Updated
Updated · The Verge · Aug 28
Xbox Says Project Helix Will Span a Family of Devices, With 2027 Launch Hints
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Aug 28

Xbox Says Project Helix Will Span a Family of Devices, With 2027 Launch Hints

3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Aug 28

Summary

  • Asha Sharma told BBC News that Project Helix is a “family of devices,” clarifying that Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox will not be a single console.
  • The comment revises March messaging that described Helix as the company’s “next generation console,” and Sharma still did not say whether any model will be discless.
  • Microsoft this week unveiled a program to digitize physical games, while its 2025 multi-year partnership with AMD covered a broader portfolio of devices, reinforcing the multi-hardware strategy.
  • A 2027 timeline still looks most likely: AMD signaled in February it could support a next-gen Xbox launch then, and Xbox executive Jason Ronald said in March that Helix would not reach alpha until 2027.
  • Questions remain over the lineup’s shape, including rumors that third parties could sell Helix devices and Microsoft’s plan for hardware that can also play PC games.

Insights

If third-party companies build Helix devices, is Xbox secretly abandoning traditional console manufacturing to become a PC-like platform?
With Project Helix targeting 2027, will Microsoft completely kill physical discs and force gamers into an all-digital future?
Could soaring component costs force the next-gen Xbox to rely on rival storefronts like Steam to survive?