Information leaks, the likes of which Microsoft knows well, are here to stay. Leaks are commonplace in the technology sector, and, though they might be painful at times, are impossible to stop completely, according to Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg.

“Leaks are something that sort of just happens in technology, right? iPhones leak, new TV models leak, and games leak,” Greenberg said as part of the latest Inner Circle podcast. “It’s just the nature of the business. It happens. We don’t plan for it. It’s usually unexpected.”

In January 2014, an anonymous NeoGAF tipster unloaded a ton of information about Microsoft’s future plans for the Xbox One. Among other things, the source said Microsoft would release a white Xbox One and Halo 2: Anniversary in 2014, and revealed that Halo 5 and Fable Legends would launch in 2015. So far, this has all proven to be accurate.

“We don’t get too distracted by it” — Aaron Greenberg

Greenberg didn’t address this leak specifically, but did say Microsoft doesn’t spend too much time getting caught up in this noise.

“With the Internet and with so many people trying to guess what you’re doing or speculate on what you’re doing, quite often a lot of the things that appear as leaks either are not true at all or a lot of the information is wrong, but some of it might be right,” he said. “Then there’s stuff that’s just 100 percent right. It’s out of our control.”

“We don’t get too distracted by it,” Greenberg added. “Our general philosophy is we don’t comment on any of them. Whether it’s the many, many things that aren’t right or things that, ‘Wow, they really got almost all of it wrong, but they did get something right,’ we just don’t comment. We generally tend to like to unveil things the way that we plan to.”

Microsoft spends a great deal of time and effort in planning official game announcements, hoping to communicate the novelty and intrigue of a game as best it can with fans. Leaks get in the way of these plans, and can sometimes show games in a poor light, Greenberg explained. This is to say, he’s not a big fan of leaks (as you might expect), though he acknowledges again that they are just part of the business.

“It keeps us on our toes. It’s the nature of the beast,” Greenberg said. “It’s definitely not going to change or go away.”

Also in the interview, Greenberg said whatever Xbox leaks you might be reading aren’t coming from inside Microsoft’s walls. He said the Xbox team is something like a family; people care about the products they’re working on and don’t want to share details before things are ready, he said.

Greenberg said all the planning and preparation for an announcement or reveal culminate in a special moment. This is a moment that not only Xbox employees long for, but also fans, Greenberg explained. “It’s so lackluster to see a bad screenshot of something and try to speculate what it is,” he said.

Of course, Microsoft isn’t the only company that faces product leaks. All major game publishers have dealt with leaks to varying degrees, Greenberg pointed out. “There’s no silver bullet for it,” he said.

What do you think about video game leaks? Let us know in the comments below!