Xbox’s Next Console Looks Powerful, But Dev Kits Won’t Ship Until 2027

At GDC 2026, Jason Ronald outlined Microsoft’s next console, codenamed Project Helix. He said Helix will support path tracing and machine learning-based frame generation, run on a custom AMD SOC with a large increase in raytracing performance, and include a next-generation version of AMD’s FSR upscaling, Neural Texture Compression, and next-generation neural rendering.

Ronald added that dev kits won’t be sent to developers until 2027, and the machine could cost $1,000 or more. Project Helix is being designed alongside a next generation of DirectX and will play both PC and Xbox games. Xbox features are moving to Windows: "Xbox Mode" will roll out to Windows 11 PCs next month, previously known as the "Xbox Full Screen Experience" and first shipped on the Xbox ROG Ally.

The team aims for Xbox Mode to feel consistent across devices and the cloud. Xbox wants developers to build a single version of their games that runs on both Xbox and PC, integrating with the existing Play Anywhere program so players don’t have to buy two versions.

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