Bloomberg interview reveals Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo once, and got laughed out of the meeting

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These days, Microsoft is buying up smaller gaming studios at a rapid pace, adding names like Obsidian, Bethesda, Mojang, Double Fine, and many more to the Xbox brand. As the original Xbox system turns 20 years old this year, Bloomberg published an article featuring interviews and information about the early days of the system. revealing that Microsoft attempted to buy four major game studios back in the early 2000s, all of which ended in failure. The first company they went after was Electronic Arts, who quickly dismissed them. They also attempted to acquire Midway Games and Square Enix, but according to Bob Mcbreen, who worked at Xbox in business development at the time, they didn't offer enough money.

The biggest acquisition they tried to make, though, was Nintendo. Kevin Bachus, the former director of third-party relations, mentions he went to Nintendo in order to talk about a buyout. Microsoft's position was that they could create more powerful hardware than Nintendo could which would make them more competitive with Sony's PlayStation 2, while Nintendo knew how to make games incredibly well. However, Nintendo did not agree, so much to the point that Bachus says he was laughed at by the entirety of the company, ending any further discussions.

BACHUS Steve 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.

MCBREEN 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. 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.

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Draxzelex

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I keep seeing this rhetoric show up in multiple Social Media, so this is the Comment to address that.

The biggest issue with Gaming is that most Consumers, as they age, expect franchises to age accordingly.
That is not what being a multi-generational Gaming Company is about and just because you've taken up an emo phase or become interested in sexuality, doesn't mean your childhood Gaming heroes should, too.

There's already Rule 34 for that, so feel free to indulge there.

The argument for new content seems to cherry-pick between Industries, at different times, but mostly aimed squarely at Gaming; I have not seen the Internet outrage that MARVEL and DC Comics have built an empire of rehashing the same-old-same-old for over three generations now.

There are more rehashed versions of X-Men, Batman, Spiderman and Superman on Media and Gaming than there are of Mario Games, and they also rake in a lot of cash, but still the argument keeps being recycled online, and it circles back to how a generation grew up and feel that Nintendo has to, too.

I don't see it that way and, apparently, neither does Nintendo.

For example, if you've met me in real-life, I'm that big guy you'd see walking around with a pink Hello Kitty fan and tote bag in Honolulu, graciously accept being called an Otaku in Tokyo, and the one playing Pokémon games in airport transit around the World; none of these things have to be exclusive of each other.

You can be a grown-up and enjoy your childhood games as they are.
Also, a man's man is comfortable in Pink.
I never thought about it like that before but now that you mention it, I wholeheartedly agree. Several heroes not only have had rehashed comics but movies as well that span multiple generations.

Maybe its because the gaming audience is, for lack of a better word, immature. What I mean is gaming as an industry is relatively new especially compared to other entertainment media. Gaming as a whole was initially not even seen as an industry but a fad that only less than desirable people would partake in. Now its something that people can build entire careers off of in multiple aspects.
 

graeme122

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LMAO at the PS5 sales in japan

Code:
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System |  This Week |  Last Week |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # |    278.000 |    263.304 |    234.268 |  5.957.000 |  4.493.885 |  17.340.000 |
| PS5 # |     13.000 |     17.578 |            |    255.000 |            |     255.000 |
| PS4 # |     12.600 |     10.343 |     81.349 |    543.000 |  1.196.153 |   9.291.000 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
 

jt_1258

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I keep seeing this rhetoric show up in multiple Social Media, so this is the Comment to address that.

The biggest issue with Gaming is that most Consumers, as they age, expect franchises to age accordingly.
That is not what being a multi-generational Gaming Company is about and just because you've taken up an emo phase or become interested in sexuality, doesn't mean your childhood Gaming heroes should, too.

There's already Rule 34 for that, so feel free to indulge there.

The argument for new content seems to cherry-pick between Industries, at different times, but mostly aimed squarely at Gaming; I have not seen the Internet outrage that MARVEL and DC Comics have built an empire of rehashing the same-old-same-old for over three generations now.

There are more rehashed versions of X-Men, Batman, Spiderman and Superman on Media and Gaming than there are of Mario Games, and they also rake in a lot of cash, but still the argument keeps being recycled online, and it circles back to how a generation grew up and feel that Nintendo has to, too.

I don't see it that way and, apparently, neither does Nintendo.

For example, if you've met me in real-life, I'm that big guy you'd see walking around with a pink Hello Kitty fan and tote bag in Honolulu, graciously accept being called an Otaku in Tokyo, and the one playing Pokémon games in airport transit around the World; none of these things have to be exclusive of each other.

You can be a grown-up and enjoy your childhood games as they are.
Also, a man's man is comfortable in Pink.
link, zelda, fuck, now, while sliting there wrists to (insert emo music group here cause I don't fucking now any) /s
 

Obveron

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I find it unlikely that Japanese executives, typically deeply respectful even to their business enemies, would literally laugh them out of the room. I'm more inclined to believe this story is being exaggerated.
 

Pipistrele

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That said, I come back around to my initial statement in a GBATemp Questionnaire about the Xbox - why would I buy a Console when my PC already has their Game Library.
That's kinda the thing - if you already have and enjoy your gaming PC, you're not in Microsoft's target audience to begin with. Xbox is for people who want a budget-friendly next-gen gateway without shelling out for expensive rig, especially since commodification of smartphones/tablets makes it increasingly redundant to buy overpowered computers for anything other than gaming.

Gonna admit, it may seem as "stale and non-exciting" from position of 1990s-2010s gaming history, where every new console felt like an industry-changing product with a lot of exciting gimmicks. Still, it's a viable niche nonetheless (as Xbox' solid sales prove), and it could speak less of "consoles becoming worse" and more of average player's needs changing over time - I mean, in a generation where it's much harder to impress people with raw specs and technical bells'n'whistles, just being an affordable no-nonsense platform that runs popular games really well may be a selling point in itself.
 
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neotank19

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For a country that is usually very well known for respect, especially in the business setting. If they literally laughed at the proposal that's pretty darn rude.
 
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Deleted member 331788

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Maybe they should or Sony should buy Nintendo because Nintendo don't know how to handle a powerful system against Microsoft and Sony. Or maybe Nintendo don't care because they are mean to be for family video game system. Either way, Nintendo should give up.

Nintendo are in a different market now ...they do what they do best, and have done since the Game Boy ...Nintendo are not in competition with Sony or Microsoft as they produce home consoles ...Nintendo has not since the Wii U and has not produce a powerful home console since the GameCube.
 

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If a company is as big as Nintendo that is holding a lot of valuable gaming IPs, it shouldn't surprise anyone that they don't want to be acquired by anyone.
 
D

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That's kinda the thing - if you already have and enjoy your gaming PC, you're not in Microsoft's target audience to begin with.

That is true, and in the context of the Questionnaire, the question was posed to everyone, as a potential buyer of the Xbox.

That said, the Microsoft approach isn't only applicable to existing PC users like myself, because they are encroaching on their own products, with All-In-One Desktop PCs and economically-priced Desktops sans the Monitor | TV, which is where the relevance of my Comment is at.

As the technology becomes cheaper and the PC-Console hardware specifications divide draw closer, new Consumers will ultimately have to choose between one of two supposedly-distinct Microsoft products; not something that makes much business sense.

This is why Industry differentiators should be well-established, unless, of course, a merge to PC is what Microsoft has in store all along.
 
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Bryon15

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Oh God. I'm so glad this didn't happen. Look at what microsoft did to Rare. No thanks. The only company that I trust to buy nintendo is disney. Because they'll let nintendo continue to do their own thing pretty much.
 
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FAST6191

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Considering Microsoft's history of running the companies they buy into the dirt, Nintendo was better off rejecting them. I am pretty sure if MS owned Nintendo now, we would see MS do the same shit they did to Rare and all of the other companies they ruined.

Have we seen any companies be bought out by the big guys and survive more than about 10 years doing good work? It seems rare that they even get chained to a desk to crank out endless sequels.


Oh God. I'm so glad this didn't happen. Look at what microsoft did to Rare. No thanks. The only company that I trust to buy nintendo is disney. Because they'll let nintendo continue to do their own thing pretty much.
Have we been watching the same Disney this last few years? They have driven loads of companies, franchises and whatnot into the ground.
 

RichardTheKing

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Honestly, I'm glad Nintendo remained separate - Sony and Mike can go compete with pretty much the same libraries, give or take a few exclusives, while Nintendo's the third option with the unique first-party games and (prior to the Switch) awesome handhelds and reliable backwards-compatibility.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Have we been watching the same Disney this last few years? They have driven loads of companies, franchises and whatnot into the ground.
Exactly - Star Wars, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, that Mulan thing I never cared for, giving EA exclusive Star Wars license...

Fuck Disney. Anyone got a mouse trap?
 
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FAST6191

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Honestly, I'm glad Nintendo remained separate - Sony and Mike can go compete with pretty much the same libraries, give or take a few exclusives, while Nintendo's the third option with the unique first-party games and (prior to the Switch) awesome handhelds and reliable backwards-compatibility.

I don't see Nintendo being the third option as a positive. In an ideal world then DVD model -- 50 companies making a console with various extras and you just buy games for that standard. However if we must be in one with consoles as a thing then having one third of the market not able to the general state of games of the day is not good; as you say MS and Sony are basically one and the same (Assuming you are not a Japanese shmups/shooters fan, which for reasons unknown MS won handily during PS360 era, oh no you have a choice between Forza and Gran Turismo for your simulation ish driving game with the shiny graphics, and might have to wait for a sequel to appear on both) but you will get a decent reference frame for gaming at the time with them if you explore the library. Try doing that since the SNES, give or take maybe a slight flirting with it during the GC, and you are missing out on loads, and from where I sit not really gaining all that much.

Equally I would say the DS was the last good Nintendo handheld. The 3ds lacked all that made the DS and GBA (and arguably GB/GBC but that is a slightly different thing from where I sit) -- all the third parties that gave the GBA and DS their libraries vanished or paid lip service.
 

xdarkx

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Oh God. I'm so glad this didn't happen. Look at what microsoft did to Rare. No thanks. The only company that I trust to buy nintendo is disney. Because they'll let nintendo continue to do their own thing pretty much.
F no. Disney can stay away from any gaming companies. Just look at what they did to LucasArts. They acquired it from the parent company Lucasfilm in 2012. Not long after, they halted all internal development at LucasArts and laid off most of its staff. They also got Marvel Games which they acquired from Marvel Entertainment, and they stopped any game development/publishing in that studio.
 

Deleted member 532471

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Huh
This is super old news

On Nintendo's side they said they refuse it because they realized Microsoft was completely clueless about video games and had no idea what they were doing, and to this day I agree with them


I still can't believe how dumb they were in passing on making the first Xbox a Dreamcast 2, and all because they didn't want to support the online content.
If it wasn't for Halo, it would have tanked hard

Never forget when this negotiation went the way it did, they got salty and bought rare thinking they would own donkey Kong

When they realized how dumb they were, they had no idea what to do with rare and just left it to rot
 
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Benja81

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If MS really went in there with "ya you're good with the Mario stuff but..." As if Nintendo doesn't know how to put together a powerful system like "Playstation X" cause they chose to capture a different market. Sounds like laughing was really the polite response here.
 
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Equally I would say the DS was the last good Nintendo handheld. The 3ds lacked all that made the DS and GBA (and arguably GB/GBC but that is a slightly different thing from where I sit) -- all the third parties that gave the GBA and DS their libraries vanished or paid lip service.
You can literally play every DS game on the 3DS.

@Draxzelex
They used Carts on the N64 to prevent...piracy. As a result they lost a majority of third party support because they held so much less space. You can always count on them to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to what format they store their games on. We see it now with the switch and how expensive the gamecards are to produce.
 
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toxic9

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How many people believe Nintendo can't build a powerful system by it's own?
They just don't need it. It's not their purpose.
You don't need a Ferrari if you don't have the intention to go further than 100km/h.
 

FAST6191

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You can literally play every DS game on the 3DS.
You can on the DSi as well, still does not mean the DSi was any good. Not to mention if you had played the DS library while it happened then time to replay or twiddle your thumbs if you found yourself with a 3ds. If you found yourself going in cold to the 3ds you might get some ever so slightly more polished versions of DS games (though polished usually comes at the cost of being able to mess around and make your own fun as you find yourself on tracks or they were wringing the last drops out of a franchise) but I would maintain someone that played the DS library is not missing out on much of anything by skipping the 3ds.
 

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