Short summary: Even though Project Helix will be powerful it cannot compete with expensive PC gaming rigs. The latter will have a distinct advantage i online competitive shooters where frames and responsiveness matter. The Play Anywhere system sees all games bought from Microsoft stores on Microsoft platform as "Xbox" games and removes the distinction between Xbox console and Xbox PC. PlayStation is better suited for console crossplay with Xbox than, but PlayStation players will reject crossplay with Xbox that includes "Xbox PCs".

There is currently a problem with games that become unplayable and unenjoyable, wholly or partly because forced Xbox PC crossplay.

Halo Infinite

For example, Halo Infinite has a problem with filling lobbies nowadays. Xbox players are forced to play against PC players at 120 fps, with PC players frequently running at 240 fps. Although many factors influence the current popularity of the game, I think forced PC crossplay is undeniably relevant to the decline of the game.

Top 500 is completely dominated by PC players who enjoy basically a pay-to-win competitive advantage in the game.

Halo Infinite, as a first party title, is extremely well-optimized on console. However, even a smooth 120 fps on Series X cannot reliably compete with twice the framerate on a high end gaming PC.

Off the Grid

Another lesser known game, Off the Grid, overrides all Xbox system preferences and provides a forced PC crossplay experience that has resulted in Xbox (and similarly players on Playstation) leaving the game in droves.

Before forced crossplay the game showed a lot of promise. With forced PC crossplay it became unplayable depending on the lobby. Now it has bot lobbies with a maximum of 5 human players out of ~60 spots for each lobby. Forced crossplay was initially introduced because the PC playerbase became unsustainable on its own.

This game, although fairly well-optimized on consoles plays like a completely different game on PC, with options to remove in-game shadows for enhanced viewability, and frame rates and game responsiveness on a completely different level.

Arc Raiders

There have been complaints that turning off crossplay on Xbox does not remove PC players from the lobby.

This is because Arc Raiders is a Play Anywhere title that forecasts the future of the Xbox platform. As long as the game was bought through the Microsoft Store/Xbox app on Windows, it counts as part of the Xbox platform.

Complaints include claims that PC players have better aim, which is not unreasonable considering that Xbox hovers around I’d say 40-50 fps while high end gaming PCs easily get 150-200 fps. Note that this is not about input, controller vs mouse and keyboard.

Project Helix

I understand Helix will be a powerful, premium system and merge even closer with Windows. However powerful it will still be using AMD APU SoC technology with CPU and graphics closely integrated. Even at launch it will not be as powerful PC as gaming systems with high end, current-gen dedicated GPU cards. One or two years after launch the performance divide will be signficant and only increase from there.

XBOX Crossplay: PlayStation vs PC

Xbox competitive online multiplayer is much better suited for crossplay with PS5 than PC. However, that crossplay option is guaranteed to be rejected by PS players if "Xbox" now includes everyone who bought the game from Microsoft on a Microsoft system, including 3000 USD PC gaming rigs.

For those who don’t care about competitive multiplayer, fair enough, but consider whether a console platform can survive without a healthy online multiplayer playerbase.

Those who play competitively may come to see only two alternatives:

Either get a PC gaming rig with a dedicated GPU to gain a competitive advantage over all Project Helix owners, or at least not be at a rigged disadvantage as a Helix owner.

Or get a PlayStation that increasingly rejects crossplay with the new Xbox ecosystem that includes PC.

Yes, I realize Helix will be a genuinely powerful system, and I don’t doubt that it will. Regardless, it will still be an APU SoC system that cannot realistically compete with with high end PC gaming rigs with a dedicated GPU.