Acer Nitro Blaze Link is a $200–250 streaming handheld for PC gamers
If you already own a powerful gaming PC and want to play from the couch or bed without spending $550–800 on a standalone handheld, Acer has a new option. The Nitro Blaze Link, announced at Computex 2026, is a streaming-only device that sends video from your gaming PC to a handheld controller over Wi-Fi — no local processing, no Windows, no Snapdragon chip required. Acer is targeting a $200–250 price point, putting it directly in PlayStation Portal territory.
Acer Nitro Blaze Link — a streaming-only handheld designed as a companion to a gaming PC.
A Portal for PC gamers
The Blaze Link is not a gaming PC in your hands — that's its entire pitch. Because it offloads all the heavy lifting to your desktop or laptop, Acer fitted it with deliberately modest hardware: a 7-inch 1920×1200 IPS touchscreen, Wi-Fi 6, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, and an 18 Wh battery. It weighs 464 g, charges via USB-C at 15 W, and has a pair of 2 W speakers. Controls follow the standard Xbox-style layout. The operating system is Linux, and it uses Sunshine and Moonlight — open-source software that handles local PC game streaming — rather than a locked proprietary platform.
That last point is the key differentiator from the PlayStation Portal, which costs $250 in the US and £200 in the UK but only works with a PS5. The Blaze Link, per Digital Citizen, is essentially a Portal that runs Linux and talks to any gaming PC running the Sunshine server app. That open ecosystem is an advantage on paper — but it also means more setup than plugging in a console peripheral.
The Blaze Link runs Linux and uses Sunshine/Moonlight for open-source local game streaming.
Availability and competition
GamesBeat Computex 2026 confirms a Q4 2026 launch for North America. A UK or wider European release has not been confirmed, and Acer's track record here is worth noting: the Nitro Blaze 8 and 11 were announced for EMEA in Q2 2025 and never shipped.
Assuming the Blaze Link arrives close to its $200–250 target, it sits well below the Steam Deck OLED ($549), ROG Ally X ($799), and Nintendo Switch 2 (around $399) — but those devices all run games independently. The Blaze Link only makes sense if you have a gaming PC at home and a solid Wi-Fi connection. For that specific buyer, it could be a genuinely affordable way to extend PC gaming to any room. Pricing will be confirmed closer to launch.
