Microsoft has leaked documents that suggest executives predicted in 2022 that gaming growth would result from advertising and mobile purchases over the next several years.
The disclosure in a Microsoft presentation dated May 2022 is only the latest insider information from the software maker's legal battle against the Federal Trade Commission over the pending Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Microsoft's Document Leak
Prior documents have shown that the tech giant has set a target of $500 billion in total revenue by the 2030 fiscal year and is analyzing its corporate clients' use of products from its rivals. Federal Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in July favor of Microsoft and Activision.
Since that decision, the two companies and others involved with the case requested and received approval for the redaction of documents before the court released them to the public. Following a decision by the court to upload the documents to its website, the parties said that they contained nonpublic information, which prompted Corley to remove them from public view, as per CNBC.
The leaked presentation describes plans for a new Xbox console for a 2028 release. The new product would follow the Xbox Series X and Series S, which became available in 2020. These consoles are the successor to the company's Xbox One, first released in 2013.
However, the document does not provide information regarding the $68.7 billion deal with Activision, which was announced a few months prior. Despite this, Activision is critical to achieving the type of revenue that was described in the presentation.
The leaked documents also provide an insight into Microsoft's plans beyond the current console generation. The product slated for a 2028 release is described as an "immersive game and app platform" that would focus on "cloud hybrid games" as well as artificial intelligence integration, according to Game is Hard.
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Plans for Future Games
The company is also planning many new games, including Doom Year Zero, Oblivion and Fallout 3 remasters, a new Dishonored game, a sequel to Ghostwire: Tokyo, and DLC for Starfield. The latter game will receive full mod support starting next year.
However, it is important to note that the leaked documents are all internal, which means that Microsoft or Bethesda has officially announced none of their contents. Many details are expected to change over time, and the leak could change some plans.
Microsoft's leaked documents also showed that the company foresees next-gen DirectX raytracing, dynamic global illumination, ML-based super-resolution, micro polygon rendering optimization, and many others.
The term "hybrid compute" would presumably differ from regular cloud gaming because it uses hardware and cloud computing to display in-game elements simultaneously. This means that primary characters would run on your local GPU, while NPCs, background elements, and others would be generated remotely, said Engadget.
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