Following the leadership change with Microsoft Gaming, new CEO Asha Sharma teased what’s next for Xbox with the official announcement of the next console, codenamed Project Helix. Now, at GDC 2026, Microsoft Gaming has shed more light on Project Helix and its vision for the future of Xbox.
Project Helix will, as it’s been speculated, play both Xbox and PC games. It will be powered by Custom AMD SOC, codesigned for the next generation of DirectX. It will feature next-gen raytracing performance and capabilities, and GPU directed work graph execution. Project Helix will also have AMD FSR Next which is built for the next generation of neural rendering, next generation ML upscaling, new ML multiframe generation, and next-gen ray regeneration for ray tracing and path tracing.
Jason Ronald, VP, Next Generation, Microsoft, said Project Helix is “an order of magnitude improvement” on ray tracing performance. Project Helix will also have deep texture compression with neural texture compression and DirectStorage + Zstd.
Ronald confirmed that alpha versions of Project Helix will be sent to developers in 2027. Ronald also noted that Microsoft is pivoting to “future of play” and player behaviors. “The days of people defining themselves as (console/PC/mobile gamer) don’t really exist anymore.”
“What we’ve really learned is as we look at it, PC is becoming an increasingly important part of the Xbox experience,” he says. “We’re bringing the best of Xbox to Windows itself to make Windows a great OS for games.”
Talking about the success of the ROG Xbox Ally and how it serves as proof of how PC is becoming an important part of Microsoft, Ronald noted that “our north star is that we want players to get into the fun as quickly as possible.”
Windows 11 will be getting a new “Xbox mode” in select markets starting in April. It will add features found on the ROG Xbox Ally to PCs and laptops. Users will be able to switch into Xbox mode to get that “Xbox feeling,” Ronald says, noting that players want “their content front and center,” and to play 2-3 games at any time.
Ronald also talked about Xbox Play Anywhere and how they really want to lean into cross-progression. “There’s a huge opportunity to lean into this and start building games the way modern players play games.”
Talking about game preservation, Ronald said “Not only is this something that’s deeply personal to us, but we feel a deep responsibility to preserve games of the past,” Ronald says that Microsoft wants to use “the latest technology” to play old games in “new ways.”