Logitech G Handheld Gaming Console Images Leaked

Logitech has been one of the leading companies in the gaming hardware niche for quite a long while now, with mice, keyboards, headphones, and more often getting featured as best-buy options for a wide variety of users. Now, however, it seems that the company is looking to expand its reach with something it hasn't actually attempted before, a handheld gaming console.

Some may recall that Logitech announced its partnership with Tencent earlier in August, the objective of which seems to have been the subsequent launch of a small, pocketable gaming console later in 2022. While the official sources have mostly been quiet on this topic ever since, the console itself, Logitech G Gaming Handheld, seems to have leaked ahead of its announcement.

The handheld console collaboration between Logitech and Tencent made it clear very early on that this device would not, in fact, be primarily used to play games locally. Instead, G Gaming Handheld's primary purpose is to provide a small, compact, and ergonomic solution to users of the various cloud gaming products, such as the Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now services. The leaked images reveal that the device is otherwise, by the looks of it, a fairly standard handheld console with two joysticks, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, the ABXY assembly, and the direction pad, as well as a few function keys.

Rather expectedly, the G Gaming Handheld looks substantially smaller and lighter than the ever-popular Steam Deck. While the two devices are rather similar at a glance, Logitech is actually targeting a different niche, since it aims to run various cloud gaming services in order to stream games, rather than to play them natively. And, since the leaked images clearly show a customized Android UI, Logitech's console is also going to have access to an entirely different application library than the Deck does, making it harder to compare the two than it might seem at first.

A potential point of contention for Logitech G Gaming Handheld may, therefore, be the fact that its entire shtick could be copied relatively easily by using a phone with a telescopic Bluetooth gamepad, such as the Razer Kishi. It'll be interesting to see if the device will be successful, then, since deciding whether the Steam Deck is worth the price of admission is hard enough when its competitors are still relatively inaccessible. Logitech's console is, in comparison, entering a far more crowded niche, since Android phones are both easily accessible and cheap.

Precious little is known about the mysterious handheld gaming device from Logitech and Tencent. The leaked images were provided with no additional context, and the official announcement is still pending at this time. It may be curious to note that this isn't Tencent's first foray into handheld gaming.

Earlier this year, news about Tencent's potential Steam Deck competitor came to light, though this was likely merely related to the company's previous investment in OneXPlayer, an older handheld gaming PC.

August 30, 2022