- Microsoft's new Xbox full-screen experience is already available on the Asus ROG Ally via Windows 11 25H2 preview and workaround
- The new full-screen experience is exclusive to the ROG Xbox Ally until an eventual 2026 rollout to other devices
- Performance boosts compared to the normal Windows 11 desktop mode are evident
It's been a long time coming, but Microsoft is clearly competing with Valve's SteamOS with its new Xbox full-screen experience. The handheld-friendly user interface for gaming is a timed exclusive for the ROG Xbox Ally, but we've already caught a glimpse of what it has to offer on other devices.
As reported by our friends at Windows Central, the original Asus ROG Ally can now run the new full-screen experience, with performance boosts evident compared to Windows 11's desktop mode. It's available via a guide on Reddit (which requires the Windows 11 25H2 preview and registry edits), long before its official release on the new ROG Xbox Ally.
That's significant as Microsoft has made it clear that a rollout to other handhelds will occur in 2026, following its launch on ROG Xbox Ally. The latter has a chance of becoming one of the best handheld gaming PCs, even though I'm not excited about it for similar reasons to my colleague Rhys Wood. However, some users have been able to get ahead of the curve.
Windows Central also highlights the numerous background processes running on Windows 11's desktop mode, which drastically increase CPU and RAM usage while idle, ultimately compromising game performance with lower frame rates in-game. On the full-screen experience, the number of background services is decreased, leading to much lower resource consumption.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, running on the full-screen experience, Windows Central managed a 38fps average, while Windows 11 desktop mode hit a 29fps average, showing a 26% performance loss when using Windows 11 as normal (highlighted in the YouTube video above).
It's worth noting that if you already disable startup apps, eliminate background services, or better yet, use Tiny11 (which comes without Windows 11 bloatware), you likely won't notice any performance gains when switching over to the full-screen experience. And it's evident in Windows Central's Doom: The Dark Ages test on both modes, each with startup apps eliminated, that performance results are the same.
Perhaps what is more important, though, is how the full-screen experience would fare on desktop PCs, but it appears as though this doesn't work just yet, using the workaround from Reddit. Nvidia hardware (which I'm using) supposedly doesn't play well with SteamOS in game mode, so I'm looking forward to this full-screen experience alternative and its potential on the desktop side.
Analysis: SteamOS and Bazzite are still looking too strong against Windows 11
Having used the Asus ROG Ally with Bazzite installed, and the Lenovo Legion Go S with an official SteamOS license, I'm still very doubtful that Microsoft's efforts will win me or most fans over.
It's still early days for Microsoft as the full-screen experience is not even officially available yet, but that doesn't mean I can't note that plenty of work needs to be done to catch up to SteamOS.
Valve's work on SteamOS's user interface has done wonders for the Steam Deck, and now Lenovo Legion Go S users. Unless Microsoft offers consistent updates and support in the same manner, I would expect it to be a long time before Microsoft can even get close to SteamOS.
It's also worth noting that Bazzite (a SteamOS clone) is available for a wider variety of handhelds and even desktop gaming PCs, since SteamOS only has official support for the Steam Deck and Legion Go S. And since Microsoft's full-screen experience isn't officially coming to other handhelds until 2026, it will likely leave most looking for alternatives.
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