The portable console market experienced a real boom in 2023. While the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck were already well established on the market, new manufacturers entered the fray, including Asus and Lenovo. At the start of 2024, competition is expanding with the arrival of a first model from MSI in the days to come.
A portable console presented during CES 2024
On its social networks, MSI teased this Thursday, January 4, 2024 the arrival of what strongly appears to be a portable console. Via a short video published on Instagram or Twitter/X, we discover several images clearly going in this direction:
- A first shot reveals the contours of the console, but also two joysticks surrounded by RGB LED zones;
- A second and a third show different ventilation zones;
- A last one reveals the MSI logo, apparently centered on the back of the machine.
The computer equipment brand finishes by displaying a logo on a black background with two colored claws, thus making a direct reference to that of the brand: a dragon. The publication is accompanied by the slogan: “A new breed of MSI dragon is being born“.
We also notice the mentions “Coming Soon” And “CES 2024“. Thus, MSI’s portable console should be announced next week during CES, the world’s largest exhibition dedicated to new technologies, which will be held from January 9 to 12, 2024.
2023, year of the portable console for gamers
After the resounding success of Nintendo with the Switch, followed a few years later by Valve with the Steam Deck, several brands are starting to grab market share in this still relatively uncompetitive sector.
In 2023, two new players have indeed made headlines:
- Asus with the ROG Ally, offering much higher performance than the Steam Deck;
- Lenovo with the Legion Go, just as powerful as the ROG Ally, but with detachable controllers;
Players already present in the nomadic video game sector have also advanced their pawns in 2023. This is the case of PlayStation, whose Portal allows you to stream your PS5 from anywhere, and of Valve which launched a new Steam Deck, only improving the display compared to the first model. For this, the company replaced the LCD screen with Oled.
It now remains to be seen what MSI intends to offer in order to stand out from these competitors, all of which were released less than six months ago. Regardless, the first images suggest that special attention has been paid to the thermal cooling of the console.