👀 Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has teased that Project Helix could be more than one console
👨👩👧👦 In a recent interview, she stated that it’s being designed as a family of devices
🤔 It also means third-party Helix consoles are a possibility
🤷♂️ Sharma notably dodged questions about whether Helix is going to play discs or not
We might have just gotten a better indication of when we can expect Microsoft’s next-gen console, Project Helix, to be released, plus more details on the hardware.
As per a recent interview Xbox CEO Asha Sharma gave to BBC News at Gamescom last week, Project Helix is being designed as a family of devices, rather than one singular console.
Microsoft had noted when it announced more details on a strategic partnership with AMD that the two would be working together on “a portfolio of devices” of which Project Helix presumably forms a key part, whether as one device or multiple.
This move towards a multi-device ecosystem had prompted speculation about what forms this could take, whether it’s simply multiple Xbox Helix consoles, like we saw with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, or devices from different manufacturers.
The comments have been left open to interpretation, especially after Xbox’s VP for next generation Jason Ronald posted on X that Project Helix “will be available as a 1st party Xbox console”.
It could be the case that other brands, such as Asus or MSI, may also have their own Helix consoles, if Microsoft decides to go for the same route as Valve did with the original pitch for the Steam Machine and as we’ve seen with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.
Questions over whether Project Helix will support discs were deflected by Sharma, although Microsoft has introduced its new “disc to digital” option for Xbox One and Xbox Series X games to allow users to transfer a disc licence to digital to help users migrate a physical game library to a digital one.
Microsoft confirmed in March that alpha dev kits for Project Helix should be rolling out next year, which could point to a release in 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.