Leaked Microsoft Email Reveals Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Really Wants to Buy Nintendo -::Xbox boss Phil Spencer outlined his desire to buy Nintendo in a leaked email sent in 2020.
Y’all remember anti-trust laws? Good times
Laws? That’s for poor people!
Is Nintendo even remotely interested in being purchased?
They’ve existed since 1889. They pretty much decided to stop following the industry and just keep doing their own thing back when the wii came out.
Something in me doubts they are strapped for cash. They own Mario, Pokemon, and a lot more. And you don’t make ridiculous consoles unless you’re in a position to gamble.
The IPs alone are gold let alone the games they make. Pokemon imo has been subpar for a while and it still prints money. Yea i dont see them selling anytime soon.
Worth more than gold. Pokemon is the single highest grossing IP of ALL TIME
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media_franchises
Pokémon? With the poké and the mon? https://youtu.be/_kUG-YDcLuw
I guess that clip is a little dark now that we know what Bill Cosby did to women. And we don’t even know what happened to Mortimer Ichabod Marker.
For media. I thought the highest grossing general IP was Hello Kitty.
Maybe, I found this image saying it’s still above Hello Kitty, but not sure about the validity - https://imgur.com/ZEORgkV
Interesting list. Supprised Lego is so low.
Hot take: the Pokémon games have always been trash, and the version locked exclusives in each generation are day 1 dlc
and the version locked exclusives in each generation are day 1 dlc
I can see how it would be seen this way, but imo the intention from the beginning wasn’t that people would buy both/all three versions per generation, it was to encourage people to trade with each other. Which absolutely worked when it came out. It was a totally new idea that definitely helped sell more people on the games, because they could connect with friends and trade or battle, with later gens adding even more features for when you connected.
I could see making the dlc argument these days, but at this point you could also argue it’s just out of tradition.
I can’t remember ever enjoying a Pokémon game. I think it’s for people who get a dopamine hit from collecting.
For me they were always just fun little JRPGs. I usually don’t go collecting all Pokémon. I just have my roster of monsters I regularly use in fights and level up.
Nintendo has $15B in cash and the company is worth $51B.
And Microsoft has twice that cash-on-hand if they wanna get wacky with it and break some anti-trust laws that aren’t enforced anymore.
The Japanese government would not allow one of the country’s most cherished brands sold off to one of the worst stewards to gaming’s intellectual property value.
Well as a publicly traded company they are open to hostile take overs. But we have laws for that. Also japan probably has some way to stop it
The emails also indicate that they know exactly how well loved they would be amongst the public for taking that route. Which is to say they’d join Unity and X for publicity fuckups of their own making.
Quote from the article:
However, Spencer outlined a number of blocks on the merger, including the fact Nintendo seemed uninterested in selling up. Nintendo is “sitting on a big pile of cash”, Spencer said, and was apparently happy with its current position. As a result, Spencer said he couldn’t “see an angle” on a buyout in the short term, adding: “I don’t think a hostile action would be a good move… so we are playing the long game."
So its never happening and it’s at best delusional. Got it.
It’s much worse, they are buying up shares to take them over, so it’s been happening for a while.
"I say “until recently” as our former MS BoD member ValueAct has been heavily acquiring shares of Nintendo and I’ve kept in touch with [ValueAct CEO] Mason Morfit as he’s been acquiring. It’s likely he will be pushing for more from Nintendo stock which could create opportunities for us.
“Without that catalyst I don’t see an angle to a near term mutually agreeable merger of Nintendo and MS and I don’t think a hostile action would be a good move so we are playing the long game. But our BoD has seen the full writeup on Nintendo (and Valve) and they are fully supportive on either if opportunity arises as am I.”
Weird how the OC article doesn’t even have that full quote.
Yikes, thanks for sharing. Maybe it’s time for some Nintendo shareholders to ensure it doesn’t become an annoying add on for Xbox. Or not, they may just take the cheques.
“Video games? Never played one. I play the only real game: “Gittin’ That Cash.” They got it, I want it.”
It’s hard to imagine a worse company to buy Nintendo than Microsoft. They don’t even use the same spot for the A button.
Please tell me they aren’t going to strip the soul out of the last game company that is doing something different. #LeaveNintendoAlone
What are they doing different besides suing every living being that uses their name without consent and never having a sale on 10 year old games? Lol
Edit: guess no one can take a joke. That nostalgia hits hard lol
They don’t try to put as much hardware as possible into their consoles just to allow developpers to skip the optimising part of gamedev.
They manage to make games that are fun to play without insane graphics.
That would be the end of Nintendo.
All the MS gaming studios acquisitions often end up with MS running them into the ground sooner than later.
Yeah, Bethesda is crashing and burning so hard right now.
It’s 2023 and Nintendo is still churning out the same minimum effort bullshit Pokemon and Mario games, and they still haven’t figured out online multiplayer. The max resolution of the Switch is 1080p 30 FPS. Nintendo is a joke and a shell of it’s former self.
Not saying Microsoft should buy them, but someone (not Sony) needs to get in there and bring that company kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
It’s 2023 and Nintendo is still churning out the same minimum effort bullshit Pokemon and Mario games, and they still haven’t figured out online multiplayer.
True
The max resolution of the Switch is 1080p 30 FPS. Nintendo is a joke and a shell of it’s former self.
Yeah, I wouldn’t go anywhere near that far. The N64 is the only console that was ever really top of its class in raw specs. That’s never been Nintendo’s game, and they’ve never even tried. And, the FTC leaks have shown Xbox is considered 3rd behind the Switch.
Arguably the GameCube was the most complacent and behind the times console they’ve ever released and it did extremely well.
The Wii started a huge “motion controls” revolution, and even if it didn’t stick around, it was fresh and everyone and their mother was trying to buy a Wii.
The Wii U was probably their biggest failure. They tried to do something new and misread the market.
The Switch also brought something entirely new to the market that has redefined the portable. It sold out like crazy and has done extremely well. I know people who own switches that have never purchased any console or handheld.
The Switch isn’t trying to compete with Xbox / PS. It’s competing with Gameboy and PSP but also allows you to play Mario Kart with the boys. And it has built an entire new device segment with Steam Deck and a million spin offs at this point.
Local couch gameplay has always been Nintendos bread and butter. They’re not aiming for hardcore gamers. And they’re still succeeding at exactly that.
FTC leaks show that Xbox is third in what? Sales? Because the Switch isn’t even the same generation as the Series X - it’s way behind in terms of power. Even if we’re just talking console sales, the Xbox hasn’t been constrained by hardware in almost a decade. The Xbox environment and Game Pass have completely revolutionized gaming for myself and millions others. Sure, I have a Series X and PS5, but I haven’t even turned either on in 6 months. I game on PC, but usually through Xbox Live because they’re at the forefront of crossplay (pretty much invented it) and I can play with friends in discord, Xbox One, Series X, Steam, whatever with no problem.
The NES, SNES, N64, and GameCube all powerhouses that directly competed with or were even more powerful than their competitors. They only started neutering themselves with the Wii. Online gameplay on GameCube was great. The Wii was the start of them no longer focusing on power. The WiiU was just a mistake, and the Switch was obsolete before it even released.
Nintendo makes gang busters because they focus on catering to young children. The last Pokemon games were some of the most financially successful games of all-time IIRC, but they’re also awful glitchy cash grabs that pretty much everyone hated. Smash and Mario Kart keep the adults coming back, but there’s several alternatives to both these days. I don’t know any serious gamers that even consider Nintendo to be a serious option these days.
I’ve got a Switch. Bought it for Smash. After the glitchy online nightmare that was Smash Online, I haven’t touched it since. It’s been sitting on a shelf collecting dust until my toddler daughter is old enough to play it. Nintendo is a joke of a company these days and a shadow of their former glory. Don’t even get me started on how litigation-happy they are anymore.
It’s 2023: why don’t we have a Skyrim style Pokemon game, or even a fully 3D Pokemon game, for that matter? Nintendo knows their fanboys will gladly accept any dogshit they shovel their way, and then ask for seconds.
“Ah yes, I see your point, now here’s a counter argument that completely misses it!”
What is a “serious gamer”?
Tl:Dr Xbox fanboy hates Nintendo because people have fun with their games and that makes him ANGRY! 😤
Where did I say it made me angry that others like Nintendo? I’ve literally owned every single Nintendo console and have the Smash edition Switch. I’m saying their games are boring and very low effort a lot of the times these days. Zelda is the exception. What other critically and commercial successful first party titles do they have, besides Zelda and Mario? The last few Pokemon games have been the definition of low effort and have bombed critically. Smash was fun but the online was so bad it would have been better off just not even having it. I’m saying Nintendo is a shadow of their former glory and wish they would get their shit together and stop making games exclusively for little kids. They weren’t always the children’s game developer. I adored the NES/SNES/N64/GameCube. They just are kind of a parody of themselves at this point.
Why should Switch, the handheld console, compete with consoles that are always connected to power outlet. I could make the same argument that consoles are trash because they can’t compete with PC specs wise.
Also just because it has worse specs doesn’t mean it’s s worse. People don’t look on the past consoles on how capable were they on graphics front. I agree with you on Pokémon. New games are horrible and don’t deserve the praise they get.
I am 30 years old and I have a switch and a Xbox Series X.
I use both, depending on the game I am currently playing. The Zelda gaes on the switch have been awesome and some of the Mario games as well.
The Xbox can deliver better graphics and with this more demanding games, but I cannot play them on the train or on vacation and that are actually the most times where I find time to play.
If I am at home with time to play I am still on the PC playing with friends.
For the price the Switch has definitely given me more value than the Xbox, even though I do like the Xbox.
Doing terrible at that thing where they make some of the best selling consoles and top rated console games… It is plausible that games can be good without needing 240gigs of 48m graphics.
The Zelda games have been pretty critically successful with the last two entries. What other first party Nintendo games in the last 5 years have been commercially and critically successful?
Why wouldn’t he, no one’s stopped M$ monopoly building lately. Good luck getting Nintendo though, it’s Japans Disney in regard to both local culture and high powered lawyering and suit happy executives that will jump on the chance to loose their lawyers to earn their retainer fees.
Thpppppppt
Yeah Sure. I Bet there are many people who want to buy Nintendo.
I sent them an acquisition form with 5 dollars in cash, but they said no and sent me a bill for 5 more dollars.
They probably just want the mario IP
And that would make the Switch the last console I bother buying.
To be clear, I hope it doesn’t happen…BUT from a business perspective, it really could be amazing.
Nintendo has always focused on the fun. Forget about the latest tech and the best specs. They don’t care about that, they’ve always focused on innovation, trying oddball things and focusing on fun games. If MS bought them, they have the pockets and know-how to do as cutting edge hardware as you can imagine.
So applying Nintendo’s strengths with actually cutting edge hardware,I could see some good things getting released. Imagine a VirtuaBoy using HoloLens technology. Or a Switch 3 console that was 2x more powerful than Series X.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Nintendo has oodles of cash sitting around from the Wii days to do whatever they want. And you already stated the reason there isn’t a Switch more powerful than the Series X: not because Nintendo doesn’t have access to it, but because Nintendo doesn’t care about that. More power = more time spent optimizing graphics = less time to focus on making the game fun. That’s Nintendo’s business model, and it works.
Nintendo has the money to build any hardware they like. It’s an artistic priority, not a financial constraint.
I sure hope it wasn’t artistic priority that lead to them building a joystick that drifts very easily.
Actually that was a personal priority. My uncle works for Nintendo Power and he said they did it just to annoy you specifically, Stephen01King.
Unfortunately I never bought a Switch, so they failed at their mission. Sorry you all had to be the victim in my place.
My uncle says “Drat!”
Nintendo is such an unethical company that this would probably be an overall improvement for Nintendo fans. No more getting sued, copyright strikes and cease and desists just for being a fan of Nintendo games. Hell, they might even have mod support when they re-release stuff on pc. What a world that would be to live in. Do I think Microsoft is a good company? Fuck no. They’re still the lesser of the two evils though, fuck Nintendo.
Microsoft has a history of leaving their acquisitions alone.
The only difference between a Nintendo-owned Nintendo and a Microsoft-owned Nintendo is that Microsoft would have an even larger share of the gaming landscape. I guarantee that Nintendo would still keep being protective of their intellectual property.
