Microsoft Says Asus Determined Pricing for ROG Xbox Ally Handhelds Based on Features, Other Factors

Microsoft and Asus launched two Xbox-branded ROG Ally handhelds this month, with the higher-end ROG Xbox Ally X priced rather steep at $1,000. Now, Microsoft has said that Asus guided the pricing for the new devices. According to the Xbox parent, the Taiwanese firm, which manufactured the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, determined the prices based on market considerations, features and other factors.

The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X launched globally on October 16. The new handhelds are also available in India, with the base model priced at Rs. 69,990 and the Xbox Ally X priced at Rs. 1,14,990. The pricing for the new handhelds has raised eyebrows, but as per Xbox president Sarah Bond, it was Asus that guided the price tag for the devices, based on their features, along with other considerations.

“We looked at, how do we create multiple options for people? And it really was Asus, because this is their hardware,” Bond told Variety at a launch event for the Xbox-branded handhelds last week. “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.”

The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X cost $599.99 and $999.99, respectively
Photo Credit: Microsoft

Gaming Handheld Pricing

In the US, the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X cost $599.99 and $999.99, respectively. The higher-end model runs on the more powerful AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chipset, comes with a bigger battery, bigger storage, and more memory than the base Xbox Ally.

For comparison, Asus priced last year's ROG Ally X, which runs on Ryzen Z1 Extreme, at $799. Meanwhile, the Z1 Extreme variant of 2023's ROG Ally was priced at $699 at launch.

The new generation of Windows-based handhelds released in 2025 and running on the Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip has seen the price bar rise significantly. The MSI Claw A8 is said to be priced at over $1,000 in the US, while the new Lenovo Legion Go 2 starts at $1,099.

Despite the higher price, the demand for the Xbox handhelds seems high. Pre-orders for the $1,000 ROG Xbox Ally X were sold out on the Xbox store worldwide. Bond called the demand for the new devices “overwhelming”.

“We sold out on the Xbox Store. We sold really quickly at a number of other places around the world,” Bond said. “I feel really good about the value that we're giving gamers for the price, based off the reception to the hardware.”

The Xbox president also said that Microsoft could at some point make its own handheld. The company is currently working on the next generation of Xbox home console, which is believed to be a more Windows-centric experience.