A version named at deployment, not defaulted
A deployment on this platform names a model version explicitly. That is what makes a dated retirement schedule usable at all, and it means there is no default engine: something in the customer's configuration says which version answers, and it keeps saying so until somebody edits it. As of 2026-09-22.
| What the page is asked | What Microsoft Foundry publishes | What that leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| Is a starting tier stated | Not applicable, a deployment names the version | Nothing answers that was not deployed |
| Why that matters for retirement | A dated schedule can be matched to a deployment | Which is how the notice finds its audience |
| Who holds the effective default | The customer's own configuration | It persists until an edit is made |
| What happens when the date passes | That deployment stops answering | Recorded in the stored work column |
Inclusion rule. Filled when the entry's own public page says which model a new project starts on, or when a single-model menu makes the answer follow from the list having one line. Order. What does not apply first, then why the arrangement exists.
1Explicit versions are the precondition for a schedule
A retirement schedule is only actionable if somebody can tell which of their systems uses the retiring version. Deployments that name versions make that answerable, which is why the platform with the most detailed schedule also has no defaults.
The two facts are the same design decision seen from two sides. A product that hides the version cannot publish a useful schedule, because nobody reading it could tell whether it applied to them.
2The default moves into configuration, where it persists
Whatever version was deployed keeps answering until an edit happens, so the effective default is whatever a team set up once and forgot. That is a pin, and it fails closed on the retirement date.
Failing closed is the right behaviour and it is still a failure. The notice period is what turns it into a scheduled edit, which is why this platform's two commitments belong together.
3Why a production is usually two layers away from this
Most productions reach video models through an application, not through a deployment they control. In that arrangement somebody else holds the version string and the schedule never reaches the person whose series depends on it.
The register keeps both layers: this reading for the platform, and the application readings for products where a default really does exist and mostly is not named.
- sora-2 version 2025-12-0815 October 2026retirement date, no replacement named
- sora-2 version 2025-10-0615 July 2026retirement date, replaced by sora-2 version 2025-12-08
4Sources
Read from the model retirement schedule on learn.microsoft.com, 2026-09-22. The whole entry is on Microsoft Foundry, and the column it sits in is on Default tier. Same column, other entries: Amazon Bedrock, Gemini API.