Microsoft’s next Xbox, Helix, will further fuse the PC and console

Will the next Xbox be a PC? Maybe not, but at least he’ll be able to play “PC” games, the new Xbox boss said of “Project Helix”, the next iteration of the Xbox console series.

Asha Sharma, the new executive vice president and general manager of Microsoft Gaming, revealed Microsoft’s plans in a post on Twitter/X on Thursday.

“Great start to the morning with the Xbox team, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox, including Project Helix, the code name for our next-gen console,” Sharma wrote. “Project Helix will be leading in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. I look forward to discussing more with partners and studios at my first GDC next week!”

Sharma also disclosed a graphic depicting the Helix project, which looked a bit like an “X.”

The collision course between PC and console continues

The intersection between PC and console has been a hot topic, especially as the line blurs. Last year, Windows Central predicted that the next Xbox would run the full-screen Xbox experience on Windows, or at least a version of it. The full-screen experience debuted as part of the Xbox Ally The full-screen experience is no longer unique to the Xbox Ally X either, but has been made available to other Windows handhelds as well.

In late 2024, Microsoft began launching a series of advertisements showcasing various products, with the tagline “This is an Xbox.” (For some reason, Microsoft removed the page announcing this.) But over time, the Xbox and the PC have become closer: AMD’s SOCs power the Xbox, while the derivatives are the heart of the PC. AMD, in fact, announced the release of Project Helix this year. Games have of course been ported to both PC and Xbox, but some Xbox games can use a mouse and keyboard, once the exclusive domain of the PC. And Xbox and PC can also use Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming feature, even with mouse and keyboard. Even the Xbox brand encompasses both PC and console.

(Read more: Xbox vs. PC Gaming: Fight!)

So the ability to “play Xbox and PC games” certainly allows for some wiggle room in the definition. Arguably both devices already do this. It remains to be seen whether the same code will ship to both PC and Project Helix consoles, or whether the console will continue to receive optimized versions of the game written specifically for the console.

In the real world, consoles differ from PC in three main ways: hardware, interface, and controller. The last two go hand in hand — that’s why you see radial menus in console versions of Baldur III’s Gatefor example, but a more user-friendly user interface with mouse and keyboard over the PC port. Mice and keyboards allow you to play games like real-time strategy games, but don’t really work on a couch. Microsoft will need to come up with a way to fix this. Assuming Microsoft ships just one version of Project Helix, AMD’s silicon will be a relatively simple problem to solve – it’s the specifications that remain in question.

Microsoft’s big problem is therefore simply defining what a console is. Sony seems to believe in the traditional set-top box that has been on your shelf for generations. Nintendo seems to be moving away from that with its Switch, but it can still fit in a living room docking station. But Microsoft has always owned its own Xbox as well as the PC. Whether the two will merge or remain somewhat separate remains to be seen.

When might we receive a response? Starting next week, when Microsoft plans to talk about it at the Game Developers’ Conference in San Francisco.