Xbox Project Helix reportedly "safe" from "Xbox reset" – the next-gen console is still on track
Mass layoffs and a cull of development studios won't affect the next Xbox, it's claimed
Quick Summary
Xbox's mass layoffs and studio sales will not affect Project Helix, it's claimed.
The next-gen console is still in development with a greater focus on hardware within the company.
The games console scene is currently going through its biggest most troubling times since the 80s. PlayStation has announced it is ditching physical media releases, sparking much anger, Valve's Steam Machine has underwhelmed with its performance for the price, and Nintendo is withdrawing the Switch family of consoles in Europe.
But they all seem minor inconveniences in comparison with what's going on over at Xbox.
A company-wide reset has resulted in studio closures and mass layoffs across the brand – with 1,600 losing their jobs immediately and another 1,600 redundancies expected to follow next year. It has left Xbox's game makers on tenterhooks at best, unemployed at worst.
Asha Sharma, who took over as CEO earlier this year admitted that the gaming giant was in shambles, with the last decade of acquisitions and strategical decisions not paying off. It is simply losing money on the likes of Xbox Game Pass and many of the studios it bought, and is thus restructuring for a complete reset.
Some might wonder where that leaves Project Helix – the company's next Xbox machine, which was originally announced as a premium PC/console hybrid. But while that's facing its own challenges due to the ongoing components crisis, it seems it's business as usual for the hardware division.
In fact, that's the part of Xbox that will now be given more attention.
According to T3's sister site Windows Central and its sources, Helix is "safe and on track".
The hardware division has been hit by the layoffs the least, while the team working on Project Helix have been tasked to find ways around the RAM and storage pricing issues that are plaguing every corner of tech right now.
According to the site, they are tackling "margin pressure" through "aggressive innovation". This will hopefully reduce costs yet keep the core ideals of the next-gen console – maintaining its premium capabilities through workarounds, rather than reducing the spec, as Valve seems to have done with the Steam Machine.
Of course, that might have put Project Helix back by a few months, even a year, but with the latest announcements, it seems the entire company is backing on it to be a success.
That will come as scant compensation to those who have lost their jobs so far, or are worried that they will be in the next round of planned cuts. But Xbox itself might be able to weather the storm.
The only question is, will you still be waiting on the other side?
