Read the full unredacted email where Microsoft reacts to Sony’s PS5 reveal

Last night, the biggest Xbox leak successful history revealed multiple caller Xboxes, including plans for an ambitious hybrid Xbox that could get successful 2028. It besides revealed communications from Microsoft’s apical execs — including 1 speech from a joyous Phil Spencer to CEO Satya Nadella about the just-announced Sony PlayStation 5.

That email is present disposable wholly unredacted, truthful you tin spot conscionable however assured Microsoft seemed successful March 2020 close aft the PS5 spec reveal.

According to an enforcement summary prepared by erstwhile Xbox CVP Elizabeth Hamren for Microsoft’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and forwarded to Nadella, the institution believed the Xbox Series X would person up to 30 percent higher real-world show compared to the PS5 — a transition that was antecedently redacted.

“We expect that we’ll person 30% vantage connected GPU show and a 25% representation bandwidth vantage successful presumption of real-world performance,” she wrote.

Another antecedently redacted chunk: Microsoft admitted that PS5 mightiness person a “long term” terms vantage connected expandable retention due to the fact that Sony chose to usage a modular M.2 NVMe SSD slot. “In the agelong term, their attack whitethorn supply terms advantage.”

That surely feels existent 3 years later, as SSD prices person fallen disconnected a cliff, and fantabulous PS5-ready drives person go exceptionally casual to find.

But neither Sony’s SSD velocity vantage nor Microsoft’s teraflop vantage has ever played retired successful the existent world. At launch, the PS5 turned retired not to request a peculiarly speedy SSD and yet outperformed the Xbox Series X. In June 2022, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman said that retired of 15 nonstop Xbox Series X vs. PS5 crippled show comparisons, Xbox did propulsion up 8 times, portion the PS5 pulled up twice.

As usual, crippled publishers and developers privation to people both large boxes portion simultaneously shipping much of their big-budget games to PC than ever.

“[A]fter astir 12 hours of soaking successful their unveil, taking isolated their specs and looking astatine the assemblage responses I conscionable wanted to accidental that I’m arrogant of our team,” said Xbox brag Phil Spencer.

“This is truly large to perceive Phil. Neither of america person announced pricing right?” Nadella replied.

In a antithetic document, Microsoft revealed that it planned to subsidize the Xbox Series X and S to the tune of $1.5 cardinal successful 2021 to deed its terms targets of $499 and $299, respectively. “That’s our largest hardware subsidy ever successful the Gaming P&L,” the papers reads.