Microsoft’s Next Xbox or Project Helix Has Apparently Been in the Pipeline For Around A Decade

Microsoft has recently unveiled their next gen version of the Xbox platform, codenamed Project Helix which will be designed as a PC-Console hybrid. However, it seems the core idea of Project Helix which is the convergence of both PC and Consoles into a single device, has been in the works for a decade, if not longer which is surprising in more ways than one.

Tom Warren, from The Verge, has recently pointed to a 2016 Article by Kotaku, which noted that Microsoft had been planning on a convergence device designed to be a fusion of both Xbox and Windows platforms. “Microsoft has been working on converging Xbox and Windows for more than a decade. Here’s Jason Schreier and Keza MacDonald in a Kotaku article from 2016 discussing the original Project Helix”.

The 2016 post from Kotaku had wrote the following:

“The two consoles form part of a wider Microsoft strategy, codenamed “Project Helix” according to one source, to converge Xbox and Windows. For a while now Microsoft has been clear that they want their two prestige brands to work together, as they’ve announced big new exclusives like Halo Wars 2 and Sea of Thieves for both Xbox One and PC. Developer sources have told us that Microsoft’s new mandate is to release future games–including the flagship Halo series–on both platforms. The recently-cancelled Fable Legends, which was playable across Windows 10 and Xbox One, was one of the first games to implement this strategy.”

Also, a recent post made by former Microsoft vice president of Windows and Xbox Mike Ybarra after the announcement of Project Helix indicate the device, or at least the idea of it, had indeed been a long time coming.

In another news of Project Helix, according to analyst and Kantan Games founder Dr. Serkan Toto, the next Xbox could cost as much as $900 or more, when it arrives.

“The PS5 Pro is $750 in the US, while the Xbox Series X with 2TB is [$800],” while adding that “There is absolutely no reason to expect Project Helix to be cheaper, so a base model could be priced at $900 and a more premium version at even more than that.”