After its initial reveal, Xbox shared new info on its upcoming Project Helix console at the 2026 Game Developer Conference (GDC). While specific details about the console’s specs and pricing weren’t revealed, we did get some interesting info about the next generation of Xbox.
At this year’s GDC, Jason Ronald, Xbox Vice President of Next Generation, affirmed that Project Helix is the next-generation first-party Xbox console, though it’s designed to play both Xbox console and PC games. Ronald also shared that the console will be powered by a custom AMD SoC, co-designed for the next generation of DirectX and FSR.
The console also promises to deliver better ray tracing performance, along with “integrated intelligence” to its graphics and compute pipeline. Based on these, Project Helix should be a powerful gaming machine.
While we won’t know yet how powerful it will be exactly, Ronald shared that Xbox plans to ship alpha versions of the hardware to developers beginning in 2027. Plus, it’s confirmed that Project Helix will be able to play all previous-generation Xbox titles.
Along with info about Helix, Ronald shared that Xbox will finally bring Xbox Mode to Windows 11 in April in select markets. The Xbox Mode debuted with the ROG Xbox Ally series, and it gives users a more controller-optimized Xbox experience on their Windows PC.
Given that Project Helix is designed to also play PC games, it’s possible that the new Xbox console will also run Windows. In that case, it may turn out to be a home console version of the ROG Xbox Ally. If this is what it turns out to be, it’ll be interesting to see its price tag. After all, if it’s essentially a PC, its price tag may be a bit higher than typical home console pricing.
Whatever the case may be, we likely won’t need to wait all that long before we find out. After all, if developer kits are shipped in 2027, chances are that this console will be released in 2028.