Xbox Project Helix 主机家族推迟至 Holiday 2028 发售，内部预估成本 1200 至 1800 美元

0-20%: Unlikely - Lacks credible sources
21-40%: Questionable - Some concerns remain
41-60%: Plausible - Reasonable evidence
61-80%: Probable - Strong evidence
81-100%: Highly Likely - Multiple reliable sources

80%

Probable

Fortune has just published a big new feature on Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, and it's a doozy. Among a lot of fluff, there are several newsworthy tidbits, starting with the report that the Project Helix family of consoles will debut in Holiday 2028.

This would debunk earlier rumors from hardware insiders that Microsoft (and Sony) were still targeting a Holiday 2027 release, having already planned to start manufacturing relatively soon. Microsoft does have a new Xbox hardware scheduled to launch in Holiday 2027, though: a next-generation handheld. More worryingly, the Fortune article also reports that Helix is internally projected to cost between $1200 and $1800 unless Microsoft chooses to subsidize it, exceeding even the previous $1000+ estimates for the upcoming hardware. This would be an unprecedented price for this market, potentially turning the console into a luxury item. Finally, Fortune backs earlier reporting that suggests Sharma is considering a brand-new à la carte structure for the Game Pass subscription service, featuring "add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer".

The hardware and subscription shake-ups would be only the latest pieces of a much broader Xbox reset under Sharma, who took over from Phil Spencer in February. Since then, Xbox has begun reversing several defining policies of the previous leadership, from its multiplatform publishing push to the basic Game Pass economics.

The restructuring has also come at a considerable human cost. Microsoft announced plans in July to eliminate 3200 Xbox jobs, of which 1868 positions have already been cut in the layoff rounds we covered extensively. Sharma has reduced management layers and redirected resources away from smaller studios toward Xbox's biggest franchises and publishing groups, aiming to deliver major releases more frequently.

Exclusivity is another major departure. Xbox has returned to platform-exclusive releases, starting with Gears of War: E-Day (which performed poorly, though), while reportedly surveying players about potentially broader restrictions involving franchises such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Those survey questions are not confirmed publishing commitments, but they illustrate how extensively the company is reconsidering its strategy.

Recently, Sharma also opened the XP transmedia division dedicated to bringing game IPs to other media, and the Xbox Labs division, which will leverage AI technologies for experimentation.

About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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