This year during April Fools, Asus announced the Asus ROG Ally which due to its lack of details such as cost and availability could be easily dismissed as yet another prank and should be taken with a grain of salt.
However, due to a listing on Best Buy this may not be a joke after all and Asus might actually have a competitor to the Steam deck in the works.
The listing on Best Buy includes a banner complete with Microsoft Windows and Xbox GamePass logos which drives home the fact that the product may actually be real. There is also an option to sign up to be notified the soonest ROG Ally is available for pre-order.
Asus also made a tweet on the 2nd of April that talks about their partnership with AMD making a custom APU to drive the ROG Ally’s capabilities to game on the go.
This can also be seen as an official announcement as it is past the pranking date and the details regarding the ROG Ally thus far does sound plausible than most of the silly announcements during that day.
As to why Asus chose to make the announcement on such an interesting date, it was most likely made to generate more intrigue and interest regarding the product.
In any case, the trailer showcases the ROG Ally tackling games such as High On Life, Moving Out and Dying Light 2 and is said to be a Windows gaming handheld that can take AAA gaming out of your gaming room.
Not only that, the ROG Ally can also be plugged in to the ROG XG Mobile eGPU to charge and stream your games to the TV and enables the user to “experience Ally’s full potential.”
This is one prank that if proven to be true may help provide more competition to the already popular Steam Deck which is always good to see and will benefit the consumer more.
[UPDATE] The Asus ROG Ally is actually real and one can even find a product page at their official website which also has a sign up link for to be notified the soonest the ROG Ally is available for pre-order.