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.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Bluefruit@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      48
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • darth_helmet@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Hot take: the Pokémon games have always been trash, and the version locked exclusives in each generation are day 1 dlc

        • PoopingCough@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          26
          ·
          1 year ago

          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.

        • GhostsAreShitty@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I can’t remember ever enjoying a Pokémon game. I think it’s for people who get a dopamine hit from collecting.

          • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            1 year ago

            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.

      • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        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.

        • andysteakfries@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          22
          ·
          1 year ago

          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.

    • joel_feila@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      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

      • frezik@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

  • TOModera@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    54
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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.

    • schmidtster@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      1 year ago

      Better article.

      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.

      • TOModera@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        19
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

    • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      “Video games? Never played one. I play the only real game: “Gittin’ That Cash.” They got it, I want it.”

  • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    Please tell me they aren’t going to strip the soul out of the last game company that is doing something different. #LeaveNintendoAlone

    • Someguy89@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      arrow-down
      16
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      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

      • redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

  • agitatedpotato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Th3D3k0y@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I sent them an acquisition form with 5 dollars in cash, but they said no and sent me a bill for 5 more dollars.

  • treefrog@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    And that would make the Switch the last console I bother buying.

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • JungleJim@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Nintendo has the money to build any hardware they like. It’s an artistic priority, not a financial constraint.

    • Mudkipology@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

  • PeterPoopshit@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    26
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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.

    • pivot_root@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.