Lord Cognito, of the Iron Lords Podcast, got first look at the ROG XBOX Ally at the 2025 Xbox Showcase in Los Angeles, CA. This explained the mystery of why he was missing during lunch, after the Xbox Showcase, where, among the myriad games announced going into Game Pass Day 1, the Xbox partner handheld was announced by Xbox President Sarah Bond and the team.
ROG Xbox Ally X – Hands On Exclusive
Cognito had a feeling that a partnership with ASUS was in the works, having previously attended an ASUS event in New York, where Microsoft representatives were in attendance. At the Xbox showcase, Microsoft announced that they were going to partner with ASUS to leverage the Ally’s success as a Game Pass device to become an Xbox-branded handheld that could natively play games in addition to playing games from the cloud.
Impressions
According to Cognito, the ROG Xbox Ally X “feels great” in terms of ergonomics. In addition to the Menu and View buttons, there is an Armory Crate-style button for adjusting high-performance settings (tweaking and twerking for the initiated) alongside a library button that opens the game library dashboard. Gone is the traditional Windows interface; this is an Xbox.
Xbox’s signature offset sticks and triggers felt precise, according to Cog. The Xbox button opens the familiar Game Bar, without needing a mouse and keyboard. He was not able to assess the D-pad performance.
The user interface, Cog noted, was a streamlined version of Windows Compact Mode. It felt like an Xbox. Although he only played Gears of War: Reloaded, Cognito states fidelity was very high. The device supports 120 hertz with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). Of particular note was that, during his gameplay, the device ran cool with no evidence of fans running.
Check out the official announcement from XBOX here: ROG Xbox Ally X & ROG Xbox Ally – Holiday 2025 | Xbox
