As Nintendo cancels its annual E3 presentation, Richard Hayden wonders if there’s more at work than simple cost-cutting strategies
Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox: "This is a summary of my Xbox Developer Summit keynote address, delivered March 11 at the 2026 Game Developer Conference."
This sounds awesome, can’t wait for more details.
“Project Helix is powered by a custom AMD SoC”
RIP the rumors saying this was just off the shelf hardware and built by ASUS.
“we’re committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come. As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we’ll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past.”
Interested to hear more about this too
I’ve got a 5090 in my PC. MS will need to give me a serious reason to buy their next console. It will potentially be the first Xbox console I don’t buy. If they go back to exclusivity then I’m in.
Technically, you will automatically have a next Gen Xbox simply by enabling the Xbox full screen experience app on you PC in April.
If you have an RTX 5090 PC, I am not sure why you would bother with console gaming.
If you are still gaming on consoles, then exclusive games are likely not the main reason because the last major PlayStation exclusive launched in October 2025. It would mean your PS5 was powered off this whole time.
You likely see value in console gaming because of the convenience of gaming on a couch in front of your TV. It is also more likely that friends you meet in the real world will have a console versus a gaming PC. If Microsoft can create a console that gives you access to your PC games from your couch, you may find that type of experience compelling.
I am making a lot of assumptions, but perhaps you can shed some light on this based on your perspective.
Xbox is just a PC going forward.
[The Verge] “Microsoft says you should build next-gen Xbox games by building them for PC“
They are creating so much confusion which is never good for consumers. What it is is a pre-built PC. It will either stream old Xbox games or play the PC version via Xbox Anywhere. Xbox going forward is an app that runs on top of Windows 11. It is the Xbox Experience App. If you don't have a PC you can buy the prebuilt PC which will be running on the AMD SoC. If you do have a PC when the Xbox mode launches in Windows 11 in April... you have the next Gen Xbox. Congrats.
I see it differently, it’s actually way simpler now. If you have a PC, you know it runs Windows and you can just use that as an Xbox. And if you want a dedicated Xbox box that plays both PC and Xbox games, you get the Xbox box. It’s a specially branded hardware piece, but this Helix news is just announcing that every PC is now an Xbox in that same storefront ecosystem. Not many difficult choices there.
It's just simpler now because if you have a PC, you know it most probably runs Windows and you will be able to use that as an Xbox. And if you want a dedicated Xbox box that has PC games and Xbox games, you just get the Xbox box. It’s a specially branded hardware piece, but this Helix news is basically announcing that every PC on the market can be an Xbox in that same storefront ecosystem
PS5 and XSX games are built on PC first today. This is nothing new.
Wolverine even had a PC leak and it’s not even out on PS5 yet
So.......a pc that can also play old gen Xbox games. No native Helix games just pure PC via Windows Store/Xbox app that will be optimized for helix and access to Steam, Uplay, EA Launcher, GOG, Epic Games. So like I predicted a a few days ago. A PC with a built in series x for BC or some form of emulation.
As a PC owner and a owner of a Series X. Absolute zero interest in this. However, I'm interested in Xbox Mode on PC they are releasing. I wonder if they will allow you to play your digital Xbox library of games on a normally PC at some point now that's what I'm interested.
At a big internal Q&A session, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hosted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, discussing the "long" vision for Xbox's future.
For the trolsl that can’t read between the lines supporting gaming doesn’t mean making consoles.
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“ He also noted that gaming remains one of Microsoft's biggest capital investments,”
This reflects what I been saying Xbox can’t afford exclusivity anymore and who will buy a console without exclusive games, well we know at least 1 that will buy a Xbox console without exclusive games exclusive games 😂 🤷🏿
Xbox next gen console has been announced - something you said wouldnt happen
Where’s the PS6 announcement!? Sony might be leaving hardware!
Providing PlayStation and Switch and PC keep doing well. Microsoft will keep releasing games.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If they want to at least attempt to compete next gen they literally need to have exclusives for Xbox Helix. They themselves said "return to Xbox", I mean what does that entail? Next Halo, Blade (though it'll be cross gen but still) and Elder Scrolls need to launch titles and build momentum from there. It's not about List wars or console warring or anything like that. How else are they suppose to compete? People look at 3 things, price, the games and features. They don't have price from the rumors they do have the games and probably have some cool features. Have their marketing top notch marketing. I think they're gonna get rid of this is an xbox, no console required campaigns. Which is necessary if you're "going back to Xbox" Asha said to be making plans, flexible but stern apparently internal "excitement" idc about so much her, I'm Looking at Satya as he's the one who signs off on everything.
I don't care about fluff words and PR. Only results and actions. Again I'll be extremely surprised if they actually change and improve things. At the end of a generation we need all 3 in tact. I trust Nintendo and Sony ro come out strong it's Xbox that shoots themselves to near extinction every gen
@lighting: “ At the end of a generation we need all 3 in tact. I trust Nintendo and Sony ro come out strong it's Xbox that shoots themselves to near extinction every gen”
I totally agree with you there and will add that valve will be able to pick up Xbox ball and run with i, PlayStation started small as well between two monsters in Nintendo and SEGA If valve play their card right they can win a lot of people and became Sony competitor as you said price will be the biggest issue if valve can undercut Sony and Microsoft or make the strongest console with a premium PC like price only time will tell.
Valves machine doesn't play The top most popular games like Fortnite Minecraft, Roblox with out a work even certain sports games. With out those games the Steam Machine is a sitting duck.
I will give Xbox the benefit of the doubt this time given they are under new leadership and be on the lookout for more news on Project helix.
As someone who owns a Series X and PS5, if you only own a series X, you will not be hurting for games because the exclusive release cadence on playstation is slow this generation. At most you will have to put up with the timed 3rd party exclusives the playstation gets for the biggest games. I think part of the problem was with Phil Spencer. Throughout this generation, I have always heard about how Sony will assist 3rd party developers to bring games to Playstation and at the same time, you hear complaints from developers about no support from Xbox.
The Xbox is not in it's current position because it could not put up a fight against Playstation, it is because their previous CEO didn't want to. He would say you can't out console Sony.
I am not worried too much about Xbox not having any exclusives going forward because if the new console can play PC games and it is open, there will be hundreds of games available that are not on consoles.
I also noticed some hypocrisy with gaming media and some YouTube gamers. They will say if Xbox is going to release a console that can play PC gamers and cannot be upgraded, why won't people just buy a PC, yet when they are talking about the Steam machine, they show immense interest in that dispite it likely being a lower powered machine compared to the PC they use to edit and upload their Videos.
Digital Foundry : Last week, new Microsoft CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that the next generation Xbox operates under the codename of Project Helix and that it runs both Xbox and PC games. More intriguing is confirmation that Vice President of Next-Gen - Jason Ronald - is hosting a presentation at GDC 2026 dubbed "Building for the Future with Xbox".
And this is what we want to know.
I'd love it if they are able to add all the missing previous gen games into the new and improved backwards compatibility program. Looking forward to more info as it comes closer to release.
lol
Sony/Microsoft: "Give us your lunch money"
Nintendo: "Please...just take it......don't touch me, I bruise easily"
I joke, I joke :)
E3 is on it's way out, and has been losing its place in the gaming industry for the last couple years to events such as PAX. Being closed to the public limits the core audience, the ones who buy the games, from being able to go hands on. At the end of the day it's not the industry folks who are buying the bulk of the games, whiich are why events like PAX are overshadowing E3. So why should Nintendo bother with E3 anymore if it's no longer working for them?
If E3 opens their doors to the public Nintendo will come back in full force, until then their Nintendo Direct videos, and their city tours are a much better way to speak to their audience than some extravagant press showing.
too bad e3 sucks and is not open to the public
It could very well be. It's not like the two of them are producing brand new hardware that everyone's keeping an eye out for.