Project Helix’s operating system is being built on Windows, says Scott Van Vliet, Xbox’s chief technology officer (CTO). He disputes part of a report on Microsoft’s next Xbox hardware in an X post, replying to a write-up of it:
Helix OS is being built on Windows, and the XBOX and Windows teams are working closely together on the next generation of devices. The account cited here misrepresents both the technical work and the relationship between the teams.
Fortune reported that the Xbox and Windows teams clashed over what software should run Helix. Windows leaders wanted the upcoming handheld to use a trimmed-down Windows Home, while Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s team sought to build and control its own software for the best gaming performance.
A senior Xbox executive even threatened to scrap the handheld rather than adopt the Windows build according to the same report. Xbox now largely controls the direction of the operating system, the report added, though Sharma stresses that the two teams still collaborate closely: “We can’t build Helix on our own.”
Van Vliet doesn’t address the report’s 2027 handheld and 2028 console plans, or the Helix console’s internal price projection of $1,200 to $1,800 (about Php 76,100 to 114,100) without a subsidy.
In any case, we’ll take “working closely together” over a scrapped handheld any day. The world needs a real Xbox handheld gaming console within our lifetimes.
