Officially revealed under the codename Project Helixthe next hardware Xbox was presented by Asha Sharma as a machine capable of playing both Xbox and PC games. On social media, the CEO promised that “Project Helix will lead on performance and play your Xbox and PC games.” Enough to immediately fuel the fantasy of a home console that directly reads your libraries Steam And Epic Games Store under the TV.
But as the interviews continue, a gray area appears around the actual support of these PC stores. A recent discussion with the journalist Stephen Totilo for Game File suggests that native access to Steam and the Epic Games Store is far from certain, to the point that the new hybrid Xbox could ultimately remain focused on the Microsoft ecosystem.
Project Helix: an Xbox PC without Steam or Epic Games Store?
Since the announcement of Project Helixseveral reports described a machine close to a Windows PC, capable of installing launchers like Steam or Epic Games Store. The idea was simple for PC gamers: replace a gaming computer with an “Xbox tower” that would keep all of their existing libraries. Except that Microsoft has never confirmed this scenario in black and white.
The only official promise is in the sentence ofAsha Sharma on “Xbox and PC games”. However, a “PC game” can also designate a title sold in the Microsoft Store and adapted to the Xbox interface, without any Steam or Epic client installed on the console. It is precisely this ambiguity that the interview with Stephen Totilo highlights.
What does Asha Sharma really say about Steam and the Epic Games Store?
In the exchange relayed by TheGamer, Stephen Totilo first recalls comments made at the beginning of February by Steve Allisonresponsible for theEpic Games Store. He explained: Microsoft had assured them that the store would be welcome on the new Xbox, to the point that Epic planned to be present “day one” by developing the necessary software to meet the platform’s requirements.
Faced with this, Asha Sharma nuance clearly. She explains that the Xbox team wants an “open platform so that more people can create on the platform and more players participate in customizing and expanding it.” An opening oriented towards creation and light modding, not an explicit promise to let competing stores arrive. Above all, she specifies: she did not participate in the discussions mentioned by Steve Allison and “these decisions will be taken in the future, as a team and with partners”, before concluding that she will say more “when possible”.
Project Helix without Steam: what consequences for players and the release?
For a French player equipped with a large library Steam Or Epic Games Storethe absence of native apps on Project Helix would change everything. Impossible, in this case, to plug the console under the TV and automatically find hundreds of games already purchased, with their achievements, cloud saves and friends. We would have to settle for PC titles sold on the Microsoft Store or included in the Game Pass subscription, with a different choice and promotions.
Microsoft could also opt for an intermediate solution, close to the Xbox app on PC which can already launch games installed elsewhere without integrating the third-party store. The console would then see certain executables, but the purchases would remain locked in the home ecosystem. In the background, the question of commissions undoubtedly explains the hesitation: letting Steam and Epic Games Store install themselves on the new Xbox means accepting that sales will partly escape the Microsoft store.
Until the company has clarified in black and white the place of Steam and the Epic Games Store on Project Helix, caution is required. For now, despite a keynote, it’s best to think of this machine as a very powerful future Xbox, not a guaranteed replacement for your Project Helix Steam Epic Games Store gaming PC.