“Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead,” decried Laura Fryer, one of Microsoft Game Studios’ founding employees, in a recent YouTube video.
Sparking Fryer’s fear for the hardware legacy of Xbox was Microsoft’s reveal of the ROG Xbox Ally, a collaboration revealed during Summer Game Fest that fluffed a longtime dream of Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer without quite checking the box. But the ROG Xbox Ally is only one data point for anyone anxious about the emphasis on Xbox Game Pass and the push into third-party publishing; in the span of a few weeks, Microsoft also forecast next-gen plans that included further collaboration with AMD on a PC-like console and a team-up with Meta for an Xbox-themed Quest 3S.
Many have tried to predict where Microsoft Gaming is headed as Game Pass dominates the front-facing conversation and consolidation rears its ugly head behind the scenes. Yet at the moment, it’s a company of contradictions and fog; in the same week, Microsoft may drop hints at future handheld plans while reports circulate that the development of the theoretical console might be “essentially canceled.”
Without the creative investment in Microsoft Gaming from someone like Fryer — whose work included executive producing the early Gears of War games, among many other contributions — I, longtime Xbox player, can only go with the company’s turbulent flow and adapt my own play accordingly. But in the year 2025, I found myself stumbling into the chaos cloud that is “This is an Xbox” and coming out with a surprising reaction: Playing Xbox games in VR might be my favorite way to play Xbox games?
Image: Meta/Microsoft
In anticipation of the Meta announcement, Microsoft sent Polygon a Quest 3S Xbox Edition for testing, and I was eager to finally give Xbox Cloud Gaming a spin on the device. By all accounts, there is nothing unique to Quest 3S Xbox Edition that wasn’t previously enabled on the Quest 3S, including Cloud Gaming and remote play. But the package deal comes with a VR headset with 128 GB storage, Touch Plus controllers in sleek black-and-green Xbox colors, an Elite Strap for improved comfort (usually ~$70), a limited-edition Xbox Wireless Controller, and a few months of Game Pass for free. It’s the VR rig for anyone who was worried about matching their Xbox Series X.
As a skeptic of VR’s practical use — not the art of creating games for VR, but the time I would actually dedicate to strapping on the gear and playing in that space — I didn’t jump at the chance to test the Xbox app when it first launched on the Quest 3S. But in a world in which I will occasionally use my Steam Deck to remote play off the Xbox versus kick back on the couch with an embarrassing set of oversized goggles, I have been shocked how many times in the past two weeks I’ve been inclined to do the latter. The fidelity of the Quest 3S images, from the game streams to the AR mode that allows me to check texts without disengaging, made it a welcoming environment for casual play.
Opting for a handheld over VR is not an either/or — there are plenty of uses for both, especially if you commute an hour on a train and literally play on the go. But so often my handheld experience is second-screening while my loved one watches true-crime trash on our living room television or, these days, zips around on Mario Kart World. We are a gamer family, and I am not yet prepared to install three TVs in our living room. So I am on the Switch or the Steam Deck or maybe in the future the ROG Xbox Ally, I guess. But when it comes to the latter, I’d favor the Quest 3S, which gave me a big-screen TV experience while not taking up the actual big-screen TV real estate in my home.
The Xbox app on the Quest 3S took me straight to Game Pass, where I could load up an old save of Oblivion or go a round in Blue Prince on a whim. My big test for the device was Rematch, the new multiplayer soccer game from Sloclap. All three of these games played without interruption — even when I was going 3v3 or 4v4 in Rematch, when an internet hiccup would kill momentum. Even though Rematch is not VR-optimized, meaning I was still looking at a boxy screen as opposed to some full-immersion variant of the game, I still had a wide view of the field as I passed and shot across to teammates, who I also heard screaming at me loud and clear when I screwed up. The experience was intact.
The AR screen formatting meant I could still see anyone who walked in the room, just like if I were playing on TV, but the device also gives you the option for a bigger-screen “theatrical” mode that dimmed the lights around me for maximum anti-social behavior. Getting to play with an actual Xbox controller instead of the heavy, often awkward strain of using a real handheld was a boon.
I would never in a million years take the Quest 3S out of the home, as it holds about two hours of battery life and would be a nightmare to bag up. But it solves an interesting problem for me, as someone who wants to remain present with my dear wife in a given moment, even if we are in two different dimensions of entertainment. Playing on the virtual Xbox screen, I could still chatter with her about odds and ends while not straining my eyes looking at a tinier handheld screen. It was refreshingly ideal, even if I still feel like that dork from Timecop whenever I wear a VR headset in front of another living soul.
Meta’s Quest 3S Xbox Edition does not feel like a console release or even a major jump in technology — it’s a branded collab at most. But it did get me to test out a new way to play, the way Xbox wants us to play in the future, which is whatever way makes sense for you or I (or them) and our particular quirks and needs. Functional is not the only bar to clear, but on the precipice of the unknown, it’s not a bad place to start.
