Asus ROG Xbox Ally gaming handhelds get Steam Deck-like game certification program

The ROG Xbox Ally series finally has a release date. As we have recently covered, the new Ryzen Z2 Extreme and Z2 A gaming handhelds will arrive on October 16, 2025. In addition to showcasing the devices once again, Microsoft has given a deep dive into them, and in the latest video, the company has also detailed a game certification program that's similar to the one that the Steam Deck has.

As the team notes in the video, the Xbox Ally with the Ryzen Z2 A targets 720p gaming, while the Xbox Ally X with the Z2 Extreme targets 1080p gaming. Given the well-capable iGPUs of these APUs, the gaming handhelds are said to run most games at between 30 FPS and 60 FPS.

To make things easier for users to understand how well the games will run on the gaming handhelds, the ROG Ally X series will get a game certification program that's similar to the one available on the Steam Deck. Microsoft has also described the tiers, which are:

• The "Should perform well on your device" tag is for the games that run at 30 FPS or higher.
• If the games run at 60 FPS or higher, they will get a "Should perform great on your device" tag.
• A "Performance check not available yet" tag will be shown for games that Microsoft has not tested yet.

Besides the game performance certification program, Microsoft has also detailed another tag: "Handheld optimized." This tag is for the games that pass certain criteria, such as:

• Seamless support for controllers.
• Properly sized UI elements for relatively small screens of the handhelds.
• Support for gamepad keyboard.

Microsoft further highlights that there will be a new "handheld optimized" section on the Xbox home screen. It will show all the games that meet those specific criteria. Check out the video attached below to learn more about the new tags that will be available for the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.