Updated October 20, 2026: A Fortune profile of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, published today, reports that Microsoft plans a next-generation handheld by the 2027 holiday season and its next console by the holidays in 2028, and that the Helix console has internally been projected to cost $1,200 to $1,800 unless Microsoft subsidizes it. Microsoft has not confirmed any of this. We added a “What’s been reported (not confirmed)” section; the official record below is unchanged.
Xbox Project Helix is the codename for Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console, and the company has confirmed only a handful of hard facts so far: it runs on a custom AMD chip, it will play both Xbox console games and PC games, and alpha hardware ships to developers in 2027. Microsoft has announced no launch date, price, final name or disc drive decision.
That gap has filled up with leaks and guesswork. Below, Microsoft’s on-the-record statements come first, with dates, then the reports, labeled as such.
The Project Helix logo Microsoft used when it named the console at GDC on March 11, 2026. Image: Microsoft
Table of Contents
What Microsoft has officially said about Xbox Project Helix
| Date | Who / where | What was said |
|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | Xbox Wire (Sarah Bond, Lisa Su) | Multi-year AMD partnership to co-engineer chips for “a portfolio of devices,” including future first-party consoles and cloud |
| Mar 11, 2026 | Jason Ronald, GDC keynote | Name revealed; plays Xbox console and PC games; custom AMD SoC; dev alpha hardware from 2027 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Ronald on X | “Project Helix will be available as a 1st party Xbox console.” |
| Apr 24, 2026 | Asha Sharma to GameFile | No launch timeline yet; memory costs “will impact pricing, will impact availability” |
| May 7, 2026 | Ronald on X | “We will have more to share about Project Helix later this year.” |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Sharma to the BBC | Declined to say whether Helix has a disc drive; next gen must weigh “efficiency and affordability alongside performance” |
Project Helix specs: AMD chip and ray tracing
In his GDC 2026 keynote summary on Xbox Wire, Jason Ronald, Xbox’s VP of Next Generation, said Helix is “powered by a custom AMD SoC and co-designed for the next generation of DirectX and FSR,” with “an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance.” Microsoft has published no CPU, GPU, memory or storage figures, so any number online is a leak or a guess.
Will Project Helix play PC games?
Yes, according to Microsoft. Ronald said Helix “is designed to play your Xbox console and PC games,” and Sharma’s April 23 “We Are XBOX” memo to staff set the goal to “deliver Project Helix to lead in performance and play your console and PC games.” Ronald also committed to “keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable.” Microsoft has not said whether Helix runs Windows or which PC storefronts it will support. Its Windows push so far is Xbox mode, a full-screen controller interface that Microsoft said would start rolling out to Windows 11 in select markets in April, after debuting on ASUS’s ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.
Xbox Wire ran this photo with the April 23 "We Are XBOX" memo, which lists delivering Project Helix as a hardware priority. Image: Microsoft
Project Helix release date and price
Neither has been announced. The only official date is developer alpha hardware “beginning in 2027.” In a June 10 memo to staff, Sharma said console storage costs could reach more than five times what Xbox paid two years earlier by the 2027 holiday season, and that Xbox needs “a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix.” Launch years of 2027 or 2028 that circulate online are speculation. Fortune has since reported a holiday 2028 target for the next console (see below); Microsoft hasn’t confirmed it.
What’s been reported (not confirmed)
Fortune’s Sebastian Herrera published a long profile of Sharma on October 20 (16:10 UTC). Fortune interviewed her in September, but the plans below are Fortune’s own reporting, partly from unnamed people familiar with them, not things Sharma said on the record. Microsoft has not announced or confirmed any of them.
| Report | What Fortune wrote | Sourcing given |
|---|---|---|
| Next handheld | “Sharma also plans to release a next-generation handheld device by the 2027 holiday season” | None named |
| Next console | “…and the next console by the holidays in 2028” | None named (same sentence) |
| Helix price | “the price of the Helix console has internally been projected to cost consumers between $1,200 and $1,800, unless Microsoft decides to subsidize the cost” | None named |
| Schedule | “engineering deadlines for Project Helix have been moved up by at least several months” | “Some people familiar with the matter” |
| Game Pass | “a major overhaul of Game Pass that would have players choose features à la carte, including add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer, with the system operating on a tiered structure” | “people familiar with the strategy” |
Fortune also describes a fight between the Xbox and Windows teams over “what software should run Project Helix.” According to the report, “Windows leaders wanted an upcoming handheld device to use a trimmed-down version of Windows Home,” while Sharma’s team wanted its own software, and people briefed on the clash said a senior Xbox executive threatened to scrap the handheld rather than adopt the Windows build. Fortune says “Xbox is now largely controlling the direction of the operating system for the project.” Sharma’s only on-record line on it: “We can’t build Helix on our own.”
The Game Pass report is separate from Helix but would change how the service is sold; for what’s happening to the current catalog, see the games leaving Xbox Game Pass this month.
Microsoft’s latest official word: nothing in the Fortune piece updates the on-record position. On timing and price, that is still Sharma’s April interview with Game File: “Memory costs will impact pricing, will impact availability. As we think about being where the world plays, we will take that into consideration. So we’re not ready to share a launch timeline right now.”
Earlier reports and rumors (not confirmed by Microsoft)
- Disc drive: The Verge’s Tom Warren reported on July 1 that Microsoft “hasn’t fully finalized” whether Helix ships with a built-in drive. Windows Central’s Jez Corden has said a traditional drive looks unlikely. Sharma wouldn’t answer the question for the BBC, saying only that she wants players to “have a choice” between physical and digital, and pointing to Disc to Digital, which grants digital licenses for 1,000 disc games.
- Job listing: A Microsoft LinkedIn ad for an Xbox Games Supply Strategist to “coordinate the launch of physical Xbox games across all platforms” revived the disc talk over the weekend; it never mentions Helix or discs.
- “Family of devices”: According to a transcript Windows Central obtained from an October 6 internal town hall, Sharma said Xbox is “moving to a family of devices for Gen-10,” with “a great console first,” some hardware built by partners and players “on the go” in mind. Microsoft hasn’t published those remarks.
- Partner hardware: In April, leaker KeplerL2 claimed on ResetEra that companies such as ASUS and MSI could build machines around the Helix chip. Ronald’s reply confirmed only the first-party console.
The disc question matters more since Sony said new PlayStation games will stop shipping on disc from January 2028, a decision PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi says caused fan “friction”.
What’s next
Ronald’s promise of more Helix news “later this year” has about ten weeks left to run. Xbox turns 25 on November 15, an obvious stage, though Microsoft hasn’t said Helix will appear there. Today’s ID@Xbox Showcase is an indie games show, not a hardware event. Until Microsoft says otherwise, treat any Helix price, date or spec as unconfirmed.
Sources: Fortune (Oct 20), Xbox Wire (GDC 2026), Xbox Wire (AMD partnership), Xbox Wire (“We Are XBOX”), Xbox Wire (June 10 memo), GameFile, BBC, The Verge, Windows Central, Pure Xbox, Microsoft job listing.
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Featured image: Microsoft / AMD
