Project Helix: Fortune points to a price of up to $1,800 and a late-2028 launch

The business publication Fortune has published an interview with Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, alongside a feature on the company's strategy for the coming years. As reported by Eurogamer España, the source of the information behind this article, the US outlet claims that Project Helix would be priced at up to $1,800 and that Xbox is preparing to launch it toward the end of 2028.

The news matters for two reasons. The first is the figure: if confirmed, we would be looking at a price bracket far removed from what has historically been understood as a living-room console. The second is the timeline: talking about late 2028 means there are still more than two years to go, a huge window in which Xbox's own strategy could change several times. For a community like ours, which invests in hardware with competitive performance in mind, this is worth reading calmly and without overreacting.

What you need to know

• The source is Fortune, via an interview with Asha Sharma and a feature on Xbox's strategy. It is not an official Microsoft announcement.
• The price mentioned is a ceiling: the report talks about up to $1,800, not a single price or a specific configuration.
• The date is approximate: the launch is placed toward the end of 2028, with no specific day or month.
• None of this has been confirmed publicly by Xbox in the text reported by Eurogamer España, so everything could still change.

A price that breaks with tradition

The most striking part of the report is the figure. A ceiling of $1,800 puts Project Helix in territory that until now belonged to high-end PCs and workstations, not the machines you plug into the TV in your living room. The key word here is up to: it is reasonable to assume there will be configurations below that ceiling, but the source does not detail them and we are not going to invent them.

The editorial context also matters. Fortune is not a gaming outlet but a business publication interviewing the CEO of Xbox about corporate strategy. That explains why the focus is on figures, time horizons and market positioning rather than technical specifications, exclusives or specific features. Any reading on power, backward compatibility or game library is, for now, speculation.

What we still don't know

The available information does not clarify exactly what form Project Helix will take, which components would justify that price, or how it will be positioned against PC and its direct competitors. There are also no details on launch regions or on pricing in euros or other currencies, something relevant for a community spread across the Americas and Europe, where taxes and logistics tend to make any direct conversion more expensive.

Who it affects

For competitive players, the question is simple: is it worth waiting until 2028, or should you keep investing in PC? At that price range, Project Helix would stop being the affordable way into the usual games and would start competing for the same budget as a high-end tower. That changes the conversation: it is no longer console versus PC, but which ecosystem offers better performance, lower latency and better support for the titles we play in tournaments.

For content creators the takeaway is similar. An expensive device can justify its price if it simplifies the capture, streaming and editing workflow, but the source says nothing about that. Until Xbox provides specifics, any investment plan should keep relying on what already works today.

Our take

At Underworld Lordz, we struggle to look favorably on a ceiling of $1,800, even if we understand the market logic that may lie behind it. Our community is growing in Latin America and Spain, where that price, once converted and with taxes added, drifts even further from what most players can afford. If Xbox wants its next hardware to have a real presence in Spanish-speaking competitive scenes, it will need far more reasonable entry-level configurations, and it will need to announce them soon.

That said, we are also wary of overreacting. The figure comes from a business feature, it is a maximum, and it is more than two years away. We have seen too many times how a headline with a high price turns into something very different when the official announcement arrives. What does seem like a clear signal is the direction: Xbox appears to be betting on a premium product that moves closer to PC, and for anyone who competes, that could be interesting if the performance delivers and the competitive gaming ecosystem is taken seriously.

Our practical recommendation is simple. If you are thinking about upgrading your setup to compete or create content, do not put off the decision because of a rumor dated 2028. Decide based on what exists today and keep an eye on what Xbox officially confirms.

What do you think?

A ceiling of $1,800 and a launch toward the end of 2028 give us plenty to talk about, and we want to hear from the community: would you pay that price for Xbox hardware if it guaranteed PC-level performance, or would you rather keep backing your own tower? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.