Xbox announces "Project Helix", their next generation console for Xbox and PC games

Kioku · Mar 9, 2026

Xzi said:
Thing is, you can just as easily flip this logic on its head by calling PS5 a Linux PC and Switch/Switch 2 an Android tablet, with their full potential being locked behind modding/hacking. The lines will blur even further once Valve releases the Steam Frame with Proton for ARM. We're quickly approaching a point where gaming is gaming, without the need to put any qualifier in front of it. Game streaming will continue to get poo'd on with good reason, sure, but that's a different subject.

No. Not even close, don't move the goal posts please.

The PS5 and Nintendo Switch, in official capacity, are gaming consoles. This is the crux of the argument here, being "official". The unofficial ports of other OSes is not the same thing as them being officially a PC or Android tablet. You'd have been better off bringing up the PS3, but even that is a slippery slope.

I agree, wholeheartedly, with the last bit. As much disdain as I have toward the notion, that's where we are headed. 10 years ago it was a dream for platforms to intersect and coexist at a proper level. We came close, but I'm not sure we want that now with less companies not being under the "big business" umbrella.

The Steam Frame is exciting for your very reason. However, it still sounds like it's running a full Steam OS just ARM? Need more information, though. For me it's akin to the Snapdragon processors for Windows laptop, which seems to have dropped off?

Xzi · Mar 9, 2026

Kioku said:
No. Not even close, don't move the goal posts please.

For clarification: PS5's OS is Linux-based. Xbox runs on Windows. Nintendo's OS is the most "original" of the three, but it's also the most simplistic and easiest to re-create on top of anything else. I'm not saying that consumers are gonna change the way they view these companies or their hardware overnight, but from an industry standpoint those lines have been blurring for at least two generations now.

Kioku · Mar 9, 2026

Xzi said:
For clarification: PS5's OS is Linux-based. Xbox runs on Windows. Nintendo's OS is the most "original" of the three, but it's also the most simplistic and easiest to re-create on top of anything else. I'm not saying that consumers are gonna change the way they view these companies or their hardware overnight, but from an industry standpoint those lines have been blurring for at least two generations now.

I don't disagree, but again, we're not talking about the what-ifs, or even the semantics of on OS. We're strictly talking about what these platforms are, what they're advertised as, and what they actually do in an official capacity. We remove the labels, and yeah, they're all computers at the core running some Unix/Linux based OS. That's just muddying the waters.

It'll be interesting to see if Sony and Nintendo change their trajectory and embrace the more open side, but if Microsoft removes their Xbox hardware from the equation, we are left with two players in the console wars, strictly speaking. Which may not bode well for us as consumers. It's bad enough that we're losing big media companies in these "mergers". All I can see is Nintendo becoming more complacent and Sony just coasting even further with their IPs.

Xzi · Mar 9, 2026

Kioku said:
I don't disagree, but again, we're not talking about the what-ifs, or even the semantics of on OS. We're strictly talking about what these platforms are, what they're advertised as, and what they actually do in an official capacity. We remove the labels, and yeah, they're all computers at the core running some Unix/Linux based OS. That's just muddying the waters.

It'll be interesting to see if Sony and Nintendo change their trajectory and embrace the more open side, but if Microsoft removes their Xbox hardware from the equation, we are left with two players in the console wars, strictly speaking. Which may not bode well for us as consumers. It's bad enough that we're losing big media companies in these "mergers". All I can see is Nintendo becoming more complacent and Sony just coasting even further with their IPs.

I think Sony wouldn't be backing away from PC ports if they weren't already a bit worried about Valve eating their lunch. Gonna take a long time to rebuild a solid library of worthwhile exclusives after they wasted this whole generation chasing live service fool's gold. And there's still the question of how many third-party devs will even be willing to sign exclusivity contracts with them going forward. Closing heavy hitters like Japan Studio and Bluepoint seems like a huge blunder.

tech3475 · Mar 9, 2026

Xzi said:
Xbox already is no longer providing significant competition in that space. It's also really hard to get people to switch to a new ecosystem when they've been buying games from Playstation or Nintendo for several generations, but Steam is a much more enticing alternative than Microslop's latest vibe-coded offerings.

What caused major shifts in the past though was one company ****ing up, so having Xbox as an alternative is a good thing considering Steam OS's weaknesses, even if it's just to keep Sony 'in check'.

Xzi said:
Increase their marketing? Indie games find more success on Steam than anywhere else, AAA publishers have the resources to run commercials on TV, Youtube, etc. For better or worse, retail is nearly dead with both Sony and Nintendo pushing for all-digital. Anti-cheat compatibility isn't in Valve's hands, but considering that even EA is moving in that direction, it's only a matter of time until the rest of the myopic publishers follow suit.

I'm talking about promoting the hardware/platform to the mass market consumer, something that would get say my typical customer more informed.

I doubt my average customer knows what the Steam Deck/Machine is, but they know what Playstation, Switch and Xbox is.

Xzi said:
The average gamer is now 30-40 years old, and SteamOS is a lot more simplified than even Windows, so that's not a big concern. It's also not like Steam needs to grow a customer base from nothing when it already has roughly 150 million active users. 20-30 million more migrating over from Xbox would just be the cherry on top.

But it lacks certain games which I know will put at least some people off buying into Steam OS, if anything I'd expect most of those people to switch to Playstation.

Windows on the Steam Deck requires specific drivers (can't even use the generic AMD APU drivers), dual booting can be problematic e.g. installing 24H2 actually broke Steam OS and I wouldn't be surprised to hear complaints about needing to pay extra for Windows to play more games.

Fun fact: By default the Steam Deck's UEFI will prioritise any Windows installation and you can't easily change the priority. Even with refind sometimes that can break and I have to manually boot into Steam OS.

edit:

Also, where I work we still get allot of people use cash/gift vouchers, so retail does still have it's uses. Before anyone responds with 'buy Steam gift vouchers', there may be restrictions on the amount/value of the cards and you may not be able to use gift vouchers to buy gift vouchers thanks to the amount of scams going around, especially with older customers.

Xzi · Mar 9, 2026

tech3475 said:
I'm talking about promoting the hardware/platform to the mass market consumer, something that would get say my typical customer more informed.

I doubt my average customer knows what the Steam Deck/Machine is, but they know what Playstation, Switch and Xbox is.

Fair enough. I'm guessing they initially planned to do a wider marketing push on release of Steam Machine/Frame/Controller, but shelved the idea once the reality of the component market set in. They're probably not going to be able to keep anything in stock for long even with just current Steam users knowing about it.

tech3475 said:
But it lacks certain games which I know will put at least some people off buying into Steam OS, if anything I'd expect most of those people to switch to Playstation.

From Valve's perspective I'm sure they'd love to get as many new users on board as possible, but from my old grumpy man perspective I say let Playstation have the live service kiddies. COD and Fortnite are the epitome of everything wrong with modern gaming, imagine buying the same $70 game every year just to spend another $100+ on MTX for it. Meanwhile Slay the Spire 2 and Mewgenics will give you 1000 hours of content for a grand total of $50. And for true multiplayer connoisseurs there's still plenty to choose from, like Deadlock and Street Fighter 6.

tech3475 · Mar 9, 2026

Xzi said:
From Valve's perspective I'm sure they'd love to get as many new users on board as possible, but from my old grumpy man perspective I say let Playstation have the live service kiddies. COD and Fortnite are the epitome of everything wrong with modern gaming, imagine buying the same $70 game every year just to spend another $100+ on MTX for it. Meanwhile Slay the Spire 2 and Mewgenics will give you 1000 hours of content for a grand total of $50. And for true multiplayer connoisseurs there's still plenty to choose from, like Deadlock and Street Fighter 6.

Games like COD, Fortnite and FC are not my thing, the problem though is that consumers do still lap them up.

I know people who bought PS5/Series X more or less exclusively for FIFA/FC and the annual titles can be amongst our largest game deliveries at work.

Fornite I can't see coming due to Tim, but I do think that if EA does officially support Linux that could definitely help Valve/SteamOS combined with a decent marketing push towards a wider market and maybe go retail.

That said, if Valve delay the SM for too long, I do wonder if they risk the hardware starting to become outdated, especially now with talks of next gen hardware releasing.

Reecey · Mar 10, 2026

I think what Microsoft will do is make this new console and they will also make exclusive component parts for it under the same banner name so you can install and upgrade the console in the future by buying the parts same as you would a PC cpu, gpu, ram, storage but much more convenient, faster and easier way to install the parts also I’m assuming it will be under the Windows OS

Skv0ra · Mar 10, 2026

Halo and Gears were 2-decade glue that held M$ together, and they botched both. Nintenderp will always be a Poke-access of a company with Melda Kong Kart in tow for absolute casual demographic and fanboiiiiiiiiz n girrrrrz. Sony once again holds Monster Hunter and Gran Turismo, and Forza is almost completely out of gas like Gear of Halo. M$ is absolutely dead unless they muster up some new, epic, and exclusive title to rival Halo in its hay day, but at the same time they offer much bigger products than games to honestly even need to bother, kinda like Crucial is doing with ram.

Plus even outside of Steam toys, PCs are almost at a consumer performance plateau and cheaper, older rigs and laptops can pull just about any game you throw at em for the next decade and rival console pricing, so more and more people will just learn wtf folders and a mouse is if they get tired of Sony or Nin.

Skelletonike · Mar 11, 2026

Yeah, Xbox is dead to me as a brand.
I'll be definitely be selling my series X this weekend, Cex buys them for 350€, I only paid a bit more than that so I can live with it.

Guess I will be sticking to Playstation and Nintendo consoles.

Danster75 · Mar 12, 2026

Skelletonike said:
Yeah, Xbox is dead to me as a brand.
I'll be definitely be selling my series X this weekend, Cex buys them for 350€, I only paid a bit more than that so I can live with it.

Guess I will be sticking to Playstation and Nintendo consoles.

Skv0ra said:
Halo and Gears were 2-decade glue that held M$ together, and they botched both. Nintenderp will always be a Poke-access of a company with Melda Kong Kart in tow for absolute casual demographic and fanboiiiiiiiiz n girrrrrz. Sony once again holds Monster Hunter and Gran Turismo, and Forza is almost completely out of gas like Gear of Halo. M$ is absolutely dead unless they muster up some new, epic, and exclusive title to rival Halo in its hay day, but at the same time they offer much bigger products than games to honestly even need to bother, kinda like Crucial is doing with ram.

Plus even outside of Steam toys, PCs are almost at a consumer performance plateau and cheaper, older rigs and laptops can pull just about any game you throw at em for the next decade and rival console pricing, so more and more people will just learn wtf folders and a mouse is if they get tired of Sony or Nin.

I agree. Imo Project Helix, if it even sees the light of day, is the last twitch before rigor mortis sets in. I do wish for healthy competition but Xbox has next to nothing going for it anymore.

Skv0ra · Mar 14, 2026

Danster75 said:
I agree. Imo Project Helix, if it even sees the light of day, is the last twitch before rigor mortis sets in. I do wish for healthy competition but Xbox has next to nothing going for it anymore.

I also feel, that in the extreme irony, M$ that previously pioneered most of real, aka PC, gaming and entirety of early online multiplayer for solid 2 decades, up and decided to jump into the silly console wars head first to a point of essentially abandoning their primary game front and ceded the throne to a silly game dev that created but a stupid marketplace that ended up swallowing PC scene entirely. Pushing Xbox Live Gold subs, on PC, was the dumbest move in gaming history IMO even though it sent Xbox profits through the roof in Halo's hay day.

gibbotheglobbo · Mar 14, 2026

the fact they made someone who works in the AI department CEO of Microsoft Gaming is diabolical

JuanMena · Mar 15, 2026

Beyond Good and Evil 2 would probably be a Launch Title for this console !?

ZeroT21 · Mar 18, 2026

gibbotheglobbo said:
the fact they made someone who works in the AI department CEO of Microsoft Gaming is diabolical

They're just cannibalizing the gaming division to their AI aspirations or whatever that is

KYSmooth69 · Apr 2, 2026

But can it be modded

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