Microsoft Nintendo acquisition hopes revealed by leaked Xbox exec email
In the latest unredacted document oopsie stemming from the US Federal Trade Commission's efforts to stop Microsoft acqu…
In the latest unredacted document oopsie stemming from the US Federal Trade Commission's efforts to stop Microsoft acqu…
Bring back anti-trust regulations. Microsoft has been trying to acquire anything they can get their hands on, and really should be dismantled on principle.
Yes, indeed. This is so obvious and my frustration is immeasurable when hearing that people are too ignorant to understand why this is really bad.
I've been repeatedly downvoted on here and on Reddit for pointing out that Microsoft clearly just wants to capture the market and wield their disproportionate amount of power (their money, pretty much monopolistic OS position, ever-growing IP, and strength to push DirectX over other standards, etc) as a weapon.
People really love Microsoft and won't hear criticism of them.
People look at gamepass and think ooooh that's great, such a good price. I'm sure they won't ever jack up prices once they capture the market!
I'm sure it's fine that MS has sole control over the graphics API pretty much all games use!
It's fine that MS is spending dozens to hundreds of billions on buying publishers, because Sony bought one too (that's a 15th the size)! And it's fine that they're making that stuff exclusive to their platforms!
It's fine that Microsoft hurts open standards!
Etc.
I'm so damn tired of people carrying water for multi billion trillion dollar companies with immense history of anticompetitive and illegal behaviour.
I was watching this video this morning, and he points out how these leaks show a pattern of Microsoft basically wanting to buy up all of gaming (I also liked how he called Microsoft’s whole way of think about buying Nintendo as a bit of American imperialism). Folks like their Game Pass and don’t like Nintendo not giving a damn about trends or multiplayer or whatever and just going along doing their own thing, and think it would be a great idea for Microsoft to own them, and…no. Just, no.
This was before ABK, in fact around Zenimax acquisition time. After the excruciating process of ABK's acquisition which also brought us highly costly leak, I think they won't dare to buy a big player for now and no regulator would let that happen given it would be a horizontal acquisition if I understand that correctly.
if Microsoft buys Nintendo, Nintendo dies
So, support from Microsoft on Smash tournaments?
Only on Microsoft sanctioned tournaments. Which I highly doubt that would happen.
They're doing a fine job killing themselves already.
Edit: why are you booing me? I'm right.
Microsoft needs to fuck off.
im getting really tired of all of these MS acquisitions. I know the nintendo one is very unlikely, but i would be pissed as fuck to see valve swallowed up by this terrifying beast.
I'd like to think the Japanese government wouldn't approve that.
Neither should the EU
Neither should the US, Australia or any other country that Nintendo or Microsoft trade in.
Didn't they want to do this 2 decades ago also? The offer was laughed at.
Looks like the lads took it personally.
They misspelled Dwayne Johnson. Hah
Duane Johnson
MS wanted to buy Nintendo. The company that has so much money on hand that they are a noticable thing to the japanese banking sector?
Of all possible companies they were looking at buying? Heck, Sony might be more realistic by comparison, at least their gaming/console parts!
Market cap of Nintendo - 50 billion Market cap of Microsoft - 2.4 trillion
It's really hard for humans to imagine things at that scale, but Microsoft is so many orders of magnitude larger than Nintendo that whatever Microsoft (and other mega tech companies like Apple and Google) does the entire global international finance system feels it.
Sony is worth more than twice as much as Nintendo.
Heck, Sony might be more realistic by comparison, at least their gaming/console parts!
I mean, judging from the quotes, even MS considered it pretty unlikely back when the email is sent.
What's your point? Microsoft is easily several times bigger and is a "noticeable thing" in pretty much every country.
The email describes a hostile takeover: buy enough stock to own the board then pressure the company to sell.
Microsoft will buy my teapottery if anti-trust regulations don't keep them in check. And, in today's climate, I don't believe for a moment that anybody will make a reasonable attempt to do so.
What the fuck, this will actually kill Nintendo. Aren't they way too big to buy?
Microsoft is bigger.
Nintendo's market cap is about $56.7 billion.
Microsoft's market cap is $2.44 trillion, with $111 billion worth of cash (not equity, cash) in the bank.
Microsoft is 43 times bigger than Nintendo. They can pay for Nintendo with only cash, if they desire.
These trillion-dollar players are an order of magnitude larger than anyone around them. They can do what they want, same as how Apple ($2.8 trillion) can easily buy Disney ($150.5 billion) if they wished.
This isn't an exact science, but you can use market cap to ballpark these things and get an idea of how much an acquisition would cost. For example, Twitter had a market cap of $31 billion in August 2022, and Elon bought it a few months later for $44 billion. That's a 1.4x increase, so applying the same math buying all of Disney would "only" cost about $214 billion - which both Apple and Microsoft (and Google) could do. Nintendo would cost about $80 billion, which Microsoft could do without even taking out a loan.
The issue isn't necessarily the price; it's the regulators.
What is Microsoft even making money on these days?
googles
https://www.kamilfranek.com/microsoft-revenue-breakdown/
Azure, Office, and (still) Windows, apparently.
Only 8% of revenue is gaming. They sure do went to grow that.
Yeah, also they probably have no interest in being bought. I wouldn't worry about what a greedy MS corpo wants in this regard
Xbox games are on PC. Playstation games are on PC. Nintendo is Nintendo. If Microsoft ever bought out Nintendo, Nintendo would disappear, effectively making consoles obsolete. People will still buy consoles, but they would be pissing away their money.
There will always be a market for consoles. If you buy a game, know for a fact that it works. If you have a PC, it can start to be obsolete, or your graphics card might not be supported, or your OS might not be patched, or....
There will also always be a market for PCs, because you can do things cheaper, and/or better than consoles.
While I don't expect every single Xbox and PS owner to drop their preferred console in favor of PC, even though they should, those issues you listed as benefits of console over PC aren't real. Consoles become obsolete just like PC hardware, your graphics card might not be supported is the same situation, your OS might not be patched is not an issue whatsoever. It's just a shame that console owners think those things are issues.
I'd love if they bought Nintendo, it would make me buy Xbox and whatever service I could use on a PC and Xbox. Their psn.
Nintendo suck. Their games get delayed, their consoles are mid. They literally only sell because of Mario and Zelda. That's why they absolutely drip feed that content. The only reason we're getting a new Mario Bros is because they'll announce a new console next year and they can re release it. And charge full whack because they have a captive market.
At least if Microsoft had Mario we'd get regular releases of new Mario games. That's all I want Nintendo for.
Wasn't this a thing forever ago and didn't Nintendo just laugh at them? They just had a super successful console and now have more successful IPs than ever, they would be straight up insane to sell a business that runs this good.
Nintendo is publicly traded, it may be the case that the board won't have that much of a say.
Turned out well for Rareware...
If Nintendo diversified its titles onto other platforms then they wouldn't be in a position for an offer to come from Microsoft.
Can you imagine how popular key Nintendo titles would be on PC or under a game pass deal.
This was in 2020 they were thinking this, and it doesn’t seem like Nintendo was interested at all.
Microsoft offered to buy them back in 2000 or something, and got laughed at. Nintendo is not looking to be bought out. Nintendo does things its way and stays in its lane.
I honestly don't have the faintest belief that Nintendo would ever take the deal. Sure they don't diversify their platforms, but they also have the best cut from their platform.
None of that matters. They won't ever sell because of pride. Their culture goes against it on every level. It won't happen.
The only company I’d trust to buy Nintendo is Apple. But I’d rather that not happen
FUCK NO
Do you mind expanding on why you are opposed to it? To me, the companies have very similar values, especially the “we know what the consumer wants better than the consumer does” attitude and similar values toward being a walled garden with crafted experiences rather than openness.
I know that those things aren’t popular with those who hate apple because of its philosophies and those who think it’s morally correct to pirate Nintendo games; but from a purely business standpoint, Apple would be a much better steward of Nintendo’s IP
Why would you even type such a thing?
I would prefer no one bought Nintendo and they kept on doing what they do. They’ve been around for over 125 and you can still buy the hanafuda playing cards they started out making, so I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing.
Bought one many years ago, it's unexpectedly pricey for a 5cm paper card (48 cards). IIRC it's their excuse is "traditional look". The box is nice though.
I absolutely agree with you, the gaming industry is much stronger with Nintendo’s presence. I was just stating that if Nintendo went up for sale, for whatever reason, I’d trust Apple to continue Nintendo’s design philosophy better than Microsoft, Sony, Google, or another big tech company.
I can't wait for yearly Nintendo console releases with merely cosmetic changes at $1500 price points and breaking OS changes that prevent you using games you bought two years prior!
I would fucking love to get Nintendo shit off of the switch. And trash every single line of code that run Nintendos online service. Fuck, can Nintendo do even a single decent multiplayer experience?
And give Microsoft even more of a monopoly?
🙄 screaming monopoly in gaming while stream is a thing is an absurd proposition. Game development has an absurdly low barrier to entry and is easily one of the most competitive markets on the planet. Citing a B tier player who is the most open of the console makers as a monopoly when players like Steam, Nintendo, and Sony exist is insane. Gamepass is a fantastic value, MS is a big reason cross play exists, and people lose their shit if a game isn't available through steam.
Microsoft is one of the companies innovating TBH and I have no issues getting more games on streaming, console, and my PC for effectively $2.50/month once you convert gold. Easily the best value in gaming I've had in 30+ years of gaming.
Not having to buy a$300 outdated phone to enjoy the 5 things I enjoy on Nintendo would be a godsend.
Bro did Nintendo fuck your wife or something?
I love it. I fucking love it. My opinion absolutely enrages the masses here. Me wanting Nintendo games on game pass is just making blood boil.
