“They Laughed to Tears”: Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo, EA and Square at the dawn of the Xbox
Microsoft tried to find support from other gaming companies before the launch of the original Xbox. The corporation even hoped to form partnerships with Nintendo and Electronic Arts. Bloomberg has shed some light on the trials that the American platform holder faced at the beginning of his journey.
Xbox console
Steve Ballmer, the then CEO of Microsoft, was particularly interested in major acquisitions to help the Xbox market. According to Kevin Bachus, who was the Xbox’s chief partner at the time, Ballmer got the team to meet with Nintendo to see if it was considering joining the Redmond company: “They laughed to tears. Just pretend someone is laughing at you for an hour. This meeting went about like this. “
Former head of business development Bob McBreen added that in January 2000, Microsoft invited Nintendo representatives to their office to discuss details of another type of collaboration. The Xbox was technically more advanced than the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, so the idea was: “Look, you’re much better at gaming stuff like Mario and stuff. Why don’t you let us take care of [the iron side of the matter]? ” As we already know, Nintendo didn’t like it – they refused.
Microsoft also reached out to Electronic Arts, which McBreen said simply said, “No thanks. “Besides, negotiations were held with Midway and Square, which went better but were also unsuccessful.
Back then, Microsoft was a newcomer to the game console market, and therefore this attitude is quite expected. Now the corporation is one of Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s main competitors and a partner of the largest publishers. Last year, Microsoft announced a deal to acquire ZeniMax Media, including Bethesda Softworks and all of its in-house studios, including the Elder Scrolls developers.
