New Xbox Console Project Helix Has Been in the Works for Over 10 Years

March 9, 2026, 3:26pm

Xbox’s newly announced console, currently only known as Project Helix, has seemingly been in the works in some capacity for over a decade. Despite having a rough past few years with sales of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, Microsoft has made it clear that it won’t be getting out of the console business. However, Project Helix should end up being a much different Xbox console once it arrives, and it’s one that Microsoft has been iterating on for 10 years or more.

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All the way back in 2016, Kotaku reported that Microsoft was in the process of combining the best of Xbox and Windows into a single platform that it dubbed, of course, Project Helix. This device ultimately didn’t come about with the next generational shift, as the Xbox Series X and S were let loose in 2020. That being said, the idea of Project Helix clearly didn’t come to an end, which has now resulted in Microsoft unveiling the platform to the public as its next console.

Former Xbox boss Mike Ybarra also alluded to Project Helix being an old idea when the hardware was recently unveiled. In response to its announcement, Ybarra said, “It’s back” when talking about Project Helix. As such, this continues to tell us that Xbox moving more into the PC market with its upcoming console isn’t a move born out of desperation, but is instead something that the company has wanted to achieve for a long time.

Project Helix Has Surely Changed a Lot

While Project Helix has clearly been a concept within Microsoft for the past 10 years, the hardware itself has likely changed a lot. In fact, Helix in its original form was likely put to the side in place of the Xbox Series X and S. It’s only within the past couple years that the concept has become Microsoft’s priority once again as it looks to the next generation of consoles.