New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reiterated plans for Xbox Project Helix to encompass a “family of devices” at a recent company town hall meeting, describing a new generation with a console at its center but also with options for players “on the go,” seemingly in the vein of portable systems like Valve’s Steam Deck or Nintendo’s Switch 2.
In a meeting transcript shared with Windows Central, Sharma says, “We are moving to a family of devices for Gen-10,” the hardware generation which will cover the PS6 and whatever Xbox Helix ends up being. We’re currently in Gen 9, but as ever these generations remain loosely defined.
“There is not one device that fits all. We will certainly have a great console first, but we also know that many players will be on the go,” she continues, repeating assertions that Xbox consoles remain load-bearing for the brand despite concerns about its shift to a publisher-lite role.
In separate comments that notably follow years of multiplatform efforts which have now ended in seismic layoffs and closures across Xbox studios, Sharma admits the brand doesn’t have “the right” to aim beyond console if its core user base, its “most valuable players,” can’t be treated “the right way.”
Returning to hardware, Sharma adds, “There are some things that we are the best in the world to manufacture, and there are other things that [we will] partner on.” This reads as her tipping her hat to the third-party hardware manufacturers who will actually make the implied Xbox handheld. “So, we will be sharing more about that as our plans develop. The operating system is starting to look really good. We’re very excited about this.”
Much of this echoes discussion around the ROG Xbox Ally, which increasingly looks like Xbox dipping its toes into the portable PC market before putting more resources behind an entire generation of bespoke hardware.
Details remain scarce, but this portable Helix device sounds closer to a Steam Deck or Steam Machine arrangement – an operating system in a box which will also play PC games – than something like the Nintendo Switch.
It’s also unclear how this device will, as Sharma has repeatedly urged, tackle the affordability crisis facing new consoles.