Leaks in the gaming world are not new. But what recently happened can be safely called the leak of the year. It wasn’t just leaks of a specific one game, it was a host of games. The leak played a complete part spoiler for Microsoft by revealing its whole list of unannounced games.
A leaked old document containing a release schedule of Microsoft gave away the unannounced titles that were on cards for Xbox, was leaked during the ongoing Microsoft vs. US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) trial investigations. The long list included titles like Dishonored 3, a Ghostwire Tokyo sequel, Doom Year Zero, Fallout 3, and Oblivion remasters.
Fallout 3 Remaster, Ghostwire Tokyo Sequel, Dishonored 3, Oblivion Remaster, Doom Year Zero appear on a release schedule listhttps://t.co/xttFBM30wp pic.twitter.com/A1sv7TAuL7
— Wario64 (@Wario64) September 19, 2023
Another title that caught the eyes of the fans was from the hood of Rockstar Games, and no, it was not GTA 6. The leaked document revealed Rockstar Games was also working on Red Dead Redemption 2 for next-generation consoles.
Are Microsoft and Rockstar working on Red Dead Redemption 2 for next-gen?
While the image of the document circulating on social media just showed a limited number of titles, the entire document was available for download on the internet. Although the document has been taken down now, copies of it remain with the users who downloaded it.
The document revealed that a next-gen version of the already successful 2018 title Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games would be released. The document read “T2/RDR2 (TakeTwo/RedDead2)” for the ninth generation of consoles, which include PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
‼️ BREAKING NEWS ‼️
Look no further..
..this is the COMPLETE list of LEAKED #Xbox documents from the FTC vs. Microsoft case involving the acquisition of Activision | Blizzard | King.
Someone didn’t properly protect the documents during an upload and this leak, the biggest in… pic.twitter.com/2x9j1DBzYR
— Game Pass Tracker on 𝕏 (@gamepasstracker) September 19, 2023
However, one thing to note here is that the documents penned down a Q2 FY22 release for Red Dead Redemption 2’s next-gen release. Q2 FY22 for Microsoft meant the months of October, November, and December in 2022. However, that has clearly not happened and Microsoft has significantly missed the date.
Now that leads to three possibilities. One is that the document (which was created before the COVID-19 pandemic) also stated a release date of 2021 for Bethesda’s Starfield, which was finally released in 2023. Similarly, Elder Scrolls 6 has a release date of 2024, and if reports are to be believed the game is not prepared for a 2024 release and it not hit the shelves before 2026.
The trend shows that Microsoft is running two years behind it’s scheduled release dates, and hence RDR2 could see a 2025 release on the next-gen consoles. The second possibility is that the project was internally scrapped by Microsoft within the past three years which remains undocumented, however, that doesn’t seem very likely.
The third inference is that the document is based on Microsoft’s internal research. So it can be that Red Dead Redemption 2’s next-gen release was something the internal team suggested, but was never in the making with developer Rockstar Games.