The Game Awards is the safe, smart business stage. But if Asha Sharma means "core before more," the first real look at the next Xbox, and our first real look at The Elder Scrolls VI, belongs to the fans celebrating 25 years of Xbox in Seattle.
Xbox turns 25 on November 15. Three days before that, on Thursday, November 12, Xbox is throwing a party at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, the final stop of its eight-city FanFest Tour. Xbox’s own words: it’s coming home to “the city where it all began.”
So here’s my pitch, and I feel strongly about it. That’s where Xbox should give us our first real look at Project Helix. And while they’re at it, show us first gameplay and real details for The Elder Scrolls VI. Do it live, or with a recorded video, to the hardest-core Xbox fans on the planet. Then, if they want, do a bigger re-reveal at Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards in December.
What we actually know right now
Let’s keep it real before I get carried away.
- Project Helix is official. Asha Sharma announced the codename on X in March: “Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games.”
- It’s deep in development. At GDC on March 11, Xbox’s Jason Ronald wrote on Xbox Wire that the team is “deep in development” on a console “powered by a custom AMD SoC,” and that Xbox plans “to ship alpha versions of the hardware to developers beginning in 2027.”
- No launch date is official, and the reports don’t agree. Fortune’s October 20 profile of Sharma said Helix is targeting the 2028 holiday season. But back in February, AMD CEO Lisa Su told investors on AMD’s earnings call that development of the next Xbox’s custom chip “is progressing well to support a launch in 2027.” Polygon also noted that early 2026 reporting pegged the console for late 2027, which would line up with the usual seven-year console cycle since Series X launched in 2020. So it’s 2027 or 2028 depending on who you ask. Neither is an announcement from Xbox, so treat both as rumors.
- FanFest Seattle is Nov 12 at MoPOP. Entry was sweepstakes only and closed October 11. Xbox promises “XBOX past, present and future” and “plenty of surprises,” but it hasn’t announced a livestream or any guests.
- Elder Scrolls VI has no official name or date yet. The Verge’s Tom Warren reported on October 29 that it will be called The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel and is set in Hammerfell. Bethesda hasn’t confirmed that, so it’s a rumor too.
So I’m not saying Xbox is going to do this. I’m saying they should.
Asha already wrote the script
On April 23, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty sent a memo to every Xbox employee and posted it on Xbox Wire, titled “We Are XBOX.” It opened with a gut punch: “Players are frustrated.” Then it listed ten principles for how Xbox works at its best. Number six is three words I keep coming back to: “Core before more.”
Number five is “Signal over ceremony.” Put those two together and you’ve got my whole argument. The biggest signal Xbox can send its core fans is the next console, shown to them first.
That same memo lists “Deliver Project Helix to lead in performance and play your console and PC games” as a hardware priority. And in her first memo as CEO, Sharma promised “the return of Xbox,” saying “We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console which has shaped who we are.”
Celebrate our roots. Starting with console. That’s the 25th anniversary. That’s Seattle. Read those words and tell me a FanFest reveal doesn’t fit.
Respect to the Game Awards move
I want to be fair here, because Phil Spencer’s Game Awards reveal was a great moment. On December 12, 2019, Spencer walked on Geoff’s stage and unveiled Xbox Series X, then showed Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. He said the Hellblade II footage was “all captured in-engine as being built to take full advantage of Xbox Series X.” Xbox Wire called Series X “our fastest, most powerful console ever.” It was a total surprise and it had the whole world talking. That was the right call for that moment.
I also get the business side. The Game Awards pulls one of the biggest live audiences in gaming. If you only get one shot, that’s the bigger room, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
But this moment is different. Xbox doesn’t have to pick one. It’s turning 25, it’s in its hometown, and its CEO literally wrote “core before more” as a rule for the company. The fans who show up to an Xbox birthday party at MoPOP, and the ones who’d watch it at home, are the core. Give them the first look. Then take Helix to the Game Awards for round two, with the bigger audience and maybe a new trailer. Xbox gets two moments instead of one.
Why it matters under Asha
The 25th anniversary is going to be a great time to look back on what got us here. The original Xbox, Xbox Live, all of it. But it’s also the best stage Xbox will ever get to look forward and show what’s coming under Asha’s leadership.
And there’s no better way to look forward than the first new-generation Xbox console built under her. If Helix dev kits go out in 2027, this is the perfect time to start the story. And if AMD’s 2027 talk turns out to be right and the console itself lands next year, a 25th-anniversary first look isn’t early at all. It’s right on time. It doesn’t need a price or a date. A name, a look at the box, and a promise is enough. Look at how the Helix codename tease landed back in March with just a logo.
A reveal at FanFest says something no press release can. It says Xbox heard the fans. It says the people who stuck with Xbox through 25 years come first. It turns “core before more” from a cute play on words into a mantra Xbox actually lives by.
Where should Xbox reveal Project Helix?
Vote and see what other Xbox fans think.
Like having a say? Get OnPoint Weekly or argue it out on Discord.
And bring The Elder Scrolls VI
If Xbox wants a mic drop, pair the hardware with the game every Xbox fan has been waiting on since that 2018 teaser. Warren reported that Asha got a live playthrough in August and that she said “the story is even greater.” Bethesda has a Skyrim anniversary in November too. If the name is ready, the anniversary is the perfect time to say it out loud with real gameplay, and to show us what the next generation of Xbox looks like running the next generation of Elder Scrolls.
The bottom line
The Game Awards will always be there in December. Xbox’s 25th birthday happens once. Core before more can’t just be a line in a memo. Show it to the core first. Seattle is waiting, Asha. It is what it is.
Sources
- Xbox Wire, Matt Booty and Asha Sharma, “We Are XBOX” (Apr 23, 2026)
- Xbox Wire, “Hello from Seattle: XBOX FanFest Comes Home November 12” (Oct 5, 2026)
- Xbox, FanFest Tour page
- Xbox Wire, Jason Ronald, “From GDC: Building the Next Generation of Xbox” (Mar 11, 2026)
- The Verge, Project Helix codename and Sharma memo quotes (Mar 2026)
- Game Informer, Asha Sharma discusses Project Helix (Mar 5, 2026)
- The Verge, “AMD hints Microsoft could launch its next-gen Xbox in 2027” (Feb 2026)
- Tom’s Hardware, AMD CEO says semi-custom SoC ready to “support a launch in 2027” (Feb 2026)
- Polygon, “Everything We Know About Project Helix, the Next Xbox”
- Fortune, “The non-gamer CEO racing to save Microsoft’s Xbox” (Oct 20, 2026)
- The Verge, Tom Warren, Notepad (Oct 29, 2026), Elder Scrolls VI section
- Xbox Wire, “Power Your Dreams with Xbox Series X” (Dec 12, 2019)
- Ars Technica, Series X reveal at The Game Awards (Dec 2019)
Image: OnPoint 4 Gamers