"Fans should brace for an expensive machine": Xbox Project Helix might arrive in 2028, analyst suggests – and it "could be priced at $900" at minimum

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"Fans should brace for an expensive machine": Xbox Project Helix might arrive in 2028, analyst suggests – and it "could be priced at $900" at minimum News By Ashley Bardhan Contributions from Austin Wood published 6 March 2026

Xbox is preparing for its next, next generation

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New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma gave us the tiniest sliver of a tease with her Twitter reveal of next-generation console Project Helix on March 5, but Kantan Games founder and industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto can at least make a few good guesses about what we should expect. Namely, he tells GamesRadar+ to prepare for another fat price tag by the time Project Helix launches in the, presumably, near future.

"It sounds like the memory price increase could (hopefully) be history by the time Project Helix goes into mass production," Toto says in reference to the global RAM shortages both delaying hardware production and driving up prices. "But fans should brace for an expensive machine in any case."

Toto observes, "The PS5 Pro is $750 in the US, while the Xbox Series X with 2TB is even $800. 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." That certainly seems in line with Xbox's recent pricing history – over the course of 2025 alone, the company bumped the price for its premium Xbox Series X 2TB console from $599.99 to $799.99. Ouch.

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Xbox seems to need the money. "After Sony annihilated Microsoft with the PS4, they did it again with the PS5 – so the pressure to come up with a new approach is clearly on Xbox," Toto tells us. "This generation is totally lost for Microsoft, so I believe a 2028 release date is realistic."

Whether or not 2028 will truly help mark Microsoft's "commitment to the return of Xbox," as Sharma said about Project Helix in her tease, however – that's something unpredictable.

Project Helix "might be Microsoft's last attempt to make their hardware business work," analyst suggests: "There is nobody in this industry who believes there will be another Xbox if this next machine fails."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Microsoft Xbox Game Studios CATEGORIES Xbox One Xbox Series X Platforms Xbox Ashley BardhanSocial Links NavigationSenior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

With contributions from

• Austin WoodSenior writer

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