Earlier this month, Bloomberg published a story about how Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo many years ago.
EA, at the time, apparently told Microsoft it “had no idea” how to make a console, while Nintendo allegedly found Microsoft’s proposal hilarious, according to former Xbox third-party director Kevin Bachus.
In the same Twitch interview with Reggie and Jack, Robbie Bach – former president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division and Director of Xbox – was asked to give some insight into this story and talked about how the tech giant was simply “looking for partners” while exploring “all angles” and Nintendo was obviously located across the street from its own offices.
“In the early days of the Xbox concept, Microsoft didn’t want to do the hard work – it just wasn’t something we knew how to do and so the idea was that we were looking for partners. We talked to all PC makers, we talked to Sega and then we went and talked to Nintendo – they were the big boys in the neighborhood for sure and, by the way, they were across the street from our offices, so it wasn’t like we had that long trip to see them. “
“So we had a conversation and the reaction we had was probably what we expected. You know, Microsoft didn’t have much to offer, Nintendo was successful and it was always an independent company – it has a lot of its own content, but Bob and his team explored every angle. “
“At the end of the day, we decided to go for the hardware, which was kind of the last option and I know it sounds kind of silly, but we weren’t a hardware company, so deciding that we wanted to manufacture hardware was a big commitment. And we tried a lot of ways different from not doing it, and in the end, we had to do it ourselves. “
Bach further explained how Microsoft was apparently encouraged by third-party companies like Electronic Arts, which wanted someone else to compete with Sony and Nintendo. In the end, the decision was to move on with the Xbox.
“I mean, ironically, the number one people who were telling us that we should do the hardware were actually third-party publishers. People like Electronic Arts and Activision and these guys wanted someone to compete with Sony and Nintendo – so , having a third person in the market was good for them. And they didn’t want someone to do what 3DO did, which was to license their hardware to other people, they wanted someone who had the game’s skin on the hardware. “
“So, you know, ‘A.’ we had potential partners who said no and ‘B’ we had third party editors who said “you have to do this yourself”, so we did it. “
Although Microsoft and Nintendo obviously did not reach an agreement, Xbox went on to acquire fan-favorite Nintendo developer Rare. Today, the two video game giants have relatively good relationships – with the Microsoft-owned IP recently represented on Nintendo’s all-star fighter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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