Xbox Head Phil Spencer Considered Acquiring Nintendo And Warner Bros. Interactive At One Point
Xbox has made significant acquisitions this generation, like its $7.5 billion purchase of ZeniMax Media and its colossal $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. Xbox and Microsoft spent a lot of time this year in courts working to get its purchase of Activision Blizzard legally approved, and many documents were sealed away from the public and press during these proceedings. However, various unseen documents from those court proceedings have leaked. One email reveals Xbox head Phil Spencer was considering an acquisition of Mario maker Nintendo and Mortal Kombat 1 publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now known as Warner Bros. Games) at one point.
Axios reporter Stephen Totilo posted, on Twitter, a leaked August 2020 email from Spencer to Chris Capossela and Takeshi Numoto, executive vice presidents and chief marketing officers at Microsoft. In this email, Spencer discusses acquiring Nintendo, referring to its possibility as a «career moment» and a «good move for both companies.» He also says it's taking a long time for Nintendo «to see that their future exists off of their own hardware,» likely referring to Nintendo games becoming part of the Xbox ecosystem in this potential acquisition.
In Aug. 2020 Phil Spencer mulled prospects of buying Nintendo (or Valve), said Microsoft's board «are fully supportive on either if opportunity arises»
Thought outside investment in N might create more opportunity for MS, but «I don't think a hostile action would be a good move» pic.twitter.com/nHqQ5mxHbn
However, Spencer also casts doubt on actually being able to acquire Nintendo, citing that the Japanese company is «sitting on a big pile of cash.» He also notes that without a stock buyout-related catalyst, he doesn't
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