Phil Spencer responds to unintentional revelations about Xbox’s future plans
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has reacted sadly in both a public tweet and an internal memo to the fact that many of the gaming company’s future plans have ended up online in recent days. He confirms that internal documents were published unintentionally.
In a tweet Spencer says he finds it annoying that the work of Xbox employees is shared in this way. In an internal memo dated September 19, seen by The Verge, the Xbox CEO elaborates further: “Today, several lawsuit documents surrounding our acquisition of Activision Blizzard were inadvertently revealed.” He emphasizes that much of the information shared is at least a year old and may no longer be applicable. Nevertheless, he said he would have preferred to surprise gamers with certain announcements and revelations.
It is not clear from his statements who unintentionally put the documents online; according to an FTC official someone at Microsoft was responsible for sharing the documents in question. According to a judge involved, Microsoft provided a link to a special website for documents related to the lawsuit. The company apparently uploaded a PDF file with the sensitive documents and images attached.
As a result of the lawsuits between the FTC and Microsoft, a variety of information was made public through court documents, including on September 19, when plans for a mid-generation refresh of the Xbox Series consoles were discovered. Previously, court documents made it clear that Microsoft is looking to PlayStation exclusives from Sony, that a Sony handheld is in development, that Microsoft wanted to acquire Square Enix and later Nintendo, among others, and that The Elder Scrolls 6 will not be released for the PlayStation. With all these revelations, Spencer notes that the plans may have changed in the meantime.
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
Update, 4:50 p.m: It is now also known that Microsoft is responsible for the unintentional publication of the cited documents. The article has been supplemented with this information. Thanks to Rko.