Microsoft CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer has acknowledged the significant leak of internal Xbox documents, saying that “so much has changed” from these leaked plans.
“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,” he said in a post to X (previously Twitter). “We will share the real plans when we are ready.”
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
These documents pointed towards the existence of remasters for Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion as well as Dishonored 3, a new Doom game and Ghostwire: Tokyo 2. There were references to three unknown titles too – Project Kestrel, Project Platinum and a licensed IP.
However, the title release schedule slide was dated in 2020, which means that multiple of these revealed titles could have been canned in the time that has elapsed between then and today.
On top of that, the schedule turned out not to be correct for things like Redfall, which was specified as a 2021 release. It ended up releasing this year for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
The situation is reminiscent of the hack of Rockstar Games which revealed 50 minutes of unfinished footage of Grand Theft Auto 6. In both cases, the information was widely available without the companies’ oversight and split the room over the opinion of Microsoft and Rockstar Games.
For Spencer, there are as many people reassuring him that Xbox still has their support as there are people who are disappointed in the discovery that Microsoft did share an intention to acquire Nintendo again in 2020.
“At some point, getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies,” Spencer wrote in an email that emerged in the leak.
In other gaming news, more than 500 developers signed an open letter protesting Unity’s new pricing plan and have demonetised their games too.