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Seriously, no. Just no.
I actually wondered the exact same thing on the back of the Avowed stuff. As I said in that thread it had me curious whether an employee was leaking alpha gameplay or was it more a controlled situation where Jez was given permission to report on certain details (but I suppose that doesn’t explain how non journos have apparently seen the game).
I know people say the other companies are just as leaky but looking back to E3 and Microsoft had their entire show leaked beforehand (and it almost feels like we know what they’ll be showing a TGA). For something like the E3 listing you would have thought only a select few within xbox would be privy to that information so could that make it “easier” to establish who is leaking stuff out?
I suppose the interesting question is when those in the know decide if or when to leak stuff they know. Like with Project Omen all we got was “Arkane making a Vampire game” and admittedly with that vague info i built an idea in my head as to what sort of game we were going to get and maybe I’d have been less surprised by the tone and everything if Redfall had been revealed when Arkane were ready. Personally I’m not sure it was a good look when Grubb just casually revealed Microsoft’s entire E3 (others may have a different opinion). In comparison to Sony’s show it seemed like people knew what was going to be there but opted to just drop hints rather than full on reveal.
Jez mentioned on the WC Discord that the Avowed info didn’t come from Xbox themselves but rather a third party, and he can’t remember ever getting info from Xbox directly. This wasn’t a controlled leak, those are basically a myth.
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I think it’s entirely possible Xbox just has more insiders? That and Microsoft is a pretty big company with its hands in a lot of pies. People privy to private information might be more common. All conjecture, though.
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I get the impression that people know about Sony stuff, they just don’t say anything. Perhaps, as the dominant platform, there is less of a need for people to talk and appease the concerns of fans.
Microsoft is also a company big enough that people have entire careers dedicated to building sources and obtaining information.
I always wonder about those who leak the info to press/influencers. I personally would never risk my job if i was in their positions.
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Some of this was answered by Jez himself a few months ago. They have access to MS and their intermediary connects - more than Sony. Getting scoops requires patience and technique.
Also, not too many Sony/Nintendo watchers or journos compared to proper MS watchers. They are able to get connects, because paparazzi with MS info is now a science. There are ppl with decades of connects within MS - ask Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley.
So, the comparison to Sony and Nintendo does not apply as much. And secondly, a large contingent of these two companies is in Japan.
To get Xbox secrets, it can be as simple as walking in their Xbox buildings too - which Jez was able to do once - pre-pandemic. Apple does not allow such free for all walks anywhere. So, there is this laissez faire attitude that will always be a part of MS culture.
Overall, it’s easier to prevent leaks when you’re doing less. The more that’s going on the harder it is to prevent leaks.
Relatively, the Xbox of today is far less leakier than the Xbox of last generation. Today’s Xbox is so much larger than before and yet we know less now than we did before.
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Well do we even know if things aren’t leaking about Sony and Nintendo in Japan? I mean there could be some discord-like chats (Line?) we never hear about. This whole insider/journalist thing seems more of a Western thing and there probably just isn’t many who know Japanese or can make reliable Japanese contacts.
Insider/journalist is a western thing?
At the end of the day, they have not been a large companies to care about since the Japanese economy stagnated in the 90s, if you are talking about American/European journalists. I remember, people in tech circles in the US were waiting for Sony’s answer to the iPhone - which never arrived.
Well yeah, I mean the whole doing it to be e-famous or chasing followers thing. I don’t believe it is as prevalent in Japan, though I could be wrong: It could just be a sheer population/numbers thing.
“Insider” status leads to clout and some people love the attention and I feel like that’s mostly a western thing.
Got it - but don’t mix insiders and journalists.
There is still some hope there with the likes of Gamesbeat, WCG etc. I am ok with them leaking stuff.
I assume think this is present everywhere. We are just not aware about it.
There is a blurred line there. I believe many who are insiders want to be considered some kind of investigative journalist. That is why they say they have “sources” and do information reveals.
I covered that. It could just be a language thing.
There are plenty of leaks on Sony and Nintendo side as well. What those are lacking are reliable sources. Since they don’t have people don’t pay attention to real stuff that is leaked, unlike on Ms side where we have pretty reliable insiders that get many stuff right and even when they don’t we eventually learn that it was a thing at least for a while.
Also, Sony recently announced deals as soon as they were signed (with Jade and other studios). By coming out as soon as the deal is made you prevent leaks, for example, Kojima leak said the LOI/contract were signed.
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Microsoft has almost 200,000 employees. Good luck not leaking at a company that size.
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Microsoft has historically used controlled leaks as marketing since the late 80s.
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Microsoft works with tons of vendors. They love anything that can be modeled as ‘vendor relationship’. They will often share more information directly with vendors than they will their own other internal departments. I’ve gotten in some weird situations with this where I was working with both MS internal and a MS vendor and I had to pretend the vendor hadn’t told me something about a project when a MS employee asked me about something, lol
Combine the three and as long as it doesn’t get them in trouble with the SEC I don’t think they’ve ever really cared. There’s so many openly known things about MS and Xbox but people ignore them until some rando personality tweets it.
It’s not supposed to hold any water. Please stop making soup in it!
All kidding aside, I don’t think it’s a problem, most of it will still be having the same impact. I rather have companies open even. Show me what you got, what your planning and how it involves me. Especially in the case of hardware and development. It shows me what development tools I can use myself 
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But granted I’m not a spoilerphobe, so maybe that might color my bias.
Some things are actual leaks and some things seem to be of the “controlled” variety.
Alot of people called Jez’s Avowed article a leak and it’s clearly not (imo). They literally gave him access to the game and Jez is a good guy. He would have respected the devs and not write a giant article exposing so many details if he wasn’t given the green light.