Project Helix Is a Console First, XBOX’s Next-Gen VP Says

XBOX officially turned 25 today, and to mark the date, it has published a 116-page anniversary magazine that anyone can read online for free. The XBOX 25th Anniversary Magazine was originally printed for community members at XBOX FanFest in Seattle this past week. It was put together by the XBOX Wire team with editorial staff from Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard, and King, and it opens with a letter from CEO Asha Sharma. Her anniversary memo on November 12 said a fifth console generation is on the way, and the magazine includes a feature on that console, Project Helix.

The feature is built around an interview with Jason Ronald, vice president of next generation at XBOX, and it doesn’t offer a price, a release date, or any specs beyond what XBOX shared at GDC in March. Ronald is direct about what kind of machine Helix is, though, saying it’s designed as a console that can also play PC games, “not a PC that can also play console games.” The goal is to give players a console experience without worrying about updating drivers or an operating system before playing, while those who want deeper control over settings and performance options will still have it. Ronald also says players will be able to bring four generations of their XBOX library and progression with them.

As for performance, Ronald says the next generation won’t be defined by 8K or 240Hz, and that the team is focused on neural rendering as a way to improve visual fidelity without requiring more computational power or memory. Part of that focus comes from necessity, since the magazine acknowledges the current component crisis is driving up hardware costs. Ronald says the team has to invent new technology to keep the console affordable, and XBOX admitted in June that it couldn’t build as many consoles as players wanted to buy.

Ronald also calls the ROG XBOX Ally a precursor to Helix, saying player feedback on XBOX mode and its combined library of console and PC games has changed how those ideas will show up on the console. In my ROG XBOX Ally X review, I said the handheld felt like a public beta for a future Windows-based XBOX. I also said in March that XBOX mode still had a long way to go before it felt like a true console.

Elsewhere in the magazine, there’s a feature on Bowerstone in Fable, which launches on February 23, 2027. Game director Ralph Fulton says every building in the capital can be entered and most can be purchased, and that the city is technically three settlements joined together to get around an NPC limit. An upcoming games section covers Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Persona 4 Revival, Stranger Than Heaven, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Exodus, and Clockwork Revolution. There’s also a feature on Gears of War: E-Day noting that its second multiplayer season, Legacy, starts on December 1. The full magazine closes with a quiz asking readers to name nine games that released alongside the original XBOX on November 15, 2001.