Xbox itself has made a big deal out of its “Play Anywhere” initiative, and in my experience, it’s become one of the best conveniences of playing games across its ecosystem. All first-party Xbox games and a wide range of third-party titles are included in the list of Xbox Play Anywhere games – meaning you can play these games across Xbox Series consoles and Windows PCs if you own them; no need to buy them twice as long as they’re on the same Xbox-Microsoft account. Additionally, your saves are compatible cross-platform and exist in the cloud so you don’t need to do anything special to pick up where you leave off.

This is important to remember in light of the launch of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X – the new PC gaming handhelds that sport the platform’s branding. Despite how Microsoft loves to boast in its “This is an Xbox” ads for the handhelds, these are not Xbox systems. The system boots through a modified version of the Xbox app for PC, and has some quality-of-life features other PC handhelds don’t have.

However, you are not playing Xbox versions of these games, you are playing the PC versions. Not every game you own on Xbox is going to be available on the ROG Xbox Ally (because again, it is not an Xbox). However, those that are will be conveniently placed under “My Library” on the Xbox Ally, so at least you don’t need to do any extra digging to figure out what’s playable.

While Play Anywhere helps bridge the gap between Xbox and PC for tons of games, it is not an exact one-to-one translation and it does not apply to all games. There are some PC games you can get through the Xbox app and Game Pass that are also PC exclusives, so it can go both ways. The easiest way to check if something is a Play Anywhere game and/or available across platforms is to check the game’s page on the Xbox app. It will have a Play Anyway icon and designation under its name, and will show the available platforms under the “Playable on” header of the Information section (the “Capabilities” header will indicate “Xbox Play Anywhere” if it features it as well).

Play Anywhere does not guarantee a smooth gaming experience, either. Since the ROG Xbox Ally X is a PC, you will be subject to choosing your graphics settings. Modern games, especially those under the Xbox umbrella, tend to be fairly optimized or at least detect your system specs for presets suited for an optimal experience. The ROG Xbox Ally X’s Z2 Extreme processor is very powerful and pushes handheld gaming to new technical heights, but – as comes with the territory of PC gaming – performance can vary from game to game. This won’t be the same as booting up a game built specifically for Xbox systems. After spending some time with the ROG Xbox Ally, however, it has often given a smooth and seamless experience for playing games under the Play Anywhere banner.

This leads to the conversation of Game Pass – with the recent shake up of new tiers and price increases for Game Pass, it can be confusing what you’re subscribing to. PC Game Pass applies to the ROG Xbox Ally X, which gives you access to its PC library, most of which includes the high profile Xbox games already. This includes day-one first-party titles; games such as The Outer Worlds 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Keeper, and upcoming releases like Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Gears of War: E-Day are included (barring any changes to subscription plans). Those later games should be able to run with playable settings and performance on the newly minted handhelds, but we’re not the ones who can guarantee that.

Note that if you have Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass is lumped under it so the benefits will apply across Xbox consoles and PC if you use multiple platforms.

Xbox Games You Can Play on the ROG Xbox Ally Handheld

As noted above, Play Anywhere is fairly wide-reaching, especially as it pertains to modern games. There are currently 1,532 games under Xbox Play Anywhere that will work across Xbox consoles and PC (including the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds). If you have purchased any of these games on your Microsoft/Xbox account, or if they’re within the PC Game Pass library and you’re a current subscriber to it (or Ultimate), you will be able to play them.

Asus and Xbox were smart to embrace other PC-based distributors and platforms with the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds – one of its best features is being able to sign into your Steam account and import your Steam library to play on these handhelds. Steam comes pre-installed to make things even easier. While compatibility and performance may vary from game to game, these handhelds being PCs is an advantage Xbox consoles just don’t have since it opens you up to a much wider library. That extends to GOG, Epic Games Store, and Battle.net (which need to be installed separately), and again, your mileage may vary with performance, but games you own on those accounts are available.

One of the biggest questions on my mind, however, is how Xbox intends on handling backward compatibility with many original Xbox and Xbox 360 games not having proper PC ports. Xbox has been a great example of modern games preservation with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, but moving to a Windows PC-based platform throws a wrench in those gears. We don’t know what the next Xbox console will look like, but if it embraces a Windows-based platform like the ROG Xbox Ally, I hope that Microsoft will do the work to ensure that Xbox’s fantastic back catalog will continue to be playable into the future.