Rumor: Xbox Handheld to Launch by Holiday 2027, Next-Gen Console to Launch in 2028 for $1,200+ - News
by William D'Angelo , posted 3 days ago / 2,872 Views
A new report from Fortune is claiming to have details on the future of Xbox and what the company is planning for the next-generation Xbox, Project Helix.
The claim is Xbox will first release a next-generation handheld by holiday 2027 and the next-generation console by the 2028 holiday season. This is according to people familiar with Xbox's strategy.
The price of the next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, has internally been projected to cost consumers between $1,200 and $1,800, unless Microsoft subsidizes the console.
Xbox is also reportedly planning a major overhaul of Xbox Game Pass that will let "players choose features à la carte, including add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer, with the system operating on a tiered structure."
This should be treated as a rumor until an official announcement is made.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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bet there will be no scalpers or hardware shortages next gen, lol
So are both Sony and Microsoft bringing out handhelds next gen? haha. Reminds me of both of them trying out motion controls after Nintendo had such success with it.
$1200-$1800 lol, so they are shooting for selling less than the WiiU.
If true, I feel like this is just them wasting money on a whole hardware R&D and production cycle simply to prove to Microsoft that Xbox is deader than dead so that they can finally move fully to Xbox Game Pass software service free of any specific hardware.
If they just rein in their scope maybe?
What if both console makers just say no to the idea of releasing console with just more power (although Sony doesn't usually only focus on that) but instead just aim to appeal in different ways?
Graphics are a diminishing return right now, so why bother? Go the Nintendo route (maybe not as handhelds) and do more refined games made to utilise what you have already, even if this means PS6 is a hybrid unit.
They're offering optional handhelds because games are scalable enough to run on handhelds these days. Not making handhelds is literally leaving money on the table. No one is copying Nintendo. It's just an inevitable move that makes perfect sense.
Microsoft's model will be a straight SteamDeck copy. Sony's model is slightly different as it won't be a branded PC, but it will still be closer to SteamDeck than a Switch. When Nintendo makes a home console version of Switch 2 or Switch 3 (which would also make sense if they want to max out install/userbase), it wouldn't be a "Vita TV copy" either. These are just common sense moves.
Dead on arrival.
PS6 was also leaked at $1200 recently, with the SSD and RAM alone reportedly costing Sony $680, before CPU, GPU, motherboard, power supply, frame, case, bundled controller, and manufacturing & shipping costs.
So either they are both dead on arrival, or people just accept the new normal and buy them (though likely still at lower volume than Xbox Series and PS5 sold at launch). Still not sure which will happen,
If prices of consoles hit this level of expense, what will happen is the game industry will continue on, but as you said, at a much lower volume. We will see it contract back to somewhere around fourth-gen numbers (30-40 million range). The real wild card is of course AI. They're all going full AI slop on us, and the ones who aren't, are still going to be using it to generate content... and we all know how youth feels about that. How will it impact gaming? Too soon to tell, but it ain't look purdy. That's for darn sure.
PS6 bill of Materials was still sub-$1000 at the last reliable leak. It might be higher now, not sure, but it was initially ~$760.
The PS6 will almost certainly not be released at $1200.
BoM of $1000 could be reasonably subsidised to maybe $800 if Sony are being aggressive.
Yeah, it would appear that since the earlier leaks of $800 forPS6 ($760 bill of materials and $40 logistics costs) and $1000-1200 for Helix, the entire SSD + RAM price explosion happened, I thought the original leaks were halfway through the price explosion, but it seems those $800 and $1000-1200 figures were pre-price explosion, which is why they have gone up to $1200 PS6 ($680 on RAM and SSD alone) and $1200-1600 Helix now (Xbox price increase seems to have increased relatively less because it was originally supposed to have more RAM than PS6 and they cut their RAM order due to the price explosions and will now have the same amount of RAM as PS6).
Both of them definitely are going to need to subsidize like $200 of their price tags away and do strong bundles with exclusives and major 3rd party marketing deal games and such, this will need to be a lean gen for both of them in profit margin or else volume sales will be so low that releasing at all feels pointless. They're both going to have to subsidize hardware and make up the loss on software sales, just like Sony had to do with PS3 in the past.
Depends if its also a PC...
1200-1800 would be cheap for a PC within that rumored power lvl
Also, the PS5 is currently projected to be 1200 or more as well
Either way, I imagine most will hold off on next gen and many will buy a NS2 for the time being
True, the specs that leaked for Helix are pretty high, a Zen 6 CPU with 3 big Zen 6 cores and 8 low power use Zen 6c cores, an RDNA 5 GPU equivalent to the 3rd or 4th strongest PC GPU on the market right now in October 2026, originally 36-48 GB RAM was being considered by Xbox according to leaks but they reportedly dropped to considering 24-32 GB RAM after the RAM price explosion, a dedicated 110 TOPS NPU (Neural Processing Unit) that can be used to supplement the GPU on AI tasks like upscaling resolution or frame generation through AMD's FSR Diamond.
I hope they subsidize or have a cheaper Helix S console available that still beats Series X in specs, because the pricing is insane for the casual gamers or even the average gamer, this is the price range of an enthusiast PC before the SSD and RAM price hike that was caused by AI. PS6 was similarly leaked as $1200 today. We're looking at the single largest gen to gen launch price hike in the history of consoles, I think the previous highest was PS2 to PS3, which was $300 to $500, a 66.66% price hike, $500 to $1200 would be a 140% price hike.
New video going over this report and the price of next-gen consoles. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHjwyRLbSA
DOA.
Playstation will need a great deal of effort and luck to score with a new "PSP", there's a small chance for Playstation.
That said, this is not the case for Xbox, it is a lost cause.
DOA, Sony has a fan base where some will buy a PS6, idiotic but we know it is true.
If we base it on the current market value... truth is, nobody can really predict if the market will continue to rise or if it will come down over the next year and half. I'm optimistic that things will cool. I'm already starting to see prices on various memory and drives come down, and not in a "sale / black friday" kind of way.
xbox is dead, nobody thinks of buying a xbox console anymore
it's either Switch, PS or Steam
nintendo is enjoying ruling the 10th gen and will continue as microsoft aint gonna even break 10m
Switch 2 is 9th gen, same gen as PS5
since it sells as much as PS5 each month, and gets the same games
it's too easy to spot xbots
Nah, that’s not how gens work, nes was 3rd, snes its successor was 4th, n64 was 5th, gamecube was 6th, wii was 7th, Wii U was 8th, switch was 9th and its successor switch 2 is 10th gen. Gens are successive, not based on competition. Unless a company is entering the market.
Because there were 2 generations of consoles before the Famicom, and not many people know it, but Nintendo took part in them too with the Color TV-Game console.
This is going to be a pretty tough time for the Xbox Series for the upcoming 2 years... Weekly numbers should drop below 10k worldwide before the next console launches.
And then add onto the fact that all their games will be AI-engineered and, well... my SNES and all my old consoles are looking better by the second.
Apple has just sold millions of its new $2,000+ iPhone Duo, so it's too soon to call anything "DOA" these days. Even the Switch 2 was called "DOA" for being a bargain at $450.
Xbox's problem will always be that it has no brand strength, no games, and generally no reason for being. PlayStation gets away with it because it has no serious competition.
In the unlikely event that Xbox were to get its act together and make a compelling console with great games (a la the Xbox 360), people would happily buy it irrespective of the cost.
TBF a phone has a ton more uses than a video game console (which isn't even capable of playing all available games... you still need a Switch 2 for your MarioKart and Zelda, for instance). Though I do agree that there is a sect of consumers, although more niche, who will do whatever it takes to make ends meet.
What about the Xbox 360?
But Xbox Series is already dead at ~35 million being in the hundreds of dollars. A video game system is not a phone. Well off people ain't gonna buy a super expensive xbox as a status symbol, like they will do with a phone that they carry around everywhere.
I thoght the Xbox ROG Ally was the Xbox handheld. Or is this new one meant as a successor to it?
I think both playstation and xbox leaders need to sit over a cup of coffee and both agree to release future consols at a much later date. Like 5 years minimum
Even in about 2 years, $1200 is DOA unless they have an official payment plan which will soften some of the blow but not most of it.
We're past the unadjusted for inflation prices of 3DO and Neo Geo AES. And even when inflation has brought those prices up to around $1,500 it's still closer than we'd hope. We're seriously looking at a $1000 PS6 and a similar or greater cost for Helix.
Still too soon to release a new console. 2030+ would make more sense.
Its too soon from our perspective as gamers but the console makers are in a difficult position.
1) Theyve invested millions on R&D and if they dont release in 27/28 then said product will be relatively outdated in comparison to gpu tech and not something they could release in the 2030s. Theyd have to scrap the product and waste 100s of millions of dollars of investment only to have to spend a similar amount on a newly developed spec to carry a next generation through the 2030s. Also gotta remember that delaying a few years might not make things any cheaper. Unless worldwide chip production facilities expand enabling a significant increase in supply then components could end up being more expensive as more of the current supply is hogged by A.I. So basically aged 2026 vintage tech that youve gotta launch in the 2030s for sky high prices could be viewed as less sensible than selling top of the range tech in the now which would arguably be more appealing to most
2) They'll have signed contracts with chipmakers to reserve production capacity and a commitment for said chipmakers to produce a certain volume. So Sony would have to absorb costs associated with keeping a production line idle and also renegotiation fees as well.
So its a tough call to make.
