It’s been a busy day in gaming following the launch of Pokemon Pokopia and Marathon, but Xbox decided they don’t want to miss out on the action either. In a surprisingly random post this afternoon, Xbox just announced their next generation of console, with the codename Project Helix. Details are sparse, but Microsoft has released an animated teaser along with the first details on the new console.
The official Xbox account over on X (formerly Twitter) shared a brief animated logo for Project Helix, where the DNA-like double helix shape shifts to form an X inside of a circle. Alongside this, the new CEO at Microsoft Gaming, that’s Asha Sharma, put out a post sharing that Project Helix is part of their “commitment to the return of Xbox.” Further though, Sharma then shared that “Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games.”
PC gaming has long been rumored to be a key feature in the next Xbox, as Microsoft has pivoted their gaming business in recent years to heavily include computers as part of their key Xbox market. The next Xbox is expected to be a hybrid machine between PC and console, seemingly supporting games that run on both platforms.
Through her brief time as CEO so far, Sharma has heavily pushed the idea that Microsoft wants to see the “return of Xbox.” She even went so far as to respond to a post from Xbox fans asking for the return of console exclusives, with a simple reply of “hear you”. Just two weeks later, we heard reports from Sony that they’re abandoning their PC release strategy to instead focus on keeping PlayStation’s single-player releases to be platform exclusives.
We don’t exactly know what’s waiting for us in the next generation of console gaming. Costs are rising across the technology industry, whilst both Xbox and PlayStation are seemingly reverting course away from an open gaming market and back towards the era of exclusives. For more news on all things next-gen, keep your eyes on GameObserver for the latest developments written by humans and for humans.
