Last summer, we here at Ars argued that the company’s next Xbox console should abandon the walled garden approach and already run Windows. Now, newly named Microsoft executive vice president for gaming Asha Sharma has strongly hinted that Microsoft is indeed headed in this direction, saying that its next-generation console will “run your Xbox and PC games.”
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Sharma said that “our commitment to the return of Xbox” will include a new console codenamed Project Helix that will “lead in the performance and playability of your Xbox and PC games.” Sharma said she will discuss that commitment, and that of the console, with developers and partners at its first Game Developers Conference next week.
Sharma’s statement leaves little scope for Project Helix to be anything other than a full Windows-based living room gaming box. For example, access to the upcoming console’s PC games may be limited to Microsoft’s existing streaming solution through PC Game Pass, or to games designed for Microsoft’s own Xbox-branded PC SDK and PC Xbox app.
Still, reading Sharma’s statement suggests that Microsoft is getting ready to open up its next console to full Windows installations, with the ability to play thousands of existing PC games. This doesn’t come as a complete shock, given that Microsoft already used the Xbox name for last year’s Windows-based ROG Xbox Alley (and its somewhat console-esque full-screen “Xbox Experience”). Microsoft is also slowly reducing the number of games solely exclusive to the Xbox console, undermining the value of a walled-off console platform (meanwhile, Sony has stepped back from its recent trend of releasing first-party titles on PC this week). Meanwhile, Valve’s upcoming Steam Machines is threatening to bring Windows-free PC gaming into living rooms everywhere in the near future.
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