Highly Confidential Documents from FTC v. Microsoft Leaked. Purport To Detail Console Revisions And Future Games

In a MASSIVE clerical error that has since been reversed, documents related to the FTC v. Microsoft court case. As reported by Tom Warren, the leak stems from an error wherein confidential files were "attached to a single file and incorrectly hidden and posted publicly." As this is the internet, the documents that have been pulled and should never have been made public have been preserved for all to see. If you want an exhaustive look at what was in the leak, check out GameSpot's article highlighting the big points. However, here's some of what stood out to me.

• Xbox Series X "mid-cycle" refresh - This device is digital only (2TB storage) and has a listed launch date of October 2024.
• With this new design Microsoft is adding Wi-Fi 6E support, a Bluetooth 5.2 radio, and the company is shrinking the existing die to 6nm.
• The announcement of the mid-cycle refresh will coincide with new console revisions of the Series S and Series X. Microsoft is tentatively planning to launch this new Xbox Series S refresh next September, with the Xbox Series X refresh in November.
• These two revisions will also be digital only.
• Microsoft appears to be migrating to ARM64 CPU architecture.
• All hardware will commit to sustainability pledges.

• Sebile - The New Xbox Controller - I will note Wario64 made a slight error in reporting this controller. They initially stated this would have gyro support but if you examine the slide for the controller, it just says accelerometer, with no mention of gyro.
• Xbox is also possibly expanding the scope of its accessory and devices, as seen in the two images below. They plan to fund new projects related to devices and accessories by 2030.

• Fallout 3 Remaster, Ghostwire Tokyo Sequel, Dishonored 3, Oblivion Remaster, Doom Year Zero - One word of warning with this one. The list of Bethesda and ZeniMax games planned post-MS purchase was originally drafted in 2019 according to the notarized date on the documents. It is safe to say a lot has happened since 2019.
• A Red Dead Redemption 2 port was planned for this year.
• A private email between Phil Spencer and another executive relay an interest in buying Nintendo and Valve, before the two settle on Warner Games as a possible opportunity. I'm going to just advise everyone be a bit cautious about this one. Microsoft employees joking about buying Nintendo has been an in-joke within the company for ages. The company even made their letter of intent to buy Nintendo in 1999, which got them laughed out of the Nintendo HQ, public.

Before everyone engages in this discussion I do want to say that if you decide to seek these documents out, be aware you are going to encounter the personal and company emails and residences of employees in Microsoft. It is imperative that you realize such information should not be used to direct harassment or personal attacks of any sort on any of these people.

What a gigantic fuck up this is.

This is nuts...but if I'm being honest, more than anything I'm really excited for the Ghostwire Tokyo sequel because I felt like the only person in my entire universe that enjoyed that game, and I loved it. I also realize this is kind of outdated and means nothing, but I'm choosing to believe!

Did anyone clarify how exactly the files were incorrectly attached? I read the Tom Warren tweet but wasn’t clear which party erred, or what screwing up the attachment even means. I’m also extremely tired so maybe I just missed something.

Regardless, I hope they’re bumping up that Fallout 3 remaster to sooner than the year Elder Scrolls VI comes out. Seems like a project they could source a large portion of to another studio, particularly now that they’re under the MS umbrella.

@sethmode: You're not alone. I also enjoyed Ghostwire Tokyo a lot and didn't understand the backlash against it by mainly the Giant Bomb and Gamespot critics, as the game reviewed quite well elsewhere. And I would love to see a sequel as I believe it would be even better, like how Evil Within 2 is superior to the original game

As far as the topic at hand, I think a digital only Series X with improved features would be nice. I have a digital PS5 and haven't missed the disc drive yet, as majority of games I played on my based PS4 were also digital with only a few being from a disc. And I barely used it as a movie player.

hmm, interesting. no bombshells for me, but even just seeing the words 'microsoft' 'buy' and 'valve' in close proximity kinda turns my stomach.

Something to keep in mind is that decisions about actually going forward with products are always in flux. A lot of these documents are dated from years and years ago...needless to say, a lot has changed in the world and in the game market in the past 3-4 years. R&D departments at these companies are constantly "funded" to look into product lines. Some get all the way to the prototype phase and then killed...some even about to be thrown to manufacturing, but then something happens the price or availability of a key component and the whole project is scrapped.

That being said, take a lot of this with giant grains of salt. It's always interesting to get a peek behind the curtain and see things that they don't want you to see, but ultimately it doesn't matter unless they're actually going to ship these products. Things like the Vitality Sensor from Nintendo was a joke for years and never came out. Same thing with the boomerang PS3 controller. It's why companies try not to announce things until they're about ready to hit the market.

A lot of info was already inferred but it still quite interesting seeing out in the open, and in stark terms.

Xbox no longer investing in Series server blades for xCloud correlates with people noticing longer wait times would be curious if the cloud is still part of thier plans next generation.

Game Pass is no longer a core pillar whatever that means, console is now. As of April last year 22.9m Game Pass subs were from console, which would put PC Game Pass around ~5m assuming the 30m figure floating around is accurate.

MS has a genuine concern over the viability of the Xbox platform and with Sony pushing them out, with Xbox having to sacrifice revenue share to keep some third party titles on their platform. Xbox profits are also only in the single digits.

Series X die shrink coming in 2024 despite losing $100-200 per box sold.

Interesting, but nothing too surprising. Looking forward to that one-handed contro-I mean I'm looking forward to updated consoles! Consoles!

Will the one handed controller co-release with a new DOAX game?