Microsoft's Phil Spencer Says Acquiring Nintendo Would Be 'a Career Moment' (theverge.com) 73
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would really like to buy Nintendo someday. From a report: In an August 2020 email to two top Microsoft marketing executives, Spencer wrote that "Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in Gaming" and that "getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies." The emails were revealed as part of a tranche of leaked documents from the FTC v. Microsoft lawsuit. One executive, Takeshi Numoto, asked Spencer and Chris Capossela in an email titled "random thought" about why Microsoft isn't finding acquisition targets like Nintendo a "more attractive" way to "increase our consumer exposure and relevance."
Yet another great brand that M$ could buy/destroy (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure you'd love it Phil Spencer because of the huge golden parachute and big bonus payout you'd receive.
Meanwhile the rest of us would be left to watch yet another great brand get purchased by Microsoft then watch as it decays under M$ leadership until it it is eventually annihilated...
I hope the world governments stand to prevent this pending atrocity with every ounce of power they have...
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Makes you wonder what they'll do when they've done the M&A thing to every useful brand in a sector.
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I hope the world governments stand to prevent this pending atrocity with every ounce of power they have...
You can't measure power in ounces! It's "with every watt of power they have".
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Danger was a thriving phone product and network until Microsoft purchased them, forced off Linux and their Window-ized version fail
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Re: Yet another great brand that M$ could buy/dest (Score:3)
ATBF Bethesda fucked up iD well before Microsoft got its hands on it, and it seems Starfield is no worse than release Skyrim. Maybe it's not so bad?
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I'm sure you'd love it Phil Spencer because of the huge golden parachute and big bonus payout you'd receive.
Meanwhile the rest of us would be left to watch yet another great brand get purchased by Microsoft then watch as it decays under M$ leadership until it it is eventually annihilated...
I hope the world governments stand to prevent this pending atrocity with every ounce of power they have...
Would Nintendo ever even sell?
It's not like they're hurting for cash, not even in the Game Cube era. Being a Japanese company they're focused on long term stability over short term growth. I cant see them selling up for a quick buck, especially as the majority shareholders will be quite rich in their own right already.
Remember the "tiny yellow balls" hoax? (Score:5, Funny)
My mind is drawn to that fictional interview from January 2005 [hoaxes.org] where Nintendo's then-head Hiroshi YAMAUCHI said "hey, Ballmer, why don't you suck my tiny yellow balls" as his answer to Xbox's proposed acquisition of Nintendo.
Nintendo phone (Score:5, Interesting)
The Conversation (Score:4, Interesting)
Phil Spencer: How can we juice more money out of our mobile gaming platform?
M$ employee: Put ads in more places in the UI and inside games, like between levels and cut scenes. But there's a problem.
Phil Spencer: What?
M$ employee: We don't have a mobile gaming platform.
Phil Spencer: Let's buy Nintendo.
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Eventually they'll make the ads like Youtube ads where the vid is stopped for 5 secs before you can hit the Ignore button...and you'll be lucky if it is 5 secs.
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They can't buy Nintendo (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd still rather we enforce anti-trust law and stop letting companies merge and merge and merge and merge. If something like this did happen it wouldn't be long until they bought out Sony (or at least their games division).
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This is one of those rare instances where nationalism does something good.
Promoting the use of under powered, ad filled, niche hardware is not something good. Something good for the business owners and the politicians in their pocket but not the people or the country.
I don't own a switch (Score:3)
As for under powered, good enough is always good enough. It's a bit too long in the tooth, but it certainly had a good run.
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Its a console. The store front is GameStop and WalMart.
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Yes, the homescreen of them are full of ads.
Its a console. The store front is GameStop and WalMart.
Huh? Have you ever used a Switch?
There's no ads.
I'm honestly confused by your claims.
Re:I don't own a switch (Score:5, Informative)
I own a switch and play on it regularly.
There are no ads on a switch. Once you load a game, there are no ads at all.
When you are on the home screen there are no ads, just a button to the (gaming) news channel and to game store.
When you are on the screen lock, there are a couple of news item that get shown. That default to the nintendo news channel, and there, they might promote recently released games on the platform. But I think if you subscribe to other news channel, they would show that instead. And I am not sure I would call that ads exactly.
I mean, is it an ad when your Nintendo switch shows you the most recent switch game released? I suppose it does advertise something, but it's not like they are advertising a coffee brand, or a movie, or some shoes or something.
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Globalism has given us the ability sell tat to the rest of the world rather than relying upon the domestic market to soak it all up.
Would absolutely kill Nintendo (Score:3, Insightful)
It would not be a " good move for both companies. " Nintendo would suffer under M$ mediocrity and lack of vision. And the gamer would absolutely take it in the pants by an M$ monopoly.
These kind of comments enrage me and indicate to me about the complete lack of vision that MS execs have and really no respect for gamers or games in general. To them it is just another business line.
Re: Would absolutely kill Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
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as dedicated consoles will go the way of the Dodo
Citation needed.
Re: Would absolutely kill Nintendo (Score:2)
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>Gamestreaming and the advancement of powerfull mobile/tv-devices makes it that within a decade there will be no real need for dedicated consoles.
See, we've heard that time and time again, for the last 2 decades.
And yet here we are, playing games on dedicated game consoles...still.
So yeah, citation fucking needed.
Re: Would absolutely kill Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)
First of all, they make couch co-op games, which is rare with Xbox and PS. Secondly, they make games that can be easily played by people at all ages and abilities. You may not win Super Smash brothers by just mindlessly smashing the buttons, but also, the controls are easy to learn, and master.
I get it, If you are a "hard core" gamer, a switch is a kids toy. But that's what it is, and excels at. Family fun. The switch is in the living room, the Xbox is in the man-cave with the PC and PS4. I would hate to see Nintendo lose that to efficiency.
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If you are a hard core gamer, and you have reached your dotage, your great-grand kids will ask you what you did with your life. Somehow "I played a lot of games" doesn't sound like life worth living.
Re: Would absolutely kill Nintendo (Score:5, Insightful)
That can be said of absolutely any form of entertainment. "I watched a lot of football doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I watched a lot of movies doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I read a lot of novels doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I had a lot of meaningless sex doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I rode my bike a lot doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I did a lot of drugs doesn't sound like a life worth living." "I listened to a lot of music doesn't sound like a life worth living."
Maybe you object to some of these seeming meaningless. Hopefully that will be enough for you to realize how arbitrary this judgement is.
You see, one man's entertainment is another mans wasted time. Either it brings joy, or it doesn't. If it doesn't bring joy to YOU, then it will seem like an utter waste of time to YOU. But the thing that DOES bring joy to you will seem totally worth it. Everyone is wired differently, so everyone finds joy from different sources.
There is always the classic fall back "you should be doing something more productive instead!" This is also false. Humans CANNOT spend every waking moment being productive. If they try, they burn out in very short order. Entertainment is a real psychological need. The human brain MUST have some amount of entertainment (in whatever form happens to work for that brain) in order to remain happy, healthy, and emotionally balanced. Therefore, spending time in one's favorite entertainment activity is absolutely justified.
There is also the matter of the need to pay for entertainment, which motivates productive work.
So, your judgy attitude is firmly rooted in arbitrary bias, and ignorance.
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Sure beats watching TV, at least you interact with games (and other human gamers).
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dedicated consoles will go the way of the Dodo
This may be true one day but it was also predicted before the Switch was released and they've sold a bajillion of those things and they seem committed to that format, the only thing even approaching it is the Steam Deck and that is something of an enthusiast system. Nintendo has mass market appeal outside the specific "gamer" circles.
And don't count on Nintendo games getting mediocre under the Microsoft flag
Agree Microsoft isn't the worst publisher out there, certainly better than EA or Activision or Ubisoft but Nintendo has a culture of quality that I think many to this day woul
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And don't count on Nintendo games getting mediocre under the Microsoft flag, as it's still the same game development teams that create these Nintendo games
Name one creative team that didn’t atrophy in the months and years following assimilation (err, I mean acquisition) by a larger company with a different corporate philosophy and vision.
I’ll give you one I’m still salty about 25 years later: Maxis [wikipedia.org]
Microsoft isn’t nearly as shitty as EA but even if they took a hands off approach (and they’d be smart to do so) there would still be a significant exodus from Nintendo following a purchase. Have you ever lived through a M&A? I
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And you really think it isn't all about money at Nintendo? Think again. Also Nintendo will have to go multiplatform anyway as dedicated consoles will go the way of the Dodo. That's also the reason why Microsoft is acquiring publishing companies, and not just studio's. And don't count on Nintendo games getting mediocre under the Microsoft flag, as it's still the same game development teams that create these Nintendo games, which IMHO aren't even that much better as other games, except in the eyes of a Nintendo fanboy, how much mario karts can you have? Yes, the Zelda games seem to be better, but are they really? And isn't it just because people want more of zelda?
How many Maddens or Call of Duties can you have?
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Nintendo is doing well now, but historically they've whiffed on every other console generation. Starting with the N64, they handed the dominant position to Sony because they didn't have the vision to see what CD-based games would allow developers to do. The Gamecube had some solid first-party titles, but there was no reason for the console to exist as it did nothing as well or better than the PS2 or XBox. If Nintendo had just made software during that generation, we all would have been better off. Then
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Apple would have much better synergy with Nintendo.
How to drop Nintendo in one easy step. (Score:2)
ok, and? (Score:5, Funny)
So, an exec said in an e-mail once that they would love to buy a company and that he thought it would be great.
Next up, a hungry CEO mentions that she wants to buy Panera Bread.... news at 11...
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This right here. There's precisely zero chance in heck that Microsoft would:
a) Attempt to buy a company the size of Nintendo
b) Be allowed to buy a company the size of Nintendo.
They are having enough trouble with Activision.
Old news (Score:4, Informative)
Stock (Score:2)
If anyone pegs Microsoft stock based on the performance of their gaming division, the price should go down. How many development studios does Microsoft own? Dozens? They can't gain market share by using those studios to produce quality games? They aren't doing something right.
Please Don't (Score:2)
Look deeper (Score:2)
Looking past the Nintendo aspect to why they want do it: "increase our consumer exposure and relevance."
It's been clear for decades that MS has little to no presence in the mind of the average consumer. PCs are heavily branded by the OEM. Even XBox, Microsoft's most consumer-visible brand, barely mentions its ownership. The Windows icon means next to nothing to consumers.
Which is why their attempts (what, 3?) at phones all failed.
That one line confirms that MS knows they are a ghost brand.
Hmmm (Score:2)
1. For the chaos that this would hopefully bring.
2. For the Nintendo games to go multi platform. Microsoft isn't the biggest bags of dicks when it comes to this. It is a race between EA and UbiSoft mostly. Unless you are Sony. They are putting all their games on PC as well and Steam without the needs for the M$ account unless you want multiplayer. I wanna to play Metroid Dread and BotW at a glorious 1080p60.
Nintendo should've done the Sega route and gone games only
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Really? Not sure that's anywhere near true for Microsoft's gaming division.
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The MS gaming division lost money until they got the rubes to PAY for internet on the xBox 360 and that just finally pushed them above red. They then had success but they bought out others to get what they had and copied plenty -- I think Bungie and other groups they swallowed would have done better on the outside; maybe not made as much money with a monopoly promoting them but likely produced better without MS involved.
The console is mostly racing and shooters; the people I know with one the X stands for
It would be a career moment. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just wasn't good for Nokia.
Coincidentally another "N" company of a foreign nation.
Steve Elop should be banned from Finland, and these fuckers should be pre-emptively banned from Japan.
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FFFF no (Score:2)
That would Ragnarok, Yom Adonai, The Fifth Sun, Kali Yuga, Al-Qiyama, Skyfall, Armageddon.
These assholes want to enshitify everything (Score:2)
One Microsoft world: Nothing works well, nothing is well thought out, everything is insecure and crappy.
Launch of their new game franchise (Score:3)
Super Billio Brothers - bumbling yet lovable software developers Billio and Pauli.
They must go to Epstein Island to rescue several very young princesses from the clutches of the evil Jobser and his minions, the Cooksas.
Unfortunately the game needed a rather major last-minute rewrite to remove the character Princess French, so the continuity is problematic.
"A good move for both companies" (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah I'm sure Nintendo people would love to get under the wings of a foreign corp that will fire a ton of employees, get into their creative decision-making by people like Phil Spencer that haven't had a single successful gaming decision in their lives, and make their operations 'more efficient'. Even just Microsoft saying this out loud is an insult to Nintendo that would not help in any acquisition talks.
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Nintendo's "creative decision making" is releasing a new Mario or Zelda every year or two. Sequels galore.
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Microsoft first party releases in 2023 so far:
Minecraft Legends (Critics: 71 / Users 6.6)
Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventures (Critics: 77 / Users: 6.3)
Starfield (Critics: 84, users 6.6)
Redfall (Critics: 56 / Users 3.4)
Nintendo releases in 2023 so far:
Fire Emblem Engage (Critics: 80 / Users: 6.6)
Metroid Prime Remastered (Critics: 94 / Users: 8.7)
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Critics: 79 / users: 8.8)
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (Critics: 91 / Users: 8.7)
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Ca
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Those two 'all new' games were from Bethesda and were already underway when Microsoft purchased Bethesda. Microsoft rushed them out the door now to terrible user reception. Especially Starfield is a game that everybody wanted to love (and you can see it was given a very fair chance by reviewers), but actually it's just not good. It's unpolished and content-wise needed more work. The first hours feel like it could be good and then at some point you realize it just never gets good. Read reviews of actual user
No chance this happens. (Score:2)
Duopoly (Score:2)
buy them all (Score:2)
they bought Mojang
they're buying Activision (are they?)
Nintendo next
why not make life simpler and just let them buy every gaming company
Remember when careers were built by building thing (Score:2)
yeah sure, keep on dreaming, Phil (Score:2)
Nintendo vastly outsells XBox and often has (Score:2)
Then at least the Remedy Studios stuff could be put to good use.
Nintendo does a lot better in that field than MS.