Since the ROG Xbox Ally is the result of a collaboration between Microsoft and ASUS, it’s easy to wonder who actually decided its price. According to Sarah Bond, the President of Xbox, the high price of the ROG Xbox Ally was ultimately set by ASUS.
In an interview with Variety, Bond addressed the topic of the ROG Xbox Ally’s price — generally considered quite high, especially for the ROG Xbox Ally X model, which reaches around $1,000. She explained that the pricing decision was made by ASUS, based on production costs and the device’s hardware features.
“We looked at, how do we create multiple options for people? And it really was Asus, because this is their hardware,” Bond said. “That is all of their insight into the market, into the feature set, into what people want, to determine the ultimate prices of the devices.”
The result of this collaboration led ASUS to determine the final retail price.
ASUS in Charge of Pricing Decisions
As expected, since the device is fully produced by ASUS, Sarah Bond clarified that the price of the ROG Xbox Ally was entirely decided by ASUS — not Microsoft.
Both companies agreed on the idea of offering two models at different price points, aiming to appeal to a wider range of users.
Despite the perception of a high price, Bond highlighted that preorders have been very positive since their opening in September, showing that the public’s reaction has been quite good.
“The reaction was overwhelming demand for the device,” Bond added. “We sold out on the Xbox Store. We sold really quickly at a number of other places around the world. I feel really good about the value that we’re giving gamers for the price, based off the reception to the hardware.”
