Doug Bowser, Nintendo America’s president said that their relationship with Microsoft remains strong
A while back, several confidential emails from Microsoft leaked online. Amongst those was one particular email, written by Phil Spencer himself. He openly spoke about the desire to see Microsoft acquire Nintendo. In that email, Spencer laid it all out, but he did note the logistical difficulties of acquiring such a company. He went on to state that acquiring Nintendo would be a career moment.
Since the leak, there’s been a lot of whispers and speculation regarding the possible impact that email might have on the relationship between Microsoft and Nintendo. During an interview with Inverse. Doug Bowser was asked about the email and Spencer’s comments pertaining to Microsoft acquiring Nintendo.
Bowser stated:
“We have a great relationship with Microsoft. We consider them to be partners in many, many ways, and you only have to look at Nintendo Switch to see that partnership. Obviously, Minecraft is on Nintendo Switch, and we brought Banjo Kazooie to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. So, we’re looking forward to that partnership continuing.”
Microsoft and Nintendo:
Bowser mentioned Minecraft on Switch and Banjo-Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate specifically. However, it’s worth mentioning that the relationship between Xbox and Nintendo produced much bigger results during the Switch’s time. Back then PlayStation fought heavily against enabling cross-play on their systems, but Microsoft and Nintendo fully embraced this option.
They went as far as participating in a massive marketing campaign. Arguing gaming is “better together”. The campaign continued to exert pressure on Sony, eventually leading them to concede and allow cross-play as an option for various online games, Minecraft included.
The relationship between Microsoft and Nintendo went even further, also resulting in GoldenEye 007 coming to both Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online, bringing back the N64 classing die for the first time in decades.
It seems like Xbox has much bigger plans or should I say desires to take this relationship even further, but that will most likely not happen anytime soon. Nintendo has always had a fallback set of cash flow to help them during difficult times. The company has always had massive success in the last few years. The Switch continues to dominate and sell exceptionally well, after more than six years on the market.
Nintendo has also expanded the popularity of its franchises through its partnership with Universal, which led to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and the Super Nintendo World attractions at Universal Studios for example.
Acquisitions of Publishers and Developers in the industry:
Inverse questions targeted a broader topic that Bowser commented on. The trend of acquisitions currently in the industry. It’s no surprise that in the last few years, there have been some record-breaking acquisitions, such as Microsoft’s acquisition of Zenimax Game Studios, costing them more than just a penny, and let’s not forget this biggest one in history. Their acquisition of Activision Blizzard turned heads all over the world and then Sony also spent quite a bit acquiring Bungie.
As for Nintendo, they have been a lot more conservative when it comes to buying studios, focusing rather on their established partners, such as Next Level Games. That is the team behind Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Mario Strikers: Battle League. It comes as no surprise that there have been concerns about the impact of these acquisitions will have on the consolidation of players, however, Bowser pointed towards the growing numbers of new studios popping up as a positive sign.
“As far as consolidation in the industry goes, I’ve been a part of this industry for 16-plus years now. One thing that’s been constant is the acquisitions of studios. But the other constant is the fact that new studios are popping up every single year. Incredibly creative studios are making content, from indie-sized to AAA-sized games. So as consolidation happens, on an equal basis, we’re seeing these new studios, which really just speaks to the dynamic nature of the industry overall. In the end, that bodes well for the player,” Bowser responded to Inverse’s questions.