Following the departure of Phil Spencer, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is pushing for a larger Xbox presence on PC. Alongside the new head’s urge to bring the Xbox brand out of the gutter its sat in for the entirely of this generation, it appears that the long-mismanaged Xbox brand might finally be getting a chance at a second wind.
As PC gaming continues to dominate the sales percentages of almost every modern release these days, it does appear that some console companies are running scared. PlayStation, for example, is reportedly moving its single-player exclusives away from PC while maintaining the release of live-service multiplayer games on the platform. Xbox, on the other hand, is scaling up its presence.
In a recent announcement, Sharma admitted that “players are frustrated” with the Xbox brand, reiterating that the company’s next-generation Project Helix will combine the Xbox console and PC ecosystem into a more simplified, cohesive platform while Xbox also attempts to make the current Series X/S platform worth buying.
“New feature drops on console have been less frequent. Our presence on PC isn’t strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social, and personalisation still feel too fragmented. Developers and publishers are asking for more, too: better tools, better insights, and a platform that helps them grow faster.”
With this in mind, Sharma explained that the future of Xbox is “affordable, personal, and open”, seemingly hinting towards the multiple PC-based Project Helix boxes that will be launching next-generation. While Xbox will be created its default specification offering, other manufactures will be able to make their own Xbox PCs targeting other price points, similar to Valve’s original Steam Machine back in 2015.
Additionally, the Xbox head explained that “Windows now represents more players and more hours and is increasingly where competition is most intense” as “players have access to more games than ever”. While the CEO mentioned subscriptions services and live games—specifically mentioning Roblox—it seems that the next generation of Xbox is being built around the core issue of affordability in both the console and PC space.
Finally, Sharma explained that Xbox’s gaming presence must also increase in the form of software. Since the Xbox One generation, Microsoft has frequently dropped the ball in terms of new games with seemingly more cancellations than releases. Last year’s cancellation of Perfect Dark, Everwild, Project Blackbird, and more was a huge blow to an already botched release schedule. Sharma also confirmed that Xbox is currently working to improve its “five year slate” which will hopefully result in released games instead of empty announcements.
Right now, the gaming giant is seemingly primed for its best software slate in a decade with the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved, Forza Horizon 6, Gears of War: E-Day, and Fable all set to launch across 2026.
