TL;DR: Project Helix’s promise of multiple storefront access may backfire: internal data show most Xbox Ally owners who lack an Xbox console buy games on Steam, not the Xbox PC store. With Microsoft reportedly losing money per console, widespread use of non-Microsoft stores could hinder hardware subsidy and Game Pass conversion.
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Xbox’s next-gen Project Helix may not deliver the open PC experience fans once hoped for, or were once told they were going to get, and the reasons are as much financial as they are strategic.
Microsoft previously announced that Project Helix will run both Xbox and PC games, mentioning owners will be able to access multiple storefronts as PC gamers do, listing popular marketplaces such as the Epic Games Store and GOG. However, those teasers were under previous Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, and since the new leadership has come in, the gaming industry has shifted substantially, particularly with the cost of hardware, new competitors, and costs of game development increasing. With memory chip costs through the roof and next-gen consoles already priced north of $1,000, an open system like a Steam Machine may not be such an attractive prospect for Microsoft.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden has outlined this in a recent report where he states that he has been informed Xbox is losing around $150 per Xbox Series X|S due to the recent memory shortage, and that it expects to continue losing money on every console following the August 2026 price hike. But what does this have to do with Steam potentially being accessible on the Project Helix console?
- Read more: Next-gen Xbox melding with Windows, new ‘console’ is a PC
- Read more: Xbox App on PC now lets users add third-party games from Steam and other sources
- Read more: Xbox isn’t going anywhere, insider claims Microsoft is not going to stop making consoles, even after Project Helix
Corden outlines a very interesting point, and uses internal Xbox documents verified by Windows Central to highlight it. According to the report, about 75% of the owners of the Xbox Ally, a gaming PC handheld, also subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. However, only about 25% of people who own an Xbox Ally and an Xbox console made purchases on the Xbox PC ecosystem. That isn’t the most alarming figure. The documents revealed that only 2% of Xbox Ally owners who also don’t own an Xbox console made a purchase on the Xbox PC ecosystem, indicating that almost all new Xbox Ally owners skipped the Xbox Store for Steam.
Will Project Helix support third-party PC storefronts like Steam, Epic Games Store, or GOG on the console?
How did Xbox Ally owner purchasing behavior (Steam vs Xbox Store) influence concerns about Project Helix?
What percentage of Xbox Ally owners who don’t have an Xbox console made purchases on the Xbox PC ecosystem?
How might low conversion to Xbox Store purchases affect Microsoft’s ability to subsidize Project Helix hardware?
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Corden argues that if Project Helix offers the same functionality, Xbox could have a real issue on its hands, as many of its hardware customers, which it is losing money on per unit, are now not even converting over to its subscription models, making it far more difficult to subsidize the hardware. Judging by the Steam Deck figures, and if Xbox follows suit with the same functionality with Project Helix, we could see the next-generation Xbox be predominantly used to play games through Steam.
