Microsoft Exec Denounces Next-Gen Xbox Leaks As 'Theft'

The guy that stole (a hacker, then?) and leaked the information was asking for subscriptions in the middle of the video so she has a point.

I’m telling you these thieves have had some vested interests.
If it was Apple, we would be looking at millions of dollars lawsuit. They don’t even let go of small businesses using symbols that don’t remotely resemble Apple.

Well, all that came out of this was one more week for people to save up their money to actually buy the console. While leaks are not a good thing for companies, the need for leaks isn't good for customers either.

@BlueOcean It was stolen from a supply chain data AFAIK. Since the global launch required them to put information on the hands of several parties.

Digital foundry says they saw the series s in March. How many other people knew it existed.

@sixrings Digitalfoundry would never leak it. They already told they weren’t aware of the price. It’s stolen from the marketing material of global supply chain.

I hate leaks as it is just pointless. Like when a bad-quality trailer leaks out of comic-con or something. You will get it eventually so why the rush to leak everything. Usually spoils every event too.

HOWEVER in this case; Microsoft waiting so freaking long to announce that it’s funny seeing them whinge about it leaking now. Sonys info deserves to leak too at this point. A late release of info is fine usually but not with something costing £450 as people might need to budget etc.

The leak was bad for those working on the reveal. But it’s not the biggest problem in our world today.
And what a great week it turned out to be for Xbox and fans alike.
We shined and rejoiced and we are set for preordering and November the 10th.
And it all ended up fantastically positive for all.

I also think it was better timed as a great surprise as it was Sony that everyone thought was going to reveal this week.

That's odd semantics regarding "leak" versus "theft". It's surprising they're so positive nobody on the inside leaked it, it does indicate that they know who leaked it, and that was somebody outside. But.....I'm not sure where they define leak versus theft here. If it was an outsider in possession of that information, then it was either someone breaching an NDA and can be dealt with, or it was a data attack (which, shame on MS considering they made the OS that made it possible ), or it was just the nature of doing business where physical information is sitting in the open where uninvolved but interested people can see it and run to the internet with it.

There are marketing firms, distribution partners, retailers, importers, exporters, etc, etc, and with preorders opening in 11 days, all of these companies had to be aware of all of this. There are dozens of other companies worldwide that had to be sitting on this information at this point, and not everyone in that organization is privy to signing the NDA for information that's probably sitting, literally, on a table somewhere.

This is why you're supposed to announce your price in mid-June, while only your organization controls the information, rather than what was intended to be 7 days or less from preorder when you've handed it to 30 organizations in 20 countries!

OTOH, Sony's information seems remarkably not leaked yet. Which could be luck, or means they've not shared information with partners yet to get it leaked. Late launch? Delay? Will they be able to jump in next week and say "PREORDERS LIVE NOW!", especially since they promised pre-preorders to sign-ups and those have not happened yet?

There's also the possibility this was not really a leak/theft at all and was part of a guerilla marketing strategy. If so, it worked, but is still wrong. The timing landed immaculately during a week Sony had planned to intentionally stall (or troll?) fans, talk current gen VR, and guaranteed no PS5 news all week. Microsoft had nearly the entire week to themselves to get the word out while everyone is ignoring Sony. There's big perks to going last - IF you plan on undercutting (can Sony even do that?) But for MS, getting time with the market without Sony interfering for a fully week at least has got to be beneficial.

The negative (for us) is that with extra time post-announcement for preorders, the preorder is going to be twice as flooded as it otherwise would have been, and it will be that much harder to secure a launch unit.

The postive side is it may mean Sony has to dig deep and try to price compare which means those of us that game mulitiplat will save some money!

Like others have said, I get that the people working on this are upset.

But both Microsoft & Sony playing a game of chicken for WAY too long was ridiculous. And it turned out to be great for Xbox in the end.

They should be thankful that someone else leaked the news. After the May game showcase and other blunders here and there I feel that their marketing team still had a lot to learn.

Given how much Microsoft is responding about the nature of these "leaks" in comparison to previous "leaks", it seems likely PS5 price has been adjusted as a result.

@Grumblevolcano I don’t know about that. I think Sony knew MS was sitting on a 299 machine. I mean we all knew about Lockhart last year and that it would “Cheaper”. Remember earlier this year their were reports Sony was having trouble getting the price down to “500”? I think Sony is just going to super bundle instead with like say both spider man games for the all digital. That would push PlayStations just as well as price.

It could have been stolen from a supply chain data and even sold to the guy that leaked. The impact of the leak has been very positive but perhaps Microsoft are annoyed because this gives Sony the opportunity to undercut Series X with the digital PS5 price and that could hurt Series X sales. It will be interesting to see how Sony prices both consoles compared to Series X and S. Sony waited for Microsoft to reveal the console, the specifications and the price first. Sony don't seem very confident, as if they thought that they have the least appealing product.

At the end of the day, regardless but a giant copeloration says, the leak was in the best interest of the consumers. They were playing the world's most annoying game of dick-chicken. I'm just glad it is over. Honestly, if they had waited much longer I would have bought 2 S's instead of the 2 X's I am now.

@mousieone I was thinking more about comparison to the $499 Series X price (PS5 digital had no chance of price matching or undercutting Series S). So something like $499 PS5 disc version reduced to $449 because of the "leak" (undercut) or if Sony really learned nothing from 2006 perhaps even $599 PS5 disc version reduced to $499 because of the "leak" (price match).

@BlueOcean

I was thinking this exact same thing. If you the market leader why would care so much what “the other guy” is doing as much as Sony & their legions on Ponies seem to be these days?

Maybe Sony is just trying to avoid what usually happens with these generations? The PS2 sold like crazy, but then Sony got arrogant with the PS3 and had a horrid launch.

Then after the great 360, Don Mattrick almost killed the Xbox brand with their brutal launch of the Xbox One.

Even Nintendo, coming off the huge success of the Wii, released the Wii U and that bombed hard.

I guess we’ll see what happens. But I love what Xbox is doing since Phil Spencer took over & look forward to getting my XSX & all the games that are on the way!

@Grumblevolcano oh yeah I see what you are saying. No I don’t think Sony will do 599. That’s a toxic price especially right now definitely agree. I mean they may have thought MS would do 599 because they knew Series S was so cheap. However, It seems to me like Sony is just doing what they have always planned. Which is the reveal next week.

This Console has been known about since March and even rumoured long before that. They have had ample time and opportunity to bring that information to the public themselves. DF announced they saw the Console in March and its taken until September, despite rumours, despite leaks, despite official products getting out with 'Series S' mentioned etc. Long before the actual video and images of the console actually 'leaked', they have had AMPLE opportunity to take 'control' of the media and stop anyone from 'leaking' more for their own gain.

I think this should be a lesson to MS - don't 'sit' on information for months on end and take control of your own media. What did they have to gain by keeping their Silence for so long?? It seems that the basic Specs have been known for MONTHS. Digital Foundry did their next gen 4TF video - comparing a RDNA1 4TF GPU to a 6TF Polaris (XB1X equivalent) back in February based on 'rumours' around the Series S. MS themselves said 'Consoles' in 2019 at E3 too!!

I have no sympathy - its not really theft, its more that their delay in making an announcement for many, many months left the door open for someone else to announce it. Its like Sky Sports announcing that some football club has signed a player before the Club officially announce it....

What an ice queen

@Dezzy70 Yeah, I do feel bad for the marketing teams that probably spent hundreds of hours working on it. I'm in that line of work and can feel their pain.

Imagine a friend or third party became aware you will propose, and have the perfect plan to do that proposal.

This third party goes ahead and lets the partner know. After all... its on the best interest of the other person to know that there will be a proposal coming... no?

They would have launched the reveal and details much sooner.

They could have shown the system and held the pricing till later.

I think that's what Sony did, but I haven't been following everything.

When it comes to specs & system design, the demand is unstoppable.

What if Sony changes the price of the PS5s to match those of xs ? It changes all.

I was one of the first people to say that "enough is enough" with the waiting game, which I found really exausting, mentally.

HOWEVER, I must admit now that I understand what they were planing. The PS5 was going to be announced at a higher cost, that thing is a given. It's a sure fact.

So, for Xbox, it was very important to let Sony goes first.

But now, they find themselves naked, in a way. And Sony remains silent. So we know that many, many things are going behind the scene. They will undercut their original price, that's also sure.

So. In a way, it is all for the better, regarding players interest. But microsoft was hit hard with this leak. It made them miss a chance to be under Sony's price. It is unfair.

@Bobobiwan I agree.

I'm sorry for the Xbox team, but I'm glad to finally got all the information sooner than later.

@Bobobiwan

I highly doubt Microsoft was going to launch the Series X at anything less than $500. That thing is a beast console. And with the Series S being $300, they cover both ends of the market.

I have no idea why Microsoft waited this long anyways. Sony can’t match their $300 price point with either of their two versions of PS5. And there is no way Sony is going to make the PS5 $600. And if Sony matches XSX’s $500 price point, Microsoft has the way stronger machine for the same price.

Plus, we got Game Pass (with EA Play included) & Sony will never match what that service offers.

@Bobobiwan
As stupid as Sony has been the last couple years especially, I don't see the company ever doing anything as idiotic as pricing a console at $600 again. I could be wrong but I really don't think this has changed things that much other than maybe Sony decides to bite the bullet an charge $349 rather than $399 for the all-digital PS5. And even if it's only a slight difference $50 is still $50, for just a little more that's 6 months of Game Pass or a brand new game to go along with a Series S for potential new customers.