Project Helix, PS Exclusives, Steam Machine, Division 2 Revival, Highguard

Project Helix, PS Exclusives, Steam Machine, Division 2 Revival, Highguard

From TSR: Gaming x Entertainment by Andrew Alliance

March 17, 2026 · 36 min · Episode 686

About this episode

The episode discusses next-gen gaming hardware, exclusives, and the competition between major gaming companies.

Hey everyone, Andrew here from TSR: Gaming x Entertainment. Episode 686 just dropped, and we covered a ton of ground—from next-gen hardware battles to live-service highs and lows, plus a quick detour into awards show drama. Here's the breakdown of what I talked about, straight from my notes. First, Project Helix is Microsoft's big swing at next-gen. At GDC 2026, they detailed the custom AMD SoC powering it, with massive ray-tracing gains, next-gen FSR (including "FSR Diamond"), and native support for both Xbox console games and PC titles. Alpha dev kits head out in 2027, so we're looking at a true hybrid beast that bridges ecosystems. It's Xbox getting aggressive again in the living room while leaning into "play anywhere." I see it as a smart pivot—more options for us. On the flip side, PlayStation is pulling back hard from PC ports. Big story-driven exclusives like Ghost of Yotei and others are staying PS5-only for longer (or forever), ditching the multiplat experiments. A Bluepoint dev even suggested this isn't about next-gen Xbox—it's a direct response to the Steam Machine threat. Valve's still pushing forward: they confirmed the Steam Machine (living-room mini-PC), Steam…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Alliance

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Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Microsoft, PlayStation, Valve

Products: Project Helix, Steam Machine, Steam Controller, Steam Frame, Ghost of Yotei

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