Xbox 2027: everything we know about Project Helix

Is there a new Xbox console coming in 2027?

It's a fact that Xbox is working on a new console. They officially announced that they’re working on a new console on March 11, 2026, during the GDC Festival of Gaming. The exact release date is a bit unclear, but Xbox did confirm that they want to start shipping the alpha version of the hardware to developers at the beginning of 2027. This suggests that Xbox is hoping to release the console in 2027.

However, a real release date, or even a release window, hasn’t been confirmed, which means we can’t be sure that the new Xbox console will come in 2027.

Is a 2027 release realistic?

The only real confirmation we have from Microsoft in terms of a release date is that they hope to ship the alpha version at the beginning of 2027. So, this doesn’t really tell us anything about when we can expect to play on this new console. The gaming company already seems to be running into some issues with this release date, as it was revealed in a memo that rising hardware costs are slowing down development. However, Xbox is holding on to the 2027 release for now.

Xbox isn’t the only one aiming for a release in 2027. AMD CEO Lisa Su also confirmed that development is on track to support the Xbox release date. However, gamers don’t seem convinced. Most believe that 2027 is an optimistic ambition and agree that the new console will most likely release in 2028.

What is Project Helix?

Project Helix is the name Xbox gave to its new console plan. They also shared this information during the GDC Gaming Festival: “Project Helix will be designed for your Xbox console and PC games”, explains the gaming company. Their partnership with the tech company AMD is important for the development of the new console. It’ll be powered by a custom AMD SoC and will use the latest advances in FSR, ray tracing, and other technology to make the console completely ready for the next generation.

What do we know about the new Xbox console?

We all want to know what we can expect from the new Xbox console. We’ve listed all the confirmed info and rumours on the most important topics for you.

Name and cost

Xbox calls the project for its new console ‘Project Helix’, but whether the actual console will be called Helix or something similar isn’t known. What we do know is that the new console is going to be part of a family of devices, with even a potential handheld console coming.

The price of this new console also hasn’t been revealed yet. The prices for the current Xbox consoles did increase recently:

• Xbox Series S 512GB: from $399,99 to $499,99.
• Xbox Series S 1TB: from $449,99 to $599,99.
• Xbox Series X Digital 1TB: from $599,99 to $749,99.
• Xbox Series X 1TB: from $649,99 to $799,99.
  
  

Prices for new consoles are usually higher, so most likely the new Xbox console will be somewhere between $500 and $800, depending on the version. However, since nothing has been revealed about the price for the new Xbox console, we can’t say this for certain.

Specs and performance

Former Xbox president Sarah Bond seems to be confident in the new Xbox console. She said about Project Helix that it’ll offer the ‘largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation’. What we know for sure about the new console is as follows:

• Co-designed for Next Generation of DirectX.
• Next Gen Raytracing Performance & Capabilities.
• GPU-Directed Work Graph Execution.
• Built for Next Gen Neural Rendering.
• Next Generation of ML Upscaling.
• New ML Multi-Frame Generation.
• Next Gen Ray Regeneration for RT and Path Tracing.
• Neural Texture Compression.
• Direct Storage + Zstd.
  
  

There isn’t any information about the actual specs and performance of the console, but this list might give you an idea of what to expect.

PC and backwards compatibility

Xbox has confirmed that Project Helix is designed to play your Xbox games as well as PC games, which means that we can expect to play PC games on this new console.

In terms of backwards compatibility, there’s a lot to look forward to, at least, if we can believe a recently leaked Microsoft memo. It says that the new Xbox console will play games from every Xbox generation, meaning you could potentially play games from the original Xbox from 2001 all the way to brand-new titles.

Completely digital or disc drive

The gaming industry is moving more and more to a completely digital landscape. Since Rockstar Games confirmed that GTA VI will be available through digital download only, gamers are increasingly worried about the future of disc-based gaming. Whether the new Xbox console will have a disc drive or if it’ll become completely digital hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said, ‘We have to be thinking about efficiency and affordability’, but she declined to make an actual statement on the matter.

Since Xbox is openly talking about a release in 2027, it seems more likely that we’ll get a new Xbox console before we get the PS 6. We can’t say this for certain, since neither have given an official release date yet.

Should you wait for the new Xbox console?

 Whether you should wait for the new Xbox console, or invest in an Xbox Series X|S now, is hard to say. The 2027 release date is optimistic, but far from confirmed. That means you can’t be certain how long you’ll have to wait for a new console.
 
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