Microsoft has announced some exciting news about Project Helix, the in-development next-gen Xbox that was announced recently.
Alpha test kits of the console are going to be shipped to developers sometime next year, with Jason Ronald, the new vice president of Xbox, dropping the news at GDC 2026, alongside a little bit more about what to expect from the new console. While that’s good news, it does demonstrate that it’s going to be a while before we get to see the new Xbox in action, although the wait might just be worth it.
“Project Helix is powered by a custom AMD [system on chip] and co-designed for the next generation of DirectX and FSR to unlock what comes next…It delivers an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance and capability, integrates intelligence directly into the graphics and compute pipeline, and drives meaningful gains in efficiency, scale, and visual ambition. The result is more realistic, immersive, and dynamic worlds for players.”
Aside from what’s looking like a major leap forward for the Xbox, gaming on your PCs is about to get a lot easier in April this year, with the ROG Ally X’s Xbox mode heading to Windows 11. If that’s something you didn’t know existed, it brings the Xbox UI to your PCs, complete with controller support. It’s aimed at making it simple to “switch between productivity and play”, and could be a great addition if you’re already in the Xbox ecosystem, and perhaps valuable even outside of it.
Things might just be looking up for a console that’s been a part of gaming history, and we’re looking forward to the Xbox getting out of its slump and coming back stronger than ever.
