The FTC leak: is Microsoft's vision for its next-gen console lacking in ambition?

The leak of unredacted Microsoft documents lays bare the firm’s plans for console hardware for this year and beyond. We’re getting a new, impressive-looking controller, mid-generation refreshes of the existing Xbox Series consoles, and we have a strong idea of Microsoft’s thinking for the next generation. There are some controversial ideas presented in terms of its revised Series machines but I’m more concerned about the plans for the Gen 10 consoles. Xbox needs to be radical, it needs to align more closely with the best in PC innovation, and the vision presented is either problematic and unambitious.

Before going any further though, Phil Spencer has already said that these documents are out of date and that we’ve not yet seen the ‘real plan’. On the one hand, it makes you wonder why Microsoft would present irrelevant documents to the FTC if its strategy is actually quite different. On the other hand, there is precedent for Microsoft leaks turning out to be out of date, bearing little resemblance to the final product – read up on the old Fortaleza leak if you need your memory jogged. This was allegedly a vision for Xbox One, except it bore little resemblance to the final product. Kinect glasses, anyone?

The revised Series consoles in the leaked PDFs are another matter entirely. The chances are that this is exactly what we’re going to get since console design and establishing supply lines can’t be rushed or massively tweaked this far along in the production process, even a year out from launch. Xbox Series S effectively remains unchanged on the outside, bar improvements in sustainable materials in its manufacture. Inside, storage doubles up to 1TB, while the main processor is shrunk to TSMC’s 6nm node from the current 7nm process. The Xbox One era Southbridge retained for Series hardware is replaced while wireless I/O gets a nice upgrade.

0:00:00 Introduction0:02:48 The end of physical media?0:14:55 Revised Series X, Series S consoles incoming0:36:02 Updated Xbox controller in the works0:41:51 Microsoft’s next-gen console proposal1:04:53 Supporter Q1: Can Sony really pull off a cost-effective, powerful PS5 Pro console to put Microsoft under pressure?1:11:02 Supporter Q2: Could Microsoft scrap some of their console plans because of this leak?1:14:50 Supporter Q3: Which leak is bigger, the Xbox FTC leak or ‘Jensen’s Prophecy’?

Xbox Series X gets a more thorough revamp. It receives the spec enhancements of the Series S refresh, it gets the 6nm silicon and a doubling of storage, but it’s also losing the optical drive, bringing the end of physical media one step closer. This is another topic altogether, but if this is the route Microsoft wants to take, it needs to come up with a way to provide a competitive marketplace for buying console games from different vendors, if only to head off the antitrust/regulatory nightmares that will inevitably follow. Still, the lack of an optical drive prompts Microsoft to re-style the unit with a Mac Pro-like ‘trash can’ design, making this the first Xbox that isn’t actually a box.