Asus reveals ROG Ally, a handheld gaming PC that’s really real

The Ally is no April fool

Asus has announced the ROG Ally, ROG’s first handheld gaming console meant for taking PC games on the go, much like a Steam Deck. But thanks to the day the company made the announcement, Asus has had to reaffirm that yes, it’s for real.

Originally revealed around April 1, the Asus ROG Ally is a handheld console. Its initial pitch video shows the handheld bouncing between different popular PC games, played in a variety of locations. It’s essentially similar to the Steam Deck and various other competitors that have emerged.

The thing was, this hardware was revealed around April 1, a.k.a. April Fool’s Day. A holiday for announcing fake game news. So you can imagine the shock when no one responding to the original reveal believed it was real, doubled up by a confusing social post on LinkedIn, as spotted by The Verge.

Well, now it’s April 3, and Asus is asserting that it’s “not an April Fool’s joke,” and that the ROG Ally is real. There’s even a Best Buy page up for notifications about new information.

It’s real!
Stay tuned for more ????
Want to know when pre-orders start?
????https://t.co/ljc2GNN0UU#ROG #ROGALLY #PlayALLYourGames pic.twitter.com/IG6vDtgTag

— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) April 3, 2023

A new Deck on deck

YouTuber Dave2D also posted a video, sharing some hands-on and technical details of Asus’ new Steam Deck competitor. Judging by his video, it seems like Asus is theoretically trying to compete with the Steam Deck; it’s got some decent hardware, and looks a bit slimmer and sleeker than the Steam Deck.

But, as you might have noticed, I’m still couching all my statements because this is the weirdest timing to announce an actually real product. I guess this semi-worked, because it has a lot of people curious. But surely there was already interest in seeing other companies try and take on the handheld gaming PC market. So to me, this will be real when it’s on a shelf or in stock. You can hit up the Best Buy site to sign up for notifications about when that might occur.

Eric Van Allen

Senior News Reporter