Xbox has shared a brief but key update about its next generation console.
It is codenamed Project Helix, and along with Xbox games it will also be able to play PC games, Microsoft’s newly-announced gaming CEO Asha Sharma has confirmed. Project Helix, will “lead in performance” thanks to this dual functionality, 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,” Sharma wrote on social media.
“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!”
There have been rumblings that Xbox’s next console would also include the ability to play PC games. In October of last year, a report claimed the Xbox platform was evolving to encompass PC gaming, and allow users to even access PlayStation games released on PC (though, perhaps not last year’s Ghost of Yotei or Housemarque’s upcoming Saros, as Sony is reportedly abandoning its strategy of bringing its first-party PlayStation games to PC).
Sharma’s wording today, though, does not specify which PC games Project Helix will be able to play. All new Xbox games have of course been made cross-platform with PC, so Sharma’s wording does mean there’s always the slight chance that’s all she’s referring to.
It is also worth remembering Xbox’s ROG handheld, which arrived late last year. This device plays both Xbox games and your Steam games, along with other PC game libraries.
Towards the end of last year, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella spoke about the company’s future plans, including direct mention of PC storefront Steam as a competitor platform, and Microsoft’s current significance as a video game publisher.
“It’s kind of funny that people think about the console-PC as two different things,” Nadella said at the time. “We built the console because we wanted to build a better PC which could then perform for gaming. I kind of want to revisit some of that conventional wisdom.”
As for Sharma, she was announced to be taking over from Phil Spencer following last month’s shock news that the Xbox head would be retiring from Microsoft after nearly 40 years with the company. Sarah Bond, who many had presumed would eventually succeed Spencer, also announced she would be leaving Xbox at this same time.
For more, be sure to check out our Chris’ feature on everything happening with Sharma’s new role at Microsoft: The future of Xbox is vague and contradictory, with just a glimmer of hope.
