According to Jez Corden, a well-known whistleblower in the industry, in order to control costs, XBOX may not include a controller in Helix packaging as standard, allowing consumers to purchase it on their own. Jez Corden said in a live broadcast that he had previously heard that Valve might not provide a standard controller for Steam Machine, and predicted that XBOX might take a similar approach:
"I'm told that the Steam Machine ships without a controller. Personally, I don't mind the next generation of Xbox being without a controller. So I think that's definitely going to happen, also to keep costs down."
In addition to not providing a standard controller, Corden also mentioned another cost control strategy that XBOX may adopt: allowing players to purchase SSDs by themselves.
This approach has precedent in the original XBOX 360 model - at that time, the XBOX 360 did not come with a hard drive as standard, but as an optional accessory for users to purchase separately. If Helix follows a similar idea, players can flexibly configure storage solutions according to their own needs and budget.
XBOX's CEO and CSO have emphasized many times before that the company is exploring various ways to adjust its business strategy to lower the price of Project Helix. After all, in the current market environment, no player is willing to pay for a console that costs more than $1,000.
Corden believes that the above two solutions (not equipped with a standard controller and not equipped with a standard SSD) are currently the most likely cost reduction paths to be adopted.