Next Xbox may cost $1,800
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The gist
Fortune reports Microsoft's next Xbox, Project Helix, is internally projected to cost consumers $1,200 to $1,800.
The unconfirmed figure would far exceed the 2020 Series X's $500 launch price.
Background
Microsoft is developing its next-generation console under the codename Project Helix, led by Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer earlier this year. Fortune's investigation by Sebastian Herrera, drawing on interviews with current and former Xbox employees and discussions with Sharma and other senior executives, produced the price projection. Console prices have climbed throughout the current generation, and memory shortages from the AI boom have quintupled DRAM and NAND costs, casting doubt on the timing and pricing of both Sony's and Microsoft's next-generation consoles.
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026Video Games Chronicle reports hardware insider KeplerL2's claim that the PS6's RAM and NAND storage alone could cost Sony more than $680 per console.
- Oct 20, 2026Fortune publishes an investigation reporting that the Helix console has internally been projected to cost consumers between $1,200 and $1,800, unless Microsoft decides to subsidize it.
- Oct 20, 2026Fortune reports Microsoft is targeting the 2028 holiday season for the next Xbox, with a next-generation handheld planned for the 2027 holidays.
- Oct 20, 2026Fortune reports Microsoft has moved up engineering deadlines on Project Helix and used AI to improve productivity.
- Oct 20, 2026Fortune reports the Xbox and Windows teams have clashed over Helix's software, with the Windows team wanting a trimmed-down Windows Home for the handheld and the Xbox group wanting a bespoke OS.
- Oct 20, 2026Fortune reports Sharma plans to overhaul Game Pass into an à la carte model and is weighing further layoffs, as division revenue fell 7% to $21.8 billion and its accounted margin dropped to 3%.
- Oct 20, 2026Microsoft denies that Xbox is for sale after private equity firms explored a purchase at $100 billion to $150 billion.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- Fortune's report, citing an internal projection, says Helix could cost consumers $1,200 to $1,800 unless Microsoft subsidizes the console.
- Official
- Sharma has said she wants to make Game Pass more affordable and that Helix is a "family" of devices, while Microsoft has positioned it as a "very premium, very high end" device akin to a powerful gaming PC.
- Caution
- An unnamed high-level executive, per people briefed on the clash, threatened to cancel the handheld altogether if it were forced to use Windows.
Still unverified
The $1,200-$1,800 figure is reportedly an internal projection, not a confirmed retail price; Microsoft could subsidize the console and component prices, specifications and manufacturing plans could change before launch. Microsoft has not officially confirmed the Project Helix name, the console, its specifications, the 2028 release window or the 2027 handheld window. The future of the next-gen Xbox handheld is in some doubt, as the Xbox and Windows teams are reportedly divided over how to make it.