Microsoft once tried to acquire Nintendo and was laughed at. In the late 1990s, Microsoft was looking to enter the gaming world. However, the chips were against them from the start, thanks to the success of Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo legend. Before entering the gaming market, the company was best known for Windows and its Office software, which was everywhere. They had funds to do what they wanted, but still struggled to get people to believe their idea of a console.
In a new interview, Kevin Bachus, Microsoft’s director of third-party relations, recalled how Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s president and future CEO, came up with the idea of meeting Nintendo in 2000. Ballmer is and was a huge Nintendo Fan. Bachus said, “[Ballmer] made us go to find Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired. They just laughed too much. Like, imagine an hour of someone laughing at you. That’s how the meeting went. “
Although Nintendo had video games, its consoles were not always hailed as a giant leap forward. Sony knew this and Microsoft wanted to capitalize on it, knowing it had the money for it. Bob McBreen, head of business development, says: “In fact, we had Nintendo in our building in January 2000 to work out the details of a joint venture where we provided them with all the Xbox technical specifications. Compared to Sony. PlayStation, yes. So the idea was, ‘Listen, you’re a lot better at the parts of the game with Mario and all that stuff. Why don’t you let us take care of the hardware?’ But it didn’t work. “Nintendo was not willing to give up what it was doing to start a partnership with Microsoft. Nintendo is currently believed to be worth more than $ 85 billion, so it looks like they were wise to keep their weapons.
Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln will not discuss the meeting he had with Microsoft more than 20 years ago. Lincoln says: “Nintendo does not talk about confidential discussions with other companies. In any case, nothing resulted from those discussions.” Nintendo developed the Wii, while Microsoft won a huge share of the market with the original Xbox and the following consoles.
The Xbox Series X and S are officially available for purchase, but are difficult to obtain due to immense demand. Meanwhile, Nintendo is still producing its own hits, thanks to the Switch, which has a huge Zelda portion of the open world, along with its mascot Mario in several different games. In the end, one cannot help wondering what would have happened if Nintendo had agreed to the Microsoft deal in 2000. You can check out the detailed history of the original Xbox at Bloomberg.
Topics: Nintendo