Xbox leak: new Xbox Series X design, next-gen in 2028, and more

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has just emailed Microsoft employees about the massive Xbox leak that happened earlier today. In the internal memo, obtained by The Verge, Spencer says Microsoft’s Xbox plans “were unintentionally disclosed” as part of the FTC v. Microsoft case. Documents revealed a lot: a disc-less Series X redesign, a 2028 Xbox that could deliver “cloud hybrid games,” a new Xbox controller, unannounced Bethesda games, and even discussions about acquiring Nintendo.

Spencer hints that Microsoft’s plans may have changed, particularly as some documents were from last year, but others were from years prior. “I know this is disappointing, even if many of the documents are well over a year old and our plans have evolved,” says Spencer in his internal memo.

New Xbox for 2024! New hybrid Xbox for 2028! But can we just appreciate Microsoft’s leaked Sebile controller for a sec?

The $70 pad could arrive in 2024 chock-full of the best parts of Sony’s DualSense, Valve’s Steam Controller, Google Stadia, and — here’s hoping — 8BitDo.

Microsoft is responsible for the huge trove of leaked documents that revealed things like a new disc-less Xbox Series X design, unannounced games from Bethesda, and executive musings about buying Nintendo, according to a new filing from the FTC v. Microsoft judge on Tuesday.

In the filing, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley says that the court ordered the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft to provide the court with “a secure cloud link” to trial exhibits with redactions that met the court’s recent orders. Microsoft provided a link on September 14th, and the court uploaded the exhibits from there, Judge Corley says.

Last night, the biggest Xbox leak in history revealed multiple new Xboxes, including plans for an ambitious hybrid Xbox that could arrive in 2028. It also revealed communications from Microsoft’s top execs — including one conversation from a joyous Phil Spencer to CEO Satya Nadella about the just-announced Sony PlayStation 5.

That email is now available completely unredacted, so you can see just how confident Microsoft seemed in March 2020 right after the PS5 spec reveal.

Microsoft’s new disc-less Xbox Series X is far from the only news that just leaked out of the FTC v. Microsoft case. The documents may also reveal Microsoft’s far future plans for 2028 — by which the company believed it could achieve “full convergence” of its cloud gaming platform and physical hardware to deliver “cloud hybrid games.”

“Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences.”

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would really like to buy Nintendo someday. In an August 2020 email to two top Microsoft marketing executives, Spencer wrote that “Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in Gaming” and that “getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies.”

The emails were revealed as part of a tranche of leaked documents from the FTC v. Microsoft lawsuit. One executive, Takeshi Numoto, asked Spencer and Chris Capossela in an email titled “random thought” about why Microsoft isn’t finding acquisition targets like Nintendo a “more attractive” way to “increase our consumer exposure and relevance.” (At the time, Microsoft was in discussions to acquire TikTok, and Numoto didn’t feel it would be the best match.)

Before it was acquired by Microsoft, ZeniMax Media, the parent company of studios like Bethesda Game Studios and id Software, was working on remasters of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and a new entry in the Doom franchise, according to new documents revealed as part of FTC v. Microsoft. The games were included in a July 2020 Microsoft presentation about the then-potential ZeniMax acquisition.

Unannounced games in the presentation include: