"Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo, but they just laughed their asses off" - Bloomberg

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-01-06-microsoft-tried-to-buy-nintendo-but-they-just-laughed-their-asses-off

What if Microsoft bought Nintendo in the run up to the original Xbox? The last 20 years of video games would look pretty different, I imagine. Well, it turns out Microsoft actually tried to make it happen.

In an oral history on the creation of the original Xbox published by Bloomberg (paywall), those involved with the console reveal they tried to use Microsoft's millions to secure Xbox exclusives, and actually met Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired.

But, according to Kevin Bachus, former director of third-party relations, that meeting didn't go so well.

"Steve [Ballmer, ex-Microsoft CEO] made us go meet with Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired. They just laughed their asses off. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went."

Then head of business development Bob McBreen revealed that Microsoft also met with Nintendo in January 2000 to work through the details of a joint venture in which Xbox would build the hardware for Nintendo games to be played on. That one, too, didn't work out.

"We actually had Nintendo in our building in January 2000 to work through the details of a joint venture where we gave them all the technical specs of the Xbox," McBreen said.

"The pitch was their hardware stunk, and compared to Sony PlayStation, it did. So the idea was, 'Listen, you're much better at the game portions of it with Mario and all that stuff. Why don't you let us take care of the hardware?' But it didn't work out."

Lol. The MS/Nintendo that could've been. I think the part about "the pitch was their hardware stunk" was great lol. What do you think, SW? Are you happy this never happened? And would MS consider trying that today?

I wish Nintendo would have taken the second offer. Their hardware really does stink.

Now it makes me wonder if Nintendo laughed harder at MS trying to acquire them than everyone is currently laughing at the Series S. 😊

The Switch is a great bit of hardware... yes it's no powerhouse, but it's a hybrid system ffs.

Isn't this common knowledge despite that was 21 years ago? I remember reading this on Gamepromagazines and even I knew MS we're clowns thinking they can buyout Nintendo. But of course, MS was very different company back then.

Don’t worry guys that’s how MS wins by buying out their competitors it will happen sooner or later

They just laughed their asses off. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went.

That's great. 😂

Yeah, would love to have a third party Nintendo, but not like that.

At first I thought everyone knew this but then I remembered not everyone here is as old as I am lol

The switch is a poor home console and a poor handheld. They’d have been better off just making a proper handheld with its own protective cover that you can actually fit in your pockets and an HDMI port you can hook up to a tv if you so desire.

Unfortunately the Switch’s sales means Nintendo will be doubling down on the fragile oversized battery-slurping handheld wannabe that is grossly underpowered as a home console.

Even though I'm in my 30s, I don't remember anything about that back then lol.

I can imagine Miyamoto wearing his Mario hat and holding a Donkey Kong plush hammer while laughing at the MS reps lol

I'm the other way around, I want them to create a hybrid that has more power so that handheld and TV mode are even better.

I love the switch but man I wish it had more power. I'd gladly pay 500 for a 4K switch

It is common knowledge at this point and this shipped did sail. But, this is the system wars and the Sony fannies are historians of MS. 😉

Yeah.... there is no way a Japanese company with roots back to the late 1800's would sell to a western company.

Personally I think Nintendo hardware design stinks!

Although, XCloud on the Switch would be a fucking hit.

Okay, the Gamecube should have used DVDs like everyone else, but in every other way that thing was a tiny beast. MS had to tripple it's size to make something marginally more powerful. I'm not surprised Nintendo laughed at them.

All that said, I think a partnership between the two companies would have worked out well. MS making a console, Nintendo making a handheld, and both releasing games on each other's systems. That would have been a tough thing for Sony to compete with.

I am going to be the one to say it, but if Nintendo doesn't jump on the game streaming by either offering their own or supporting options like xCloud, there is going to be regret. 😮

Your an xbox fannie who gets mad when nintendo laughed at microsoft's buyout offer.

It was a disgrace NIntendo is way too high quality for microsoft to own

@mtron32: $500 would be a lot. I'm thinking they would do $400 and keep the regular Switch at $300. But what do I know 🤷‍♂️

@ProtossRushX: Jesus! You flip-flop harder then the average Cows these days😑

Old news that people knew.

Hey did you know Sony was going to make a disk attachment for Nintendo and it was cancelled and that’s how PlayStation was created?

Lock this trash thread.

🤬

Chief Cow Jimmy Rustler

😂

Is there anything new in this Bloomberg article as I have heard of Microsoft trying to buy Nintendo for many years now?

gamecube was the most under rated system in history. I loved everything about the gamecube, the small size, the tiny discs, the handle on the back, the way the light turned on at the front, the controller. Nintendo was also the first to make a wireless controller, it was called the wavebird and that was also a huge hit back then.

Aside from that, its common knowledge that microsoft tried to buy nintendo, but I didn't know that nintendo spent the hour laughing at MS in their meeting. Thats funny.

Phew, MS dodged a bullet with that one.

Yeah old news and all that but definitely funny stuff. However if one has the capability to do so then you got to at least try. 🤷‍♂️

That's a cheap cop out... Just the like the Switch it self.

I have a Switch its a trash hand held, I don't know how can anyone play on the Switch in hand held mode... Its the most unfordable gaming experience ever, without Joy Con grips I can't hold that thing longer than a hour.

As for power?... No it doesn't need to be a power house, it needs to be competent machine for its time. It can't even run its own games like Zelda without dipping to 20-25fps.

Just think, if Microsoft owned Nintendo, smash bros melee would have online without emulators, you wouldn't have to re-buy old games every gen, and everything from Zelda to Pokémon would be on PC running higher than 1080p at 60fps.

and you'd have to pay 100 dollars per for online because microsoft removed the 12-month sub on its marketplace.

Just think about that 100 > 20 and free to play games are all locked behind the paywall stuff like rocket league etc which woulda been free to play on switch just think for a sec

Lol. If Microsoft owned Nintendo they would have depreciated the value of their IP and most of their developers would have left and moved on to other Japanese companies.

Mario would have became an avatar prop and died with a Kinect game.

@ProtossRushX: lol just a joke. It's all hypothetical of course, but I acknowledge Both Microsoft and Nintendo's faults. A world without long friend codes and playing a Nintendo game on a powerful platform is an unobtainable wish I know.

Seems a few people in here are fake raging again 🤣

Imagine all Nintendo games on Game Pass 😲

Imagine a bunch of stupid Westerners telling the masters of gaming "hey, you guys let us take you under our wing and change who you are, sound good?"

I'd laugh in their faces as well.

I think it was supposed to be more than just a disc attachment. I think Sony was going to make the hardware while Nintendo made the games. It was called the Nintendo Playstation. But, it is why the Playstation family of controllers has pretty much an identical layout to the SNES controller but with a couple added triggers and thumbsticks.

Sega had a chance to get the Playstation as well but the CEO in Japan chose to go with the hardware that destroyed Sega instead of what became one of the best consoles of all time. Sucks to be them I guess.

@briguyb13: Thats funny coming from you as you were calling others kids in another thread and yet you support the most kid friendly gaming company there is.

Maybe one day Nintendo will make a Mario game where he gets that chick he tries to save in the sack, so Nintendo can move on and create a character that is relatable to adults 🤣🤣🤣

I'm pretty sure the Nintendo people just treated the guests with a friendly smile and politely declined the offer as usual.

But in the eyes of this former Microsoft executive with a bloated ego who believed he was someone and could buy everything for money, they certainly seemed to laugh at him.

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C. S. Lewis

@briguyb13: Never heard off him, but i bet even he would want Mario to take a bite out of Ms Peach, so Nintendo can make content for us adults.

Someone should introduce Mario to the ladies of the night, then Mario wouldn't give a shit which castle Ms Peach is in 🤣🤣🤣

MS won't even have to do that when they can just buy up as much of the market as they can and give away the product for next to nothing on cheap subs. Then no one can compete. I don't think this attempt to crash the market is going to work though

I don't blame them for trying, though, because they simply don't understand parts of the market that they don't thrive in. Their answer to Animal Crossing was Ooblets, and when they bought Rare they didn't know what to do with them.

It's funny when companies try to be something they aren't, like when Nintendo tried to make a fps with Ubisoft, Red Steel. Or when Sony wants to be the family friendly company that censors needlessly to protect teh kidz.

Stick to what you do best and let others do the same.

I think this may have more to do with Microsoft not being very popular in Asian countries and wanting to get ahold of a popular brand name in the region. I could be wrong, but Microsoft has always struggled in Japan.

Yeah, even without bidding on Nintendo, MS still should have been trying to develop in-house talent there. I thought they were going to try and do that in the 360 era when they funded all those games that were initially exclusives. Now the non-handheld market has cooled off there.

Well, M$ has always been pretty close with Sega. They were going to partner up in the late 90s so M$ could sell products in Japan, and Sega could get back in the game again in North America. You can even see the Sega influences in the first Xbox console with the OG Xbox console and controller both having a lot of similarities with the Dreamcast. Sega has also been very active lately, and is resurrecting a lot of their old IPs (Streets of Rage, Alex Kidd, etc). Perhaps they should revisit a partnership with Sega (and hopefully not buy them.)

This isn't news but we definitely dodged a bullet with that one, good thing Nintendo didn't sell-out.

Lol good thing they didn't. MS would have ruined Mario and Zelda

??? No. The point that Microsoft was trying to make with Nintendo was that their hardware sucked, but their games were great. They basically said, "let us handle the hardware and online, while you handle the actual game making." Of course they're lucky Nintendo is nice about it to this day because they pretty much told Nintendo that they sucked at making hardware. lol.

Why are guys actually like this? It's a game that appeals to kids as well, so their relationship is implied, nor explicit. Like in the end of Zelda II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXO4VP5IOwI&ab_channel=Toadflavoredsoda Zelda gets up from her bed to thank Link, the curtain falls, implications of kissing, and the curtain falls even further. Come on now, kids watch this. Why would they be explicit in order to appeal to sexually frustrated teenagers?

Wow, I've been gaming since the early 80s and never heard of this. Thank God Nintendo was smart enough to avoid that trainwreck.

Different philosophies. I agree with Nintendo on this one--you don't need a lot of power to make great games. I'd rather they stick with the hybrid design than back to the traditional stationary system like Microsoft and Sony. We don't need a third just like the other two.

And Japan would've disowned Nintendo just like that.

Nintendo should go third party with home consoles and just focus on handheld hardware. They would make insane amounts of money.

At least Sega had the good sense to do that. A lot of people missed out on a lot of Nintendo games between the N64 to the Wii U, minus the Wii, because they weren't willing to buy Nintendo's shit hardware. And it is shit. Every console of theirs had tedious limitations.

N64 Cartridge

Gamecube disc space and controller layout which could hinder certain genres.

Wii, horrendous GPU performance so bad it was a detriment to the gaming experience. I would have settled for FXAA.

Wii U CPU. Wii U's CPU is so bad it can't even handle Arkham City and Arkham Origins with a smooth frame rate.

They've been battered by Sony so hard in the home console space, that they've just given up instead of swallowing their pride.