Ever since Sarah Bond began talking about the next-gen Xbox as a 'Premium' high-end device, it's been assumed that the cost will be much higher than what we're used to seeing from a traditional console - and now tech journalist Moore's Law Is Dead has predicted that Project Helix could end up being "at least $1000".
In the journalist's latest breakdown on the next Xbox and what it means from a technical perspective (thanks VGC), the topic of Microsoft's pricing on this thing came up multiple times. The short version is that they believe Project Helix is likely to cost anywhere from $1000 to $1500, with a $900 absolute minimum price "if Microsoft wanted to sell this thing at cost" and "if it was mass-manufactured at a large scale".
We'll throw a bit more of this Moore's Law Is Dead speculation on the next Xbox down below:
"Xbox is… well, they’re building a bridge out of the console market, and so they’ll probably charge $1,000 or more for this thing. [...] If Microsoft wanted to sell this thing at cost, they could probably do so at around $900 if it was mass-manufactured at a large scale. So anyone who thinks it’ll be $2,000, I don’t think the BOM cost [total cost of parts] suggests that.
However, I do expect them to make at least a small profit on it. And so, my estimate would be that if Xbox wanted to be kind of aggressive, they would go for $999. So, I will say that I think expect at least $1,000. If they wanted to be crazy aggressive, I could see $900 and most likely I could see $1,200, but I don’t think more than $1,500."
That's a lot of pricing estimates being thrown around there - but as we pointed out right at the top, somewhere between $1000 and $1500 is what the journalist is realistically predicting; based on what they've heard is packed into Project Helix component-wise. Given that PS5 Pro launched at $700 without the system's disc drive add-on, this all sounds quite realistic right now, although it's worth remembering that Microsoft hasn't mention any figures at all just yet.
Anyway, we'll link to Moore's Law Is Dead's big video on this down below, although do bear in mind that the whole thing is well over 90 minutes long. We're expecting to see lots more Project Helix speculation over the coming months, particularly before Microsoft properly lifts the lid on its next-gen Xbox console.