It was revealed earlier this year that Microsoft had once tried to acquire Nintendo back at the turn of the millennium, and now a letter from that time period has been published by the Xbox team on the new Xbox virtual museum.
The letter is from October 1999, and unfortunately the majority of it is obscured as you can see above. Here's what we can make out of it though, with the transcript provided by our friends over at Eurogamer:
"Dear Jacqualee, I appreciate you taking the time to try to arrange a meeting with Mr. Takeda and Mr. Yamauchi to discuss a possible strategic partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft on future video game platforms. I understand Mr. Takeda's concerns about the possible partnership and will try to [obscured] the guidelines that he has requested."
It then goes on to make a reference to 'Dolphin', which was the codename of the Nintendo GameCube, and states something about a "strategic alliance to work together on future video game [obscured]". It also references "[continuing] the development on our Xbox project."
According to former Xbox team member Kevin Bachus in this past January's Bloomberg interview, Nintendo "just laughed their asses off" at the idea of being acquired at the time. Nintendo then reportedly made a trip to Microsoft in January 2000 to discuss a potential joint venture, but it again didn't work out.
What do you make of this bold attempt to acquire Nintendo 20 years ago? Let us know down below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 11
So Nintendo laughed their asses off, then got their asses whooped by the ps1 and ps2, and then went running back to Microsoft for a deal? Wow
I think the outcome has worked best for both companies in the end as they wouldn't be what they are today
Seems like Nintendo has a long history of creating their biggest competition this way. Sony Playstation got stated by a severed business deal Sony had with Nintendo for their next generation Super Nintendo replacement. When Nintendo turned on them they decided to make their own game console, and thus the Sony Playstation was born, a platform that would quickly steal Nintendo's #1 spot in the home console market.
Then in 1999 Microsoft tried to acquire them, and the severed business deal there resulted in Microsoft creating their own game console, the Xbox.
So now Nintendo's biggest competition, Sony and Microsoft, are both companies they could have had a partnership with.
Despite all of it, I appreciate how friendly Nintendo and Microsoft are in practice these days even if the relationship is sometimes more one-sided than it should be. Series X + Switch = ❤️💚
My PS4 is the Spider-Man machine lol
@JayJ Not quite true. The reason Microsoft entered into the scene was really because of Sony not wanting to partner up and was therefore seen as a threat with the taking over the entirety of home entertainment.
@FragRed So Sony pulled a Nintendo and thus created Xbox? Now that makes it all complete!
@Royalblues That's one thing that really sets Xbox apart from Nintendo and playstation...they can laugh at themselves. Maybe it's a western thing. But there's plenty of examples at hand...from fridges to 'back of foot' kinect. I think that attitude gets carried over to some extent to their hardcore fanbase who seem to conduct themselves in a more calming fashion (by fanatical standards) than Nintendo and partially Sony faithful. Of course a generation of being ignored and neglected probably took some Bite out of them...last gen offered no choice but to learn humility if flying the flag for Xbox.
@UltimateOtaku91 how did you come to that conclusion??? January 2000 is before the PS2 released.
@JayJ Yeah I think it was the fact the PS2 was going to double as a DVD player that scared Microsoft. I guess this thinking is why the initial idea behind the Xbox One was the all in one entertainment package rather than just a gaming machine.
@Bleachedsmiles Considering that the Xbox One is home to some of the greatest games ever made, this statement comes off as beyond moronic.
@Bluerangervegeta greatest games ever made? Only if you game exclusively on it and never played a game before it.
Xboxone had a handful a Stella critically acclaimed games. Nothing touching Nintendo or Sony's out put and quality last gen. That's not me being moronic, or hating on Xbox, that's just how last gen went. There's always going to be games that cater more to your own taste...but if you look at it objectively...mark down how many times an Xbox exclusive won game of the year last gen (the whole generation)...then do the same for playstation...then do the same for Nintendo.
@UltimateOtaku91 That's really not how things happened at all.
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