Project Helix Might Be The Winner Xbox Desperately Needs
Just days after the retirement of Head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer, the resignation of now-former Xbox president Sarah Bond, and the appointment of the new head of Xbox, Asha Sharma, Xbox has officially unveiled that it has a new console in development.
Announced in a brief video posted by Sharma's official X account, Project Helix has been revealed as the working code name of Xbox's next console, acting as the successor to the Xbox Series X/S.
In the post on X, Sharma stated that the console was "the return of Xbox," after the current Xbox crisis had left many fans feeling worried about Xbox's future. "Great start to the morning with Team Xbox, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox, including Project Helix, the code name for our next generation console," reads the post.
But it's something else that Sharma said in her announcement post that is drawing a lot of interest--Sharma is stating that Project Helix will be able to play PC games. "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!"
Right now, there aren't any more details available about Project Helix. However, as it currently stands in the industry, virtually every Xbox title is also available on PC, either via Steam, Epic Games Store, or another online video game library and launcher. That also includes day-one Xbox Game Pass games being available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
It's hard to know exactly what Sharma means by her wording. In Sharma's X post replies, some fans are speculating that it could be the return of console-exclusive titles for Xbox when Project Helix releases. Other fans are questioning the potential price of the new console if it can also play and run PC games with better performance than a typical gaming console.
While there is no way to know for sure right now, Xbox definitely needs a change in strategy for its future console, and an attempt to combine PC and Xbox audiences might be the game-changer that Xbox desperately needs right now. Assuming, of course, the price is reasonable, and fans still have access to play games on PC and Xbox.
Project Helix is in development with no announced release date.