Microsoft behind huge Xbox leak that shows new console in the works
The FTC has confirmed it's not the culprit behind the leaked documents revealing a new Xbox Series X|S among other plans for hardware and speculative acquisitions.
The Microsoft Activision deal truly is the news gift that keeps on giving; despite Microsoft’s $68 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard being all but confirmed, a series of document leaks first presumed to be from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has highlighted Xbox's future hardware plans – including a mid-generation Xbox Series X refresh. Internally codenamed ‘Brooklin’, the new console SKU will allegedly offer “more internal storage” and “faster Wi-Fi” among other benefits.
The leak was first reported by The Verge, and includes several confidential and unredacted documents attached to a single file relevant to the FTC vs. Microsoft court case. Alongside the Xbox Series X redesign, it mentions a series of unreleased Bethesda games that are in development, like remasters of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Dishonored 3, and a sequel to last year’s Ghostwire: Tokyo.
As for the Xbox Series X refresh itself, the documents make clear that Microsoft plans to release it at the end of October, 2024. Brooklin is “adorably all digital” and without a disc drive, of course, and features a significant redesign that is curved as opposed to the current monolith of the Xbox Series X.
The price will reportedly be the same, coming in at £479 / $499 / AUS$799 but you'll be getting double the amount of storage than is offered by the Xbox Series X's current 1TB. A new Xbox controller was also leaked that set to be modular and include features like haptic feedback – which the PS5's DualSense controller already implements.
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A new Xbox Series S is also planned; codenamed ‘Ellewood’, it looks very similar to the existing model with the exception that it’ll again have double the Xbox Series S's existing 512GB storage, reduced power consumption and will ship with the same “all-new, immersive controller”. Ellewood is planned to release just ahead of Brooklin in August, 2024.
The leaked Xbox documents also make it clear that Microsoft views 2028 as the year when the next generation of consoles is set to begin. This fits in with the seven to eight-year lifecycle between generational jumps; Microsoft released the Xbox One in 2013 and followed up with the Xbox Series X|S in 2020. Both consoles will support “cloud hybrid games” and are described as an “immersive game and app platform” – the finer details of which aren’t mentioned.
Marks the spot
This Xbox leak is absolutely huge – with the unredacted FTC documents making the platform’s plans up until 2030 known to everyone – including rivals like PlayStation. The company has yet to respond officially, but either way, this is sure to scupper whatever edge Microsoft intends to have in future. And despite all eyes being on the FTC as the source of the leak, it turns out that it was actually Microsoft was responsible for this debacle.
Douglas Farrar, director of the FTC's office of public affairs tweeted that "the FTC was not responsible for uploading Microsoft's plans for its games and consoles to the court website." He proceeded to share an order from the judge in the FTC vs Microsoft case confirming that Microsoft accidentally sent the court a link to the slew of highly confidential, unredacted internal documents itself. The materials were uploaded as exhibits in the case and after this monumental mistake, they've since been removed. The judge states that Microsoft will be able to "resubmit the admitted trial exhibits via a secure cloud link" this week on Friday, September 22.
I'm not surprised to learn of an Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X refresh coming as early as next year, yet am no less disappointed on Microsoft’s insistence to have the future of console gaming be “all-digital” in order to promote services like Xbox Game Pass. Internet strength and internet caps are still a problem in a lot of territories worldwide; such confidence would seemingly indicate that Xbox is happy with the performance of its existing Xbox Series S model, which is already digital only.
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