There’s exactly one month left until the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X release date, which has been confirmed for October 16. While we’re still waiting for pre-orders, owners of current Windows handhelds (including existing ROG Ally, Legion Go, and MSI Claw devices) now have access to one of the best upgrades coming with the Xbox-branded generation: an upgraded game library.

As detailed on an Xbox blog post, the overhauled library is being rolled out for “Xbox on PC and handheld” devices. If you’re confused about the whole ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign, essentially, we’re talking about any device that has access to the Xbox PC app on Windows, which includes any Windows-based handheld (which all use Windows 11, for reference).

Game library upgrade for Windows handhelds

There are several components of this upgrade. The most notable is the aggregated gaming library, which first became available to Xbox Insiders a few months back. What this does is put all your games in one place, no matter which storefront you bought or installed them from. This includes your Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net, GOG, or Steam games – everything is unified.

From the example posted by Microsoft (at the top of this article), we can see a range of installed games in one place – all sourced from different launchers. The only question mark is Balatro, sourced from Playstack Ltd (the game’s publishers), so this may refer to a game bought directly through the Xbox app. In any case, here are the third-party launchers mentioned:

• Diablo II: Resurrected (Battle.net)
• Fortnite (Epic Games Store)
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (GOG Galaxy)
• PEAK (Steam)

You can also more quickly access your different game launchers through the ‘My apps’ menu, as demonstrated on the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X below. This new menu in the Xbox full screen experience means you can access these launchers without reverting to desktop mode, and is one of the reasons why the new upgrade is much more lightweight. But if you just want to launch straight into a game, the ‘My games’ tab is just to the left of it.

The changes also allow gamers to simplify their game library by hiding certain games in the ‘Library & Extensions’ settings. Since all games installed from support PC storefronts show up in My games/My library, you can hand-picked what you want to see using these settings.

Microsoft is also rolling out improvements to your cloud-playable games and game play history later this month; these two aspects of the Xbox app will be synced across all devices.

About the Author

Charlie Noon

Charlie is the Affiliate manager for PC Guide. He has a vast understanding of most PC hardware and consumer essentials, using his knowledge to provide the best products and the biggest deals.