The recent FTC and Microsoft lawsuit saw a lot of news come out about the company’s business, including potential acquisitions and their decisions about exclusivity. Today, thanks to a new leak of information, we have gotten a deeper look into Xbox’s inner workings, including new hardware, new games, and the idea of purchasing Nintendo in the future.
Microsoft Considered Nintendo and Warner Brothers Interactive as Possible Acquisitions
A recent leak has revealed a slew of new information about Xbox’s business practices and aspirations, including several of their future plans and past acquisition attempts, including Warner Brothers and Nintendo. It is proving to be a goldmine for players and fans alike.
In an email chain from 2020 between Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela, and Commercial Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto, which you can see below from Stephen Totilo of Axios, Spencer discussed the idea of acquiring Nintendo in the future, calling it “THE prime asset” in gaming and saying it would be a “career moment” for both companies. In the same email, he also noted that “if any US company would have a chance with Nintendo we are probably in the best position,” but mentions that the acquisition would be difficult given the company is “sitting on a big pile of cash.”
Along with these claims, he finishes the email with a rather perplexing statement that he believes it is taking a long time for Nintendo to see “their future exists off of their own hardware,” something that many might argue is a rather bold statement given the companies success in recent years with its own hardware. In the same email, Spencer also mentioned the possible acquisition of Warner Brothers Interactive and Zenimax, the parent company of Bethesda. However, in that discussion, Spencer did say that the biggest obstacle for WB was the IP ownership, as they would not own any of the IPs which could hurt “long term flexibility,” and Zenimax, well, we know how that went.
Related: Indiana Jones Game Revealed To Be Xbox Exclusive During FTC Trial
This is not the only revelation from the leaks today, as we have also seen plenty of other information about Xbox’s plans, including future hardware that includes a digital-only Xbox Series X refresh, a new controller, and upcoming titles for the system.
We can only imagine we will see more details and revelations as people dig deeper into the leaks, but everything we have seen so far has been quite a surprise. If and when we see these leaks become a reality, including a potential Nintendo acquisition in the future, remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if we start hearing about new hardware and titles in the coming months.
