Microsoft has confirmed what many have speculated: that its next-generation gaming console might be a hybrid piece of {hardware} that may play Xbox video games in addition to Home windows PC video games.
There aren’t but any particulars on a launch window, pricing or specs, however the brand new head of Microsoft’s gaming division, Xbox CEO Asha Shar, wrote in a post on X on Thursday that Venture Helix is the code identify and that “Venture Helix will lead in efficiency and play your Xbox and PC video games.”
Nice begin to the morning with Workforce Xbox, the place we talked about our dedication to the return of Xbox together with Venture Helix, the code identify for our subsequent era console.
Venture Helix will lead in efficiency and play your Xbox and PC video games. Wanting ahead to chatting about… pic.twitter.com/Xx5rpVnAZI— Asha (@asha_shar) March 5, 2026
The transfer may upend the standard console gaming market, the place Microsoft and the Xbox are a distinguished pressure, although lately it has lagged Sony with its PlayStation programs and Nintendo with its Change and Switch 2. PC gaming has been gaining traction: A report final yr famous that PC video games on the time outsold console video games (although this was earlier than the launch of the Change 2).
The Venture Helix information additionally appears to align with Sony’s latest choice to stop releasing single-player, first-party games to PC. Sony cited lackluster gross sales for video games it has launched to PC, similar to God of Struggle Ragnarök and Ratchet and Clank: Rift in Time. As Penny Arcade author and gaming pundit Jerry Holkins posted on X about Sony, “No purpose to place their heavy hitters in some place the place they run natively in your mortal enemy’s field.”
Microsoft has dabbled in mixing the Xbox and PC gaming worlds earlier than, providing an Xbox Ultimate Game Pass that provides entry to each Xbox and PC video games for a subscription charge. It considerably raised the value on that service in October.
Final yr, Microsoft additionally introduced a deal with AMD that may safe processors for its future merchandise, together with, presumably, Venture Helix.
With the timing of Venture Helix unknown, it is onerous to say whether or not huge price spikes for storage and RAM could have an effect on the value tag of a brand new Xbox console.
