AMD's AI segment will witness a tremendous "upturn" in the coming years since the prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo disclosed a "rapid growth" in the company's future revenue.
22.09.2023 - 00:13 / techcrunch.com / Phil Spencer
As Microsoft marches toward a new deadline for its planned acquisition of Activision, the company stumbled into an unexpected setback of its own making.
This week, a trove of documents surfaced through Microsoft’s battle with the FTC surfaced corporate insights and trade secrets about its Xbox business that the company obviously intended to keep under wraps.
The files were part of a deposition added to an online portal hosted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and have since been pulled offline. While the documents were originally uploaded on September 14, a user on gaming forum ResetEra pointed out that un-redacted emails, reports and presentations were attached to downloadable PDFs in the batch of uploads. The files, which Microsoft itself apparently accidentally leaked, were pulled offline earlier this week.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>The judge just posted this order related to the accidental publication of Microsoft documents. pic.twitter.com/1nShLKrYbD— Douglas Farrar (@DouglasLFarrar) September 19, 2023
The leak offered an unexpected snapshot of Microsoft’s Xbox plans, including the timeline for a new iteration of the Xbox Series X. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer tried to spin the leaks on X, formerly Twitter, characterizing the leaked information as stale. But there’s still plenty to be gleaned in spite of Spencer’s comments.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents. It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 19, 2023
In one email dated in 2020, Spencer reveals Microsoft’s ambitions to buy Nintendo — the third wheel in the PlayStation/Xbox ecosystem. “Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in Gaming,” Spencer wrote, adding that Microsoft would be the most well-positioned potential buyer in the U.S.
“At some point, getting Nintendo would be a career moment,” Spencer said. “It’s just taking a long time for Nintendo to see that their future exists off of their own hardware.” The Microsoft executive also named Valve, maker of the online game marketplace Steam, as another potential acquisition target to have in mind if the opportunity ever arose.
If Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has attracted this much scrutiny, it’s difficult to image how the company would fare against antitrust regulators if it ever realized that particular pipe dream.
As far as the Xbox roadmap goes, the leaks revealed that Microsoft has an updated version of the Xbox Series X on the way next year — or at least it planned to around the time the leaked files
AMD's AI segment will witness a tremendous "upturn" in the coming years since the prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo disclosed a "rapid growth" in the company's future revenue.
Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard might be coming to a particularly spooky conclusion. Sources close to the deal have told The Verge that the long, knock-down drag-out process might conclude on Friday October 13.
I'm always here for some hack'n'slash action—and that's exactly what Necrofugitive promises to offer. Developed by Black Garden Studios, the game centres around a runaway monster hounded by mediaeval knights after a brutal witch hunt. It's just dropped another gameplay trailer as part of Realms Deep.
This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we bid farewell to PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who has announced his departure from the company after almost three decades of service.
Ubisoft came out of nowhere to 'rescue' Microsoft from its litigation with UK regulator CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). As you'll undoubtedly recall, the CMA was the only regulator to successfully block Microsoft's groundbreaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft appealed to the CAT (Competition Appeal Tribunal), but it would have been a long and arduous road to pursue, as CAT could only recommend another outcome to the CMA without being able to enforce it.
There’s been a lot of talk about Phil Spencer and Xbox lately due to the leaked email issue that flooded the news channels last week. The brand and Microsoft were put under the spotlight in the worst way because of past statements that were made public by accident because of the FTC court battle they won. But even with those issues, Spencer is still taking time to build up the Xbox brand and assure gamers that big things are coming. For example, you might know that the Xbox line has never done well in Japan sales-wise.
Capcom would «gracefully decline» any acquisition offer from Microsoft, according to the company's chief operating officer.
Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto has said that the company would reject any acquisition offer from Microsoft.
Capcom is not interested in acquiring any new studios, nor is it interested in being aquired itself, its COO has said.
We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!
By Monica Chin, a senior reviewer covering laptops and other gadgets. Monica was a writer for Tom's Guide and Business Insider before joining The Verge in 2020.
The video game industry revolves around secrets — it often feels like everything about a game in development is closely guarded. It’s a far cry from the literary world, where books are announced and detailed in trade publications well ahead of publication, or in entertainment, where casting news trickles out over a course of years. Video game creation, design, production, and distribution comprise a volatile, ever-shifting process, and for the companies behind the biggest games, too much transparency would dissolve carefully crafted exterior narratives. That’s why it was such a huge deal when Microsoft accidentally uploaded non-public documents to a California court’s file repository last week.