Logitech and Tencent are teaming up to create a Steam Deck rival, and it will use cloud services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. The device will apparently help gamers “play AAA games when they’re away from their console or PC,” something that arguably gaming laptops can already accomplish without connecting to a cloud-based service.
Brought to you by Logitech, the Tencent Games handheld aims to “advance portable cloud gaming” and support multiple services, such as GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Unlike the Steam Deck, the laptop won’t feature a powerful AMD APU or hardware that can directly run games, but will still aim to provide a gaming PC experience on the go.
In a statement about the Tencent partnership, Logitech G General Manager Ujesh Desai says, “The idea of being able to stream and play AAA games almost anywhere is super exciting, and we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been up to.” been working. Additionally, Tencent General Manager Daniel Wu claims that the device will “push the frontiers of gaming devices,” which is perhaps a blanket reference to the limitations of home hardware.
Again, the new Logitech Tencent Cloud Handheld is a different beast compared to the Steam Deck, but both will be fighting for the same slice of the laptop market pie. If you don’t have access to a stable internet connection, or just aren’t sold on cloud-based shenanigans, you’ll probably opt for a traditional handheld.
That said, if Logitech’s dream machine can provide a desktop experience via the cloud, it could make a difference within the gaming laptop space. In theory, a streaming service could completely eliminate the need for expensive graphics cards and gaming CPUs, but reliance on internet connectivity makes that a pipe dream for many.
Logitech hasn’t included a look at what the cloud device actually looks like, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see how similar it is to Valve’s hardware-based handheld. It’s easy to assume it’ll be smaller than most gaming laptop options, especially since it’ll have so much less to do under the hood. However, it will be interesting to see how it compares to the upcoming Steam Deck 2, both in terms of size and playability.
