Microsoft Shows 'Sneak Peek' of Xbox Hardware Following Next-Gen Project Helix Console Confirmation - IGN

Microsoft has posted a set of "sneak peek" photos showing work-in-progress hardware, following last week's confirmation it was building Project Helix, its next-generation PC and Xbox hybrid console. A trio of black and white photos were posted to social media this morning by Microsoft's official Game Dev account. They show a console shell labelled with "XDK", the company's usual label for an Xbox Developer Kit (an early hardware prototype used by developers, which typically provides technical performance in the ballpark of the final console). Peer closer at the images, however, and there's something familiar about the machine's design — or what we can glimpse of it. Indeed, the console shells are very similar to several past Xbox dev kits — and in particular the XDK for Project Scorpio, the console we now know as Xbox One X. Today's photos show the machine is even a bit dusty — like it's been sat around since the days of Scorpio's development, and recently brought out of retirement. Xbox at GDC 🔥 Sneak peek #GDC2026 pic.twitter.com/80amO5lbfh So, what's going on here? On the surface, the suggestion from the images is that these are photos of the Project Helix dev kit, the upcoming