Valve's announcement of the Steam Deck handheld may have come as a surprise, but it's been a welcome one, and the news continues to get better. It seems the Steam Deck is powerful enough to double as a portable Xbox.
That's what Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, has hinted at over the weekend. In a tweet, Spencer confirmed he's been using a Steam Deck for most of the week and that, "Playing Halo and Age feels good, xCloud works well." The good news is that xCloud clearly already works and can stream Xbox games to Valve's handheld, but that may just be the start.
Xbox Game Pass is currently available on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and smartphones, but the Steam Deck is an open platform which Valve has stated you can install any software you want on. As VGC points out, this leaves the door open for Microsoft to support the platform and implement a version of Game Pass specifically for the Steam Deck.
Microsoft doesn't have a mobile gaming platform of its own, and instead is focusing on allowing Xbox games to be played across multiple platforms. So why not Steam Deck? With the handheld not shipping until December and back orders meaning many won't receive their Steam Deck until well into 2022, Microsoft certainly has time to think about "Game Pass for Steam Deck," but even if it doesn't happen, the fact that xCloud "already works well" means Xbox games will be accessible on Valve's device anyway.