Microsoft: The New “Helix” Console is Confirmed and it will be Hybrid

VIDEO GAMES: The new boss Microsoft Gaming confirmed through a tweet the Redmond firm’s “Helix” console project

his slams the beak of persistent rumors. A week after taking office at the head of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma made it official through a tweet on X on March 5th that his teams were working on the project of a new games console. Behind “Project Helix” lies a hybrid console, thus confirming long-standing rumors around a machine capable of playing games Xbox and PC.

Retro compatible with PC games

Thus, the future replacement for the Xbox Series X should have an architecture close to that of a PC. “It will dominate in performance”, indicates Asha Sharma who has just succeeded Phil Spencer (retired) at the head of Microsoft Gaming. In addition to being backwards compatible with PC games, the future machine should also be compatible with digital distributors Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG and Battle.net.

Great start to the morning with Team Xbox, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox including Project Helix, the code name for our next generation console.
Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. Looking forward to chatting about… pic.twitter.com/Xx5rpVnAZI
— Asha (@asha_shar) March 5, 2026

Enough to offer it an unrivaled catalog in terms of depth. The GDC, or Game Developers Conference (renamed GDC Festival of Gaming in 2026), which is to take place from March 9 to 13 in San Francisco, should allow Microsoft to further lift the veil on its projects.

In the meantime, there is urgency. Rumors around the future console Sony PlayStation 6 have been multiplying since the end of 2025. If these are only speculations, not confirmed by the Japanese manufacturer, the replacement for the PS5 which undermines the Xbox Series X could be marketed between 2028 and 2029. The race between Microsoft and Sony has just started.