsus Rog 7($1400).
Therefore, buying a budget Android phone and a handheld PC is cheaper than an Android flagship capable of handling every game on the Play Store.
But I guarantee you, you’ll still be reaching for your phone while waiting for the water to boil or your train to arrive. Even the handheld consoles that run on Android aren’t as convenient as your phone. The number ofmobile game users continues to increase steadilyand shows no sign of stopping.
The convenience of mobile gaming is still outmatched
The mobile game industry isprojected to grow at a compound annual rate of 14.3%. Unless handheld consoles find a way of becoming much more convenient to carry around and use, it’s unlikely those projections will change much, which means mobile gaming via the Play Store won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. And let’s not forget the capabilities of all humble Android phones, where game streaming apps like Xbox Game Pass and a top Android controller will see you streaming AAA games on the cheap. Well, as long as you have a stable internet connection.
