'Dude, Microsoft just f***ed us' over the next-gen Xbox contract, says Intel source in new leak

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox has been in the headlines for all the wrong (and I guess, some right) reasons this week... and now we're hearing that Microsoft "just f***ed" Intel over the chip contract for the next-gen Xbox.

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Microsoft next-gen Xbox hardware leaks (source: Moore's Law is Dead)

The news comes from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who had sources from within Microsoft and Intel give him some news nuggets for the next-gen Xbox console. The first source was reportedly from Intel, who said: "Dude, Microsoft just f***ed us (Intel). I guess now we know that their "letters of intent" mean absolutely nothing. I have no idea if AMD got the contract back, but this left a bad taste in my mouth... and from what I hear we aren't the only company annoyed by the games they're playing lately".

Another source, this time from Microsoft, told MLID: "I (Microsoft) honestly have no idea what's going on with management here anymore. We are at least a year behind Sony in SoC development by now, and it almost seems like upper management's seen some metric that's making them doubt our ability to compete with another generation".

• Read more: Microsoft's next-gen Xbox is being led by the Surface team, could have Intel APU
• Read more: Intel wants to be inside Microsoft's next-gen Xbox console, built in the USA

Meanwhile, the third source -- also from Microsoft -- told MLID: "I (Microsoft) do by now believe we are going to launch another generation of Xbox, but the fact that there was this level of uncertainty is very telling... Oh and BTW -- the earliest we can do a proper next-gen would be 2027, and anything before that would either be a "new kind of Xbox" or absurdly rushed".

If this news is true and Microsoft is screwing companies around, it's not good news... as it means a next-gen Xbox console coming out in 2027 isn't going to exactly compete with Sony's next-gen PlayStation 6 console which should be released in 2026. Sony has its upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console reportedly due later this year, and will easily beat Microsoft's flagship current-gen Xbox Series X console.

What next for Microsoft? It seems they're incredibly delayed behind Sony and its SoC development over at AMD, which has reportedly already won the contract for PlayStation 6, while Microsoft is twiddling it's thumbs. A trillion-dollar company, and one of its biggest brands -- Xbox -- is a sitting duck.