A huge collection of alleged Xbox files related to the Federal Trade Commission’s case against Microsoft has been published online, spilling some of the company’s plans for the gaming console to the public.
The files were uploaded Friday to a website hosted by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where the FTC is suing to block Microsoft’s acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard. The court’s website stopped sharing the files sometime Tuesday morning.
They include more than 100 documents, many of them partially redacted, related to Microsoft’s Xbox plans.
Douglas Farrar, director of the FTC’s Office of Public Affairs, told NBC News that “Microsoft was responsible for the error in uploading these documents to the court.”
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The files include emails from company executives such as Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and game release schedules.
Some of the documents include senior Microsoft Gaming employees discussing the value of the exclusive hold they have on key video game titles.
A document lists projections for some major game titles with release dates and which platforms they are scheduled to be available on. This list estimates that the long-awaited game “The Elder Scrolls VI” will not be released until 2026 or later and will not be available for Playstation, which is owned by Sony.
Neither Sony nor Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda immediately responded to requests for comment.
It is not clear whether the files were intended to be available to the public. A spokesman for the Northern District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
