Xbox boss Phil Spencer addresses leaked documents, claims “so much has changed”

Since Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard - the publisher of Call of Duty and Overwatch - for $68.7 billion, it’s been grappling with legislators around the world to gain permission to close that deal.

The company has recently been trying to earn the approval of UK regulators, but has also faced scrutiny from the American Federal Trade Commission in court.

Now, following a massive leak of confidential Xbox documents shared by Microsoft as part of the case between it and the FTC, which included a release roadmap of Bethesda games, Phil Spencer has issued a response.

Microsoft Gaming CEO says Xbox “will share the real plans when we are ready”

In a statement posted on social media in the aftermath of the leak, the Xbox boss began by acknowledging: “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.” Spencer continued, “We will share the real plans when we are ready.”

The Microsoft Gaming CEO expanded upon this message a bit in an internal memo to Xbox employees, a copy of which has been obtained by The Verge, writing of the leak: “I know this is disappointing, even if many of the documents are well over a year old and our plans have evolved.”

“We will learn from what happened and be better going forward,” Spencer added, “We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community. That said, there’s so much more to be excited about, and when we’re ready, we’ll share the real plans with our players.”

According to a filing from Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, the judge presiding over the Microsoft vs FTC case, the documents and emails included in the leak unintentionally became public after Microsoft itself mistakenly included unreacted versions of them in “a secure cloud link” it provided to the court.

The documents have since been removed from the section of the US District Court for the Northern District of California’s website they surfaced via.

Make sure to check out the rest of our coverage of the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal saga, as well as our array of guides to the latest developments in Call of Duty Warzone, Modern Warfare 2, and the upcoming Modern Warfare 3.