This is the new full screen experience of Xbox on the ROG Ally

The full-screen Xbox experience comes in preview to the ROG Ally and other portable devices.

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With the release of the ROG Xbox Ally scheduled for October 16 (less than a month to go), Microsoft has started rolling out the full-screen Xbox experience in testing phase. This is a new interface designed specifically for Windows laptops, aiming to reduce the “heaviness” of the operating system and offer an experience closer to Steam’s Big Picture. In other words, it won’t be as native as Windows and will be much lighter for the device it runs on.

This novelty, currently available through the Insider program with Windows 11, allows you to start the portable console directly in an environment designed only for gaming. This way, unnecessary processes and background applications are eliminated, resulting in better performance and longer battery life compared to the traditional desktop.

Advantages of the full-screen experience on ROG Ally

• Improved performance: in tests with Red Dead Redemption 2, up to 2 FPS have been gained in benchmarks, and in light games like Celeste, RAM usage is reduced by over 1 GB.

• Optimized battery: by preventing secondary programs from starting, the duration is increased by approximately one hour compared to desktop mode.

• Simplified interface: only one application can be in the foreground, reducing distractions and offering an environment designed for gaming.

• Wide compatibility: it detects games from both Xbox App and Steam and Epic Games Launcher, launching them directly without opening additional windows.

Advanced users can force the activation of the feature with tools like ViVeTool, although Microsoft has already warned that it’s a preview and errors or incompatibilities may arise. In fact, some reports mention issues with alt-tab or controller detection when using Armoury Crate.

For now, the portable experience is limited to those who install the preliminary version of Windows 11, but everything suggests that it will be one of the major advantages of Xbox when the ROG Xbox Ally is officially released and future compatible devices arrive. Obviously, this is an early test, which should improve with the arrival of the final version when the ROG Xbox Ally is officially launched, which will integrate the interface natively.