Microsoft Pursuing Legal Action after Neogaf Leak

A user on Neogaf yesterday “announced” a series of Microsoft secrets, including Halo 2 Anniversary, Crackdown 3, a Titanfall console and a cheaper Xbox One without an optical disc drive. Naturally Microsoft was unhappy with this, and Kotaku claim an anonymous source tells them they’ll be trying to discover the identity of the leaker, and punish him as much as the law allows.

From Kotaku:

On top of all that, according to one person familiar with the situation who spoke to me under condition of anonymity, Microsoft is currently trying to track down and identify ntkrnl. According to that person, Microsoft executives are looking to take legal action against ntkrnl, which, again, doesn’t mean that everything he says is true.

That’s an important thing to note. The promises for the Xbox One were huge and even if they turn out not to be true, people are going to expect all these great things. By trying to track down ntkrnl and punishing him, it’s as much for putting the company in a certain position, as much as anything. Whether real or false, announcements have now been made that wouldn’t be otherwise and that’s something Microsoft wouldn’t appreciate.

Will they be able to track him down? Depends how much Neogaf plays ball, I suppose, although Microsoft aren’t going to be mucking about. If they don’t punish Ntkrnl, other leakers may come forward, and Neogaf don’t want to be at the centre of anything bigger than this.