Microsoft hasn't given up on acquiring Nintendo.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in its efforts to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, recently unredacted an email revealing that the tech giant is still hoping to acquire the Japan-based game developer.
Microsoft tried buying Nintendo in early 2001 but got laughed off at the negotiating table, with only a "no thank you" to gain from it.
Microsoft's Ambitions
Microsoft still wants to offer Nintendo games on its Xbox platform. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the email the FTC recently unredacted came from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, wherein he discussed the idea of buying Nintendo.
People interested in viewing the entire email can do so on the X.com post of The Verge's Tom Warren.
Spencer sent the email on Aug. 6, 2020, to Microsoft's current chief marketing officer, Chris Capossela, and commercial chief marketing officer, Takeshi Numoto. According to the email's contents, Spencer agrees with Numoto's view that Nintendo is "THE prime asset" for Microsoft in Gaming and that its acquisition would be the company's most likely path to consumer relevance.
Spencer also believes that Microsoft is the US company with the best chance (and position) to score a "tighter collaboration" with Nintendo. However, he called Nintendo's situation "unfortunate" as while it is sitting on a pile of cash, as Spencer calls it, it has a board of directors (BoD) that, until recently, has not pushed for further increases in market growth or stock appreciation.
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He then stated that this chance came from ValueAct, which has been "heavily acquiring" Nintendo shares recently. Because of this acquisition, Spencer believes that ValueAct's acquisition of Nintendo stock could create opportunities for Microsoft.
"Without that catalyst (ValueAct's Nintendo share acquisition), I don't see an angle to a near-term mutually agreeable merger of Nintendo and [Microsoft,] and I don't think a hostile action would be a good move so we are playing the long game," Spencer said in the email. "But our BoD has seen the full writeup on Nintendo (and Valve) and they are fully supportive on either if the opportunity arises, as am I."
Whether Spencer will succeed in acquiring Nintendo for Microsoft remains to be seen. However, such a deal will almost certainly not fly well with regulators, which may not take kindly to Microsoft buying a major competitor in the gaming industry.
Microsoft's History With Nintendo
Spencer's email isn't the first time Microsoft danced with the idea of acquiring Nintendo. An Engadget report mentioned that Microsoft sat down with the Japan-based game developer in 2001 to offer them a deal.
Bob Mcbreen, Microsoft's former head of business development, described the tech giant's pitch to Nintendo as such: Nintendo will provide their games to Microsoft, which will take care of the hardware in the form of the world's first Xbox gaming console.
Nintendo - according to Kevin Bachus, a director for third-party relations on the Xbox project - laughed Microsoft and its offer off the room. The Japan-based game developer isn't the only one to refuse Microsoft's deal: EA, the first company Microsoft sat down with, said no, as did Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix), and Midway, the developer of the first Mortal Combat games.
Has these companies accepted, the Final Fantasy games, the early Mortal Kombat games, and maybe even some of EA's games, could be Xbox- and PC-exclusive games since then.
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