The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has pointed the finger at Microsoft for today’s huge Xbox leak that has seen a long list of revelations about unannounced hardware and games.
Leaked emails have pulled the curtain back on the secretive video game industry, and offered a rare look at the behind-the-scenes deals that underpin the first-party machine at Microsoft. They are part of perhaps the most devastating leak in Xbox history, with FTC trial documents revealing Microsoft’s plans for a mid-gen Xbox refresh in 2024, a next-gen hybrid Xbox in 2028, and Bethesda’s release schedule. A leaked email revealed Phil Spencer really wants to buy Nintendo. There’s also word of a potential one-hand Xbox controller and a next-gen version of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s a hugely embarrassing gaffe for Microsoft and a potentially damaging one for its marketing plans and business relationships.
What happened? The leaks emerged from attachments to a single court document uploaded to a website hosted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the FTC is suing Microsoft over the $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard.
Upon first glance, the PDF document looked as heavily redacted as any other. However, using Adobe Reader to open this PDF revealed a number of attachments that detailed Xbox’s gaming plans as well as confidential emails between executives.
In a tweet, Douglas Farrar, director of the FTC’s office of public affairs, insisted the FTC was not to blame, and in a statement issued to NBCNews, accused Microsoft of causing its own problems, saying: “Microsoft was responsible for the error in uploading these documents to the court.”
Microsoft has yet to respond to IGN’s request for comment. The District Court has now removed documents from its directory, no doubt at the request of Microsoft staff.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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