Earlier this month, Bloomberg had a story of how Microsoft tried to buy out Nintendo years ago.
EA apparently told Microsoft at the time that it had “no idea” how to make a console, while Nintendo supposedly found Microsoft’s proposal hilarious, according to former Xbox director of external relations Kevin Bachus.
In the same Twitch interview with Reggie and Jack, Robbie Bach – former president of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft and Chief Xbox Officer – was asked to provide some insight into this story, sharing how the tech giant was just “ looking to partners’. while exploring “every corner” and Nintendo was clearly across the street from its own offices.
“In the early days of the Xbox concept, Microsoft didn’t want to do the hard work – we just didn’t know that, so we looked for partners. We talked to all the PC manufacturers, we talked to Sega, and so we talked to Nintendo – they were definitely the big kids in the area, and by the way, they were across the street from our office, so it wasn’t like we had a long journey to see them. ”
So we had a talk and the response we got was probably what we expected. You know, Microsoft didn’t have that much to offer, Nintendo was successful and has always been kind of a standalone company – that does a lot of their own content, but Bob and his team have explored every angle. “
“In the end we decided to go into hardware, which was kind of the last option and I know that sounds kind of crazy, but we weren’t a hardware company so it was a huge commitment to decide we wanted to produce hardware. we tried many different ways not to do that, and in the end we had to do it ourselves. “
Bach went on to explain how Microsoft was apparently being encouraged by outside companies like Electronic Arts, who wanted someone else to compete with Sony and Nintendo. Ultimately, the decision was to continue with the Xbox.
“I mean, ironically, the main people who told us to do the hardware were actually outside publishers. People like Electronic Arts and Activision and those guys wanted someone to compete with Sony and Nintendo – so with a third person in the game. market was good for them. And they didn’t want anyone to do what 3DO did, which was license their hardware to other people, they wanted someone who had skin in the game on the hardware.
So, you know, ‘A.’ we had potential partners who said no, and ‘B.’ we had external publishers saying “you have to do this yourself” so that’s what we did. “
While Microsoft and Nintendo were clearly not reaching an agreement, Xbox acquired the fans’ favorite Nintendo developer, Rare. Today, the two video game giants maintain relatively good relationships – with Microsoft’s IP address recently represented in Nintendo’s all-star fighter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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