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.

Source

 

[Osakasan]

The original design at the time was even bigger. Try to fit this thing into your livingroom.

View attachment 240746

Each and every time i remeber that thing i cringe myself to death

 

[leon315]

M$ should try VIVENDI style:

Don't they wanna sell the company?

No prob, let's just buy all their stocks.

 

[Sneethan]

Which would be better? The Microsoft GameCube or the Nintendo PlayStation?

nintendo playstation all the way but i still think that taking away the hardware causes the games to lose some of their charm.

 

[Harsky]

Wonder if buying Rareware was their consolation "prize"?

 

[spotanjo3]

Nintendo and Sony almost agreed for SNES Playstation until Sony decided to go their own way. And that's a wise things. I really loved Nintendo since my childhood and I continue to do so. Nintendo is still part of my life no matter what.

 

[Budsixz]

Comparing the switch and ps4, I will pick the switch. I really enjoy games that focus of fun gameplay rather than graphic intensive games.

 

[Bedel]

Clearly if Microsoft stated an intent to try to buy Nintendo today it would be hilarious.

Why would you say that? Microsoft is so, so much bigger than Nintendo (and I'm not even talking about Redmond). Not everything is consoles and games.

 

[Ericzander]

Why would you say that? Microsoft is so, so much bigger than Nintendo (and I'm not even talking about Redmond). Not everything is consoles and games.

Well yeah. Microsoft and Sony are giants and Microsoft can probably afford to buy Nintendo. Doesn't mean it's a smart business move or one that Nintendo would consider in 2021.

 

[Draxzelex]

Nintendo and Sony almost agreed for SNES Playstation until Sony decided to go their own way.

Unfortunately Nintendo made that decision for them when Nintendo refused to use their CD technology because...of some reason that eludes me at this moment. Now if Sony and Nintendo partnered up back then, there would have never been a console war.

 

[Mwc]

Honestly, that's a real power-gamer move of them to do that, and pretty funny too, I think I would laugh my ass off as well. But definitely curious as to what timeline we would have gotten if they did get bought out

 

[The Catboy]

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.

 

[Goku1992A]

Ehh Idk Nintendo isn't living up to the hype they spend more time remastering games versus making newer games.

 

[cashboxz01]

Xbox flopped in Japan so I can only imagine what sorta wacky decisions microsoft would have foisted on them

Imagine a gamecube with the Duke controller

This coupled with the nintendo playstation means in an alternate reality maybe we could have gotten a frankenstein company formed from all 3 giants

Xbox flopped in the US as well. The only reason why it did well in the 360 era was because the competition cost twice as much at the dawn of a recession. That and the fact that first person shooter novelty went mainstream.

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To be honest I was kinda hoping that Microsoft would allow running windows 10 (like other os back on ps3 for linux) which would habe been realy nice - and yeah, at that point the difference between PC and console would diminish. Maybe the next Xbox will implement something like that? Who knows. But I see what you mean and yeah, right now the reasons to own an xbox *if you have a beefy pc* are slim to none.

There's no point. There's already dev mode which they allow, which can do plenty of homebrew and emulation with a nice UI.

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Ehh Idk Nintendo isn't living up to the hype they spend more time remastering games versus making newer games.

Nintendo systems are primarily about first party titles. The other competitors aren't even competitors. They have characters and stories. The experience of playing Smash Bros in the living room is parallel to playing a board game.

 

[Pikm]

Nintendo is out-of-touch with their customer base and continues to release under-powered hardware. Imagine how much better the switch would be if they had just waited for the more advanced Tegra chip to come out instead of rushing to release the Switch with hardware that was outdated even at the time.

 

[Goku1992A]

@cashboxz01
They keep on remastering older games versus making newer games. Nintendo needs new management if they want to stay around for the next 10 years

 

[cashboxz01]

@cashboxz01
They keep on remastering older games versus making newer games. Nintendo needs new management if they want to stay around for the next 10 years

Tbh they don't really need to make that many more new games at this point. I mean, it would help, but they could easily go through 2-3 decades. Each generation of console needs 1 banger Mario game and a super Smash Bros game, as well as the usual stuff (pokemon Zelda etc.). The only reason why they didn't do that for the switch is because the Wii U didn't have (almost) any buyers, so why wouldn't they milk the perfectly capable games which had a ton of potential and didn't sell due to their flawed hardware? They're actually making more money by selling those good games which they couldn't sell before.

 

[Goku1992A]

Tbh they don't really need to make that many more new games at this point. I mean, it would help, but they could easily go through 2-3 decades. Each generation of console needs 1 banger Mario game and a super Smash Bros game, as well as the usual stuff (pokemon Zelda etc.). The only reason why they didn't do that for the switch is because the Wii U didn't have (almost) any buyers, so why wouldn't they milk the perfectly capable games which had a ton of potential and didn't sell due to their flawed hardware? They're actually making more money by selling those good games which they couldn't sell before.

I can agree with the Wii U ports because not many people had a Wii U however, it shouldn't be the main highlight. Mario 3D All Stars they had enough space to put 3D Land, 3D World, Sunshine, Mario 64, and Galaxy 1-2 they could have put all of that on one cartridge if they wanted too versus milking and squeezing it for every drop. They should at minimum release 3 new Mario games through the lifetime of a console. 2 Mario Kart games, 3 Mario Platform games, 3 Zelda games, and 3 pokemon games.

The 3DS did really well but the switch is kinda going backwards but again I'm not complaining its just Nintendo can do better if they had better management. They have a great catalogue they just not utilizing the device at it's maximum. I think the switch is a very good device it isn't just being utilized at it's maximum.

 

[Hambrew]

what kind of laugh tho?

 

[cashboxz01]

I can agree with the Wii U ports because not many people had a Wii U however, it shouldn't be the main highlight. Mario 3D All Stars they had enough space to put 3D Land, 3D World, Sunshine, Mario 64, and Galaxy 1-2 they could have put all of that on one cartridge if they wanted too versus milking and squeezing it for every drop. They should at minimum release 3 new Mario games through the lifetime of a console. 2 Mario Kart games, 3 Mario Platform games, 3 Zelda games, and 3 pokemon games.

The 3DS did really well but the switch is kinda going backwards but again I'm not complaining its just Nintendo can do better if they had better management. They have a great catalogue they just not utilizing the device at it's maximum.

Right but that doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint. They're not going to put forth more effort when they can just scrape by. They'd have to audit all of those games before putting them on a release, and no only that, but the cartridge would also cost them more. Anyone who's working at Nintendo just needs to make the company as much money as possible before retiring. After they're out, they dont care.

 

[Deleted User]

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.