Image credit: Microsoft
Project Helix has been announced by Microsoft. It’s said to be the “next generation of Xbox console”.
Revealed on the official Xbox X account, Project Helix was introduced with a brief seven-second video snippet showcasing a new black-and-white logo, backed by ominous futuristic music.
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced more details about Project Helix on X. The post goes into what we can expect from the system:
Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. Looking forward to chatting about this more with partners and studios at my first GDC next week!
The future of Xbox appears to be combining console and PC gaming, a long-rumored move for the brand. It’s been reported that a next-gen Xbox is targeting a 2027 release window; however, this has not been confirmed by Microsoft.
Project Helix is consistent with what we’ve previously heard from Microsoft’s gaming brand. Back in October, the chairman and CEO said, “We just want to make sure the games are being enjoyed by gamers everywhere; consoles, PC, mobile, cloud, or TV”.
The new dedicated video game console seems to be building on the momentum of the ROG Xbox Ally. While not quite a fully handheld Xbox system as some fans wanted, it promised “Xbox, anywhere” and delivered a powerful way of playing Game Pass on the go.
Xbox is committing to a hybrid approach
Project Helix sounds like the culmination of the brand’s continued harmony between devices. A phone, smart TV, laptop, and handheld are said to be as viable for playing games as the Xbox Series X/S dedicated consoles.
Instead of hoarding exclusives like Sony or Nintendo, Microsoft appears to be trying to bridge the gap and end the divide between PC gamers and console gamers. As a hybrid system, we could see it perform as a more powerful version of the ROG Xbox Ally, backed by AMD RDNA hardware, ray tracing, 4K visuals, and the openness of computing.
It’s ambitious, but there’s so little to go on now to get excited about. A console like this could go a couple of ways; we could see it similar to docking a Steam Deck, with different modes to switch between as a full computer or dedicated gaming system.
Kyusai will be closely following everything there is to know about Project Helix from reveal to release. It could be the thing that saves Microsoft’s gaming brand, or be the final nail in the coffin for its hardware division. It will be interesting to see how it develops.
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