Logitech G and Tencent team up on cloud gaming handheld console

A "cloud gaming handheld" from Logitech G, the gaming-focused arm of the maker of PC and console peripherals, is scheduled to release later this year under a partnership with Tencent Games. The two firms are in negotiations with the teams behind Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now, implying that these services will be enabled out of the box. They will allow players to play AAA games on the move.

The news focuses exclusively on cloud gaming — it's not even clear whether any games will be able to run on the device itself. This sets it apart from competitors like the Steam Deck, which is focused on local gaming (it can do cloud gaming as well, but it's more complicated without an onboard 5G or even 4G connection).

This may be a coincidence, but earlier this year, a 2020 patent filing by Tencent was discovered by members of the r/SteamDeck subreddit, which shows prototype renderings of a handheld "PC Console." Of course, Logitech G will want to develop the input hardware for itself. Again, this might be a meaningless trend; Tencent is a large corporation with numerous enterprises. However, the overall form factor should be quite comparable.