The next Xbox is Project Helix, and it will play PC games

The next Xbox console has been publicly codenamed Project Helix today, with a logo reveal and a firm confirmation from the new Microsoft Gaming boss Asha Sharma about the console’s capabilities.

Project Helix comes with a new style logo that is themed around the intertwining strands of DNA, cropped in a circle to look like a letter ‘X’. And it’s animated with a soundscape that just about manages to avoid sounding like a generic streaming service.

Writing alongside the reveal, Sharma said, “Great start to the morning with Team Xbox, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox including Project Helix, the code name for our next generation console.”

However, she continued to confirm some key details about what it is capable of, namely that it will also be able to play PC games.

“Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. Looking forward to chatting about this more with partners and studios at my first GDC next week!”

This isn’t really new news, given the way that the former executive group was talking about the next generation of Xbox, with Phil Spancer already talking back in 2024 about how he would like to see Steam game libraries be playable on Xbox. Reconfirming this direction gives some significant hints about what Microsoft’s future gaming platform will look and work like.

Microsoft has been trying to make Windows gaming more console-like as a way to match and counter the influence of Valve’s SteamOS for Steam Deck and the upcoming Steam Machine. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally saw the debut of a new gaming UI applied to Windows 11 for the handheld gaming PC market, and this can certainly evolve going forward. However, the ROG Xbox Ally cannot play Xbox games, and Project Helix will absolutely be able to do so.

So what will using a Project Helix look and feel like? Well, Xbox system software has had a Windows Core since the Xbox One, branching into multiple bespoke partitions and virtual machines being used to run games and other apps. A similar approach could be taken for the next Xbox, having a console exclusive VM for maintaining Xbox game compatibility on the fixed hardware platform and ‘close to the metal’ console game development, but having this alongside a more fully featured Windows Core host OS that has more of the components that are needed for general Windows PC games to run.

But for now, there’s the new logo.

Source: Asha Sharma

Tags: Project Helix, Xbox, Xbox Series X