Yesterday saw one of the biggest and most shocking leaks of company plans and internal communications that I think the gaming industry has seen in recent or even semi-recent memory, with documents uploaded publicly as part of Microsoft’s ongoing court case with the FTC over its planned $69 billion USD acquisition of Activision Blizzard seemingly having a huge number of very confidential files attached that revealed plans for new Xbox hardware, Bethesda game releases and a ton of internal emails that definitely weren’t meant for public consumption.
We also now know that the FTC and courts have put the blame squarely on Microsoft for the leak itself, saying the company provided them with documents it believed had been properly scrubbed of non-public information (and we all know how that went). It’s absolutely an unfortunate situation for everyone working hard behind the scenes at Microsoft to bring us exciting new products and ideas, and Xbox head Phil Spencer has said as much in a very short, to-the-point response to everything that’s gone down.
We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents. It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 19, 2023
Spencer’s comment simply says, “We’ve seen the conversation around old emails and documents. It is hard to see our team’s work shared in this way because so much has changed and there’s so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.”
We can infer from that, that the roadmap for the future of Xbox – be it new hardware, a line-up of Bethesda releases, or anything else that was inadvertently revealed – is different in some ways to what was exposed yesterday. While it’s obviously very clear that plans have been and likely still are in motion for a refreshed Xbox Series X model and Xbox Wireless Controller, what we’ve seen is perhaps no longer the full story.
The Verge also shared an internal memo from Spencer around the leaks, where the Xbox boss offered a slightly longer version of his public statement, admitting the situation was “disappointing, even if many of the documents are well over a year old and our plans have evolved,” and rallying staff to “stay focused on what we can control: continuing the amazing success of Starfield, the upcoming launch of the incredible and accessible Forza Motorsport, and continuing to build games, services and devices that millions of players can enjoy.“
At any rate, Spencer says that Xbox will “share the real plans” when they’re ready to do so, which is exactly when they should.
