All the usual pundits are pulling their hair out over a recent blockbuster Fortune story from this week detailing what the next-gen Xbox console will supposedly cost. That rumored price point doesn’t matter nearly as much as the other big news: the company’s first self-made Xbox handheld sounds like the gaming device we really need right now.
Xbox’s Project Helix—its next-gen console that’s supposed to combine console and PC gaming under one roof—is “projected to cost consumers between $1,200 and $1,800, unless Microsoft decides to subsidize the cost,” according to Fortune. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has repeatedly intoned that few people will buy an Xbox if it costs so much. You can try to tell a player they’ll have access to the OG Xbox, Xbox 360, and current console catalog as well as PC games. It will still be hard for any player’s budget to justify.
The online riff-raff are missing the forest for the trees. Xbox reportedly has its console slated for the end of 2028. That’s two years away, and Xbox could easily change its plans in between now and then. Xbox is likely pushing its console release back in order to see how memory prices shake out over the next few years. In that time, it has to fill the space, and that’s where the Xbox handheld comes into play.
Fortune doesn’t offer much in the way of details about what this device is, how much it will cost, or its promised performance. Instead, reporter Sebastian Herrera tells us we can expect it to hit the scene in late 2027.
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