We already suspected Microsoft’s next-gen console would be expensive because of how far it leans toward the PC world, but this is yet another case of one burden being followed by another…
Asha Sharma has been extremely active ever since she officially took over from the now-retired Phil Spencer as Xbox chief at the end of February. One of her earliest moves was to shut down the This Is an Xbox marketing campaign, which had been widely mocked by fans. She also officially dismantled the Microsoft Gaming branding in favor of a more unified, Xbox-centered structure, and Microsoft plastered the slogan Return of Xbox across its office walls. On April 21, Sharma announced that the monthly prices of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass would be reduced. New Call of Duty games have been removed from the day-one Game Pass lineup, and future entries will now only join the service after 12 months.
Following that major announcement, Game File interviewed her, and she acknowledged that the decision on whether Xbox will properly return to exclusives is still being worked out. Game File later published the full transcript of the interview, and it contained another noteworthy detail: Sharma confirmed that the current memory shortage will affect the pricing of Xbox’s next console, codenamed Project Helix.
“All of these things are part of an equation. Memory costs will affect price and availability. When we think about where we want to be in the world, we take that into account too. So right now we’re not ready to share launch timing yet. The world is changing pretty dynamically. My primary focus, though, is to concentrate on what we can control and build a great console that plays great games, including PC games. The only thing I can share is that development kits are going out next year, and we are working very hard. We still have a lot to do and a lot to learn. But we’re very excited about Project Helix and the early feedback we are getting,” Sharma said.
Of course, the impact itself was hardly difficult to predict, but some Xbox fans were surely hoping Microsoft would be willing to absorb at least part of the cost on behalf of consumers to give the console a better chance in the market. The fact that Sharma has been this direct about it from the outset makes that seem unlikely. Project Helix could cost as much as $1,200, or even approach the price of a $2,000 or $3,000 gaming PC, according to previous claims from Moore’s Law Is Dead.
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