Microsoft Leak: Details on New Xbox Console, Game Franchises Spilled in Court Documents
Key takeaways
- Microsoft has suffered two leaks, an AI team breach and an Xbox leak
- The court documents revealed new Xbox designs, Bethesda’s roadmap and talk of a Nintendo buy-out
- Microsoft shares are 0.4% down since the start of the week
Microsoft isn’t having a great week. As it fights with the FTC for its Activision Blizzard acquisition to go through, some of those court documents have been leaked and spilled the beans on several upcoming game franchise roadmaps and details around a new Xbox console.
To top it off, it’s also been revealed Microsoft AI researchers accidentally leaked 38 terabytes of data through an insecure Azure download link. Yikes. Here’s the lowdown on what details were leaked and whether there was any market reaction.
What’s the Microsoft court document leak?
In an enormous data leak, Microsoft’s private files sent to the FTC — as part of its ongoing battle to get the $69 billion Activision deal over the line — have been revealed to the world. Xbox chief Phil Spencer said the Xbox plans “were unintentionally disclosed”
The documents contained some pretty exciting details about the Microsoft gaming roadmap for the next few years — not that Microsoft wanted us to know about them yet.
First off, there were some documents about next year’s new Xbox Series X, complete with an all-new cylindrical design, a front-facing USB-C slot and matching the current Series X price of $499. The Xbox Series S looks the same but will have faster Wi-Fi, reduced power consumption and a snazzy new controller.
Gamers across the globe will be buzzing at the franchises mentioned in the leak. A Fallout 3 remaster is planned along with yet-announced Bethesda games, talk of a potential Nintendo takeover and ‘cloud hybrid’ games by the end of the decade.
And what’s the Microsoft AI leak?
On top of that, Microsoft also suffered an own goal with its AI team accidentally leaking 38TB worth of data to the world. Said data included two full backups of employees’ computers, complete with sensitive personal data such as Teams messages and passwords.
It was all down to having the wrong permissions on the Azure link: everyone could view the entire Azure storage account, including overwriting and deleting files. What makes things worse is that according to Wiz’s report, the data had been accessible since 2020.
Wiz let Microsoft know about the breach in June, with Microsoft quickly working to close up access and completing an investigation into the incident in August. Microsoft says “no customer data was exposed, and no other internal services were put at risk because of this issue.”
What was the market reaction?
Microsoft’s stock price has taken a small dent in reaction to the data leaks news — the share price has fallen 0.4% since Monday. However, Microsoft stock has performed well this year, gaining 36.8% since the start of 2023.
Investors are increasingly convinced that Microsoft might be able to de-throne Apple as the world’s most valuable company, citing Microsoft’s positioning in cloud computing and AI as two key growth drivers compared to Apple. It’s also expecting to see double-digit growth in revenue and net EPS in fiscal 2024, whereas Apple is facing its longest negative growth streak in two decades.
Microsoft isn’t nearly as reliant on China for sales, whereas 19% of Apple’s revenue comes from the country.
The bottom line
It’s pretty embarrassing that Microsoft has two leaks in the headlines at once — especially the AI one, which is self-inflicted. The Xbox leak is likely disappointing for Microsoft, but at least the gamers are happy with what’s to come.
