Is Xbox boss Phil Spencer messing with us, or does he really ‘like’ the idea of an Xbox handheld?

Ok, so you know how that big chat about what Xbox’s future looks like is set to take place via podcast in just a couple of days time? Well, Phil Spencer’s recently liked a number of tweets about handhelds. No, we’re not sure if it means anything.

It’s been a fun time recently for Xbox and things that may or may not be happening, after recent reports suggesting that it was considering bringing the likes of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Starfield to PS5 really put the cat among the pigeons. Unfortunately, there’s still some time until Phil Spencer and co offer some concrete info on what the company actually has planned to all of us, so we’re about to talk about some stuff the exec’s liked on Twitter.

If you’re the kind of person who regularly finds themselves staring at Phil Spencer’s Twitter likes, first of all, please consider getting a new hobby and second of all, you might have noticed him casually liking a couple of tweets about handheld consoles over the past little bit. The latest of these is part of a little discussion about how Windows runs on the ASUS ROG Ally that ends with The Verge’s Tom Warren saying: “Truly, Asus tried to make it better thank god, but Microsoft really needs to step in here.”

In case it wasn’t clear, that bit was the tweet Spencer liked. He’s also recently liked a tweet from Xbox Program Manager Monty Hernandez showing Brotato being played - via Game Pass - on a Logitech G Cloud and one that’s literally about the idea of an Xbox handheld becoming a thing.

So, what does all of this mean? Nothing concrete right now, aside from maybe that Phil Spencer likes a good handheld and, assuming he’s not, might want to be a bit more wary of what people could infer based on the relatively infrequent likes he dishes out.

It’s also important to remember that inferring things about people from their Twitter likes isn’t a slam dunk way of gleaning what their plans are. For example, three of my own most recent Twitter likes are posts about getting in on with the behemoth from The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, being quite down about where the world’s at, and a four hour long ice race that pits Skoda Felicia drivers armed with paintball guns against each other.

There is absolutely zero evidence that I’m interested in doing things in the future that might relate to any of this stuff.

The same applies to my fellow VG247ers, some of whom revealed to me that they’ve recently liked tweets about Final Fantasy VIII, scenes in 90s movies that’re arguably better than some in modern Marvel movies, and a Valentine's Day sale kicking off for dungeon crawler-dating sim Boyfriend Dungeon.

Also, one of us wants Duolingo to sponsor the Eurovision song contest.

Given our known propensity for sometimes being a bit sarcastic as a publication, who knows what the context around any of those likes could be, so it’s probably best not to put too much stock in Phil’s likes right now, at least until there's more evidence than just him having pressed a few social media buttons.

For more on Xbox and exclusivity, make sure to check out our feature discussing one of the potential bright sides for everyone if it does turn out that Xbox is planning to bring its games to more people.