Xbox
Image: Casey Rodgers / Invision for Xbox

A former Microsoft executive has revealed that the company was considering buying Japanese video game veteran Sega before it decided to create the Xbox console.

Speaking to IGN, Joachim Kempin said:

There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was [Sony], Sega and Nintendo. There was always talk maybe we buy Sega or something like that. That never materialised, but we were actually able to license them what they call Windows CE, the younger brother of Windows, to run on their system [Dreamcast] and make that their platform.

For Bill [Gates] this wasn't enough, he didn't think that Sega had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing. There were some talks but it never materialised because Sega was a very different bird. It was always Sony and Nintendo, right? And Nintendo had some financial trouble at that point in time, so Sony came out with the PlayStation and bang! They took off, and everyone else was left behind.

The landscape of the video game industry would have been a lot different today had that acquisition gone through. Sega might still be making hardware, but would be a totally different company. Would you have liked to have seen Microsoft buy out Nintendo's old rival? Post a comment to share your opinion.

[source eurogamer.net, via uk.ign.com]