Patch Notes<\/strong> is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can subscribe here.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You know that chaotic friend who can\u2019t stop dominating every conversation with their drama, even when there\u2019s more important stuff going on? That\u2019s Xbox, that is.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n This week, the games industry \u2014 or some of it, anyway \u2014 gathered in San Francisco for one of its annual rituals, the Game Developers Conference. Much was made of a \u201cFestival of Gaming\u201d rebrand that, according to our reporter on the ground Giovanni Colantonio, didn\u2019t amount to much more than some inconveniently placed food trucks. Much was also made of the fact that international attendees might choose not to travel to Donald Trump\u2019s America for GDC this year, but the convention seemed plenty busy enough.<\/p>\n Plus \u00e7a change<\/em>. Another regular fixture of GDC is Microsoft holding court at a presentation about whatever it\u2019s pushing as the future of gaming this year. This year it ploughed on with a presentation about the next Xbox, Project Helix which told us little we didn\u2019t already know: It will be Windows-based, play PC games, and have very fancy graphics. Developers will have dev kits next year.<\/p>\n The plans for the console, and indeed for the GDC presentation, were surely locked in a long time ago, so the presentation isn\u2019t indicative of new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma\u2019s thinking. All the same, due to the high-profile talk \u2014 and due to the drama and instability that has surrounded Xbox for the last few years \u2014 it was all anybody could talk about. (Well, apart from the RAM crisis. We\u2019ll have more reporting on that soon.)<\/p>\n Following speculation from influential gaming tech YouTuber Moore\u2019s Law is Dead, rumors swirled about a $1,000 price tag. Developers wondered if they should be making games for Project Helix, and there was confusion about what the device would actually be \u2014 perhaps more confusion than it really warranted, even as unconventional as Microsoft\u2019s plans seem to be. Hopefully Microsoft\u2019s private meetings at GDC cleared some of this up.<\/p>\n In real terms, Xbox consoles have never been less relevant. They\u2019re dead last in the sales race, and whatever the plans for the future are, they don\u2019t seem to be about reclaiming mass-market ground from Sony and Nintendo. Despite this \u2014 or more likely because of it \u2014 Xbox has a way of remaining the main topic of conversation. This isn\u2019t necessarily Microsoft\u2019s fault. I\u2019m as guilty of making hay out of Microsoft\u2019s years in the strategic wilderness as anyone. But they keep making it so easy!<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a suggestion to Sharma and her team: Now you\u2019ve got your foot in the door and established that there will be another console, maybe keep quiet for a bit. Not for the sake of us in the media (far from it!), but for the sake of Xbox, and its poor beleaguered fans. They could use a break.<\/p>\n Getting back to what really matters, Giovanni Colantonio previews a bunch of outrageously cool indies, plus Elden Ring <\/em>on Switch 2. Can\u2019t wait for Mina the Hollower<\/em>.<\/p>\n Giovanni Colantonio takes a snapshot of a creative industry trying to figure what AI can actually do that might be useful, amid all the hype and fury.<\/p>\n At GDC, Valve gave itself a big pat on the back about how easy it is to sell games on Steam, but not everyone agrees. Patricia Hernandez reports.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n The 11 best games we played at GDC 2026<\/strong>
\n <\/h3>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/dead-as-disco-dodging-axe.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Brain Jar Games<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n At GDC, AI could do everything and nothing<\/strong>
\n <\/h3>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ai-generated-watson.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n Steam\u2019s exploding sales numbers aren\u2019t telling the whole story<\/strong>
\n <\/h3>\n![\"Colorful,](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/chorus\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/22688609\/InkeeWang_210625_ecl1087_Steam_0001.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Illustration: Inkee Wang for Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<\/h3>\n
\n Plus this:
\n <\/h2>\n
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\n <\/picture>Image: Public Domain<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n