Microsoft confirm their PC game-running Project Helix should be in devs' hands by 2027, and packs next-gen AMD innards

Plus, an Xbox Mode's hitting Windows 11 PCs in April

Microsoft have shared some more details about the hardware Xbox's next-gen console - the PC game-running Project Helix - will be packing. The new box is set to run on AMD-built tech with support for FSR upscaling, and should start to rock up on developers' desks as of 2027. That last bit means it'll likely release in 2028 at the very earliest.

As catalogued by the Ian Games Network, a GDC chat about Project Helix by Xbox's swankily-titled vice president of next generation Jason Ronald has expanded on the initial sales pitch of 'new box, plays PC too'.

Built in collaboration between Xbox and sworn partner AMD, Project Helix'll support the latter's next-gen upscaling, frame generation, and ray tracing doodads. Ronald specifically insisted that the box takes "an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance and capability" compared to Xbox's current hardware.

Xbox devs! Here’s Microsoft’s pitch for Project Helix straight outta GDC:

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— Chris Kerr ➡️ GDC (@kerrblimey.bsky.social) 11 March 2026 at 17:22

So far, so very much like the sales pitch for a PC, then. Though, console makers have been pitching their tents next to these sorts of higher-end performance mechanics which hit PC first for a little while now. I'm thinking the likes of PlayStation's PSSR, which is a fine name for upscaling tech unless you cheekily insert an I between the P and S.

Getting back to Ronald's chat, the exec revealed that Microsoft are currently aiming to have "alpha versions" of Project Helix will start being shipped to devs in 2027, assuming things run to plan. That'd put the console/PC hybrid's release in 2028 or later. Though it's worth noting that there's currently no shortage of potential spanners which could be thrown into that works, chiefly the ongoing crisis surrounding the supply of RAM and SSDs.

In the much shorter-term, Microsoft plan to advance their smushing together of Xbox and PC by rolling out an "Xbox Mode" interface previously introduced on the ROG Xbox Ally handheld to Windows 11 as of April. Finally, Ronald teased that Xbox'll be "rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from [their] past" as part of 25th anniversary celebrations this year.

While the PCroject HeliXbox remains at least a few years away, Valve have recently affirmed that their console-ish PC box the Steam Machine is still on track to release this year, despite the concerns raised by the aforementioned part shortages/price hikes.