Back Page: After Spending $70B On Activision Blizzard... What If Microsoft Buys Nintendo Next?

And then the deal is blocked by the Japanese government. I know this is clearly in jest though!

Nintendo would never allow themselves to be bought out by another company and I honestly prefer that way.
More competition, more options, and more quality games from all platforms.

I bet if Phil sent Doug a $100 bill that would have changed things immediately.

Thank you for the top level journalism ability it took to record this transcript.

@IronMan30 : Bowsers prefer blondes. Princesses, I say, princesses, that is.

The tagline makes me think I'm not the only one who enjoyed Encanto.

Show this to the Nintendo execs and I bet they'll be laughing hard on this again...like how they laughed at the idea of Microsoft buying Nintendo all those years ago

I can see Microsoft buying the state of Nevada before buying Nintendo.

Ermmmmmm, okay.

At times like this I bet Nintendo are glad they moved away from the core market.

It's all honor here so, never going to happen. They tried this before they made the first xbox and the owners and stakeholders declined. But nice fantasy none the less.

Joking aside, isn't it illegal for an American company to outright buy a company from another country? Or something to that effect?

TBH, I just can't ever see nintendo being bought out by another company, I mean, Its nintendo we're talking about here.

@HotGoomba chocolate M&M.

If Xbox Series S allowed physical games and had Nintendo games, it would be well positioned at $300 USD. Xbox games + Nintendo games = very tempting to me, because I love Forza Horizon, and I'm tired of missing out on modern video game releases due to Nintendo's lack of power. I could play actual Kingdom Hearts, not a cloud version.

@johnvboy
Yeah, I bet Nintendo is sitting pretty comfortable knowing that their biggest asset - their first party IPs - can't just suddenly be bought away by a competitor with the snap of a finger.

Sony, on the other hand...oof. Today was not a good day for them.

@Browny Is there? If so, its never going to happen I guess.

@WoomyNNYes The switch can run the whole darn KH collection (Maybe not three) just fine, idk why they made it a cloud
game.

Then gaming would be finished for me and I'd stick to mobile gaming and playing on older systems, I won't support a monopoly and the cancer to gaming.

But thankfully we have the Japanese government to make sure that never happens

MS buying Nintendo. Insert laughing gif here

@westman98,

So true, Nintendo saw the writing on the wall when Microsoft entered the console race all those years ago.

If you check Nintendo’s total value of shares, it’s not far off activision-blizzard. Just think if Nintendo slips up with the switch U. A buy out in the next 5 years is definitely possible after this acquisition.

Top tier insider stuff here!

"Yoshi in a Bugatti, dropping banana peels out the window"

Dammit, Kate, I thought you were supposed to parody the takeover notion for our paranoid entertainment, not actually SELL US ON THE POSSIBILITIES.😲😲😲

I highly doubt either party is really interested in that proposal. Not that it would pass regulator approval from either country. At best we'll just see continued collaborations. MS Studio games on the Switch was just the toe in the water on how to navigate said body of water. It would be interesting to see if Xbox somehow benefitted from NIntendo's push to use different hardware (think Wii) as part of their on-going or even metaverse strategy.

It's possible this could one day be a reality, as Nintendo's market value is actually slightly less than Activision

what if microsoft buy the world?

Lmao that read was hilarious. It would totally go down like that.

Sea of thieves could run on the switch, it might require some optimization but I'm sure they could make it work

I would be okay with it…. If it meant current hardware and consistent third parties I would be okay. Time to go hide.

“We invented you”

Sums it up. Microsoft wouldn’t just have to buy Nintendo, they’d have to buy their pride as well. It’s more likely Nintendo makes an acquisition themselves- Sega or Square Enix.

But this move kicks Sony square in the balls. They pretty much abandoned the Japanese market and heavily depended on America’s and Europes love for FPS and single player games. They also don’t have anywhere near enough cash to purchase EA. What a move by Xbox

There is no way Nintendo will sell themselves in near future.

Next purchases by MS is rumoured to be Electronic Arts and Warner Games.

They're gonna get laughed to the exit door... again

Nintendo DO love money, though...

@Silly_G maybe he'll send a Peach look alike and $100.

@ItsOKToBeOK I think the next move will be either Sony buying Square Enix (yes, they could do that), MS buying Sega or Apple buying Nintendo. Nintendo rarely buys entire companies.

And why Apple? Well, it would fit their Apple Arcade. Apple doesn't have any IPs at the moment. And Apple Arcade really is a minor service, even compared to Nintendo Switch Online.

@HotGoomba you are the hottest M&M

Not gonna happen in a million years, but I'd also probably stop gaming if this happened. Or, more precisely, stop buying new games.

Breaking News!
XBox Nexus XS Elite (Microsoft’s next Xbox) will have a cartridge slot for Super Nintendo Games.

I read somewhere someone mention Japan has a Law against foreign entity buying important companies to prevent Pirating or IP thefts.

Nintendo will not allow theyself to be bough by anyone.

@Woodyshoe theres laws in japan, that prevent foreing companies to buying companies in japan.

I don't know what's wrong with me but I started shipping them right around, "oh my god, Phil, I love bullet points."

@sanderev Apple Arcade>>>>>>Nintendo Online…. That’s not saying much, but I would go with AA over Nintendo Online

@Browny I thought that was some Japanese law preventing hostile takeovers of Japanese companies by foreign companies.

Cadburys bought by an American company. Turned to crap. Thorntons bought by an American company. Turned to crap.
...I could go on.

that would never happen, nintendo is very proud of who they are and what they do

The day Nintendo is bought by another company, is the day I stop playing videogames for good. I don't even like to joke about this possibility.

@X68000 what do you mean?

I’m pretty sure a while back you wrote an article which said something along the lines of Nintendo have stated they have measures in place to make sure no company can buy them out

Oh yeah? Well what if Nintendo buys Microsoft? What happens then?

Quality parody, this. Appreciate the take!

Funny read. Well done Kate.

great read!

But being serious, really the only thing that makes sense now is making huge headways into the Japanese market focusing on Sony friendly companies. So probably not among the most popular answers but I'd say the most likely targets are Idea factory, Koei, and if they are feeling adventurous, Atlas and its parent company.

F-zero Horizon 5

One benefit of Microsoft owning Nintendo is Microsoft would be much better at preserving/ giving fans access to Nintendo’s retro games.

Well the quality may drop in the future but having all Nintendo 1st party games day one for 15$/month is way better deal than paying for n64 crappy emulation. But guys competition is good for consumers. I don't want Microsot to own everything. I will stick to my Switch and PS5

@Tyranexx I've only watched it three times so far...

I liked the detail of Phil having a gigantic desk, but I'm pretty sure Phil himself is enormous, so it just looks normal sized.

What a terrifying thought, but what a superb read!

Japan won't allow it

Shelf-Man wants to buy Hasbro so they can own the rights to Monopoly which he thinks will give them the right to be a monopoly.

Japan actually cares about Anti-Trust laws. They wouldn’t let that happen, even if Nintendo wanted it.

Nintendo isn't for sale. Unlike Activision Blizzard, they're a strong, successful, and profitable company without any scandals driving their stock prices down and making them ripe for a buyout.

Also if Nintendo had to get out of the console market then they would just pull a sega and go third party

it would be just like the old days
Nintendo would just laugh at them

The notion that MS could buy Nintendo is still as laughable today as it was 20 years ago. 😂

Thanks for the funny read, Kate!

I've joked around before that if Disney were to ever buy Nintendo then they would own every piece of media I have ever loved.

I'd be more interested in Nintendo looking to expand through acquisitions. SegaSammy looks nice and ripe.

This is concerning for me. The Switch’s success is that it is a hybrid console with Nintendo exclusive games such as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon coupled with the best third party support Nintendo has ever had. If we take away 3rd party support from big developers like Bethesda and Activision/Blizzard and possibly more we might end up with a Wii U situation. As much as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon games are desirable good 3rd party support from AAA developers is also essential.

@DiamondJim
Do those developers really have much on switch. And the Wii U did not just fail due to no third party games
1. Nobody could tell if it was a new console or a Wii add on
2.the marketing was terrible
3. It had stellar launch games like new super Mario bros u.
4. GMes like Mario 3D world, donkey Kong and Mario kart came when the console was already dead or on life support.

Little third party support was a reason but nowhere near the main reason the Wii U failed.

@Teksetter The notion that MS could buy Nintendo is still as laughable today as it was 20 years ago. 😂

I heard today that Microsoft just paid more for Activision than Nintendo is worth. Nintendo being worth about 60 Billion.

My patience with Phil Spencer has officially run out. He's a slug just like Kotick.

@John_Deacon They'll probably turn in to a Halo map.

From what I understand, Nintendo own a majority of their own stock in order to avoid a hostile takeover.

@Browny some laws are weird

Nintendo would neeeeeeever sell to anyone. Not in a billion years. Its not in their DNA.

@blindsquarel And you've commented twice on this third "click bait" one. Just sayin...their model works for engagement.

Are Microsoft rich enough to buy themselves? Xx

It concerns me that some haven't fully come to understand the Back Page concept here, after it's been running for a long time now.

@invictus4000
Exactly that’s why it is known as clickbait

@ATaco yep yet the sheep love the guy like he can't say anything wrong, yet he's the biggest hypocrite around, really starting to hate the guy.

And the term slug suits him perfectly

@Dragonslacker1 MS do stock buybacks once in a while, which is pretty much the same as buying themselves 😂

Now I’m picturing a stable of horses

@Snatcher this is just lazy and totally lacks confidence in their own product. Square enix are not as good as before, I hope nobody buy it.

“Oh my god, Phil, I love bullet points.”

Lol

Hey guys… what if Nintendo bought Microsoft and Sony and Disney and McDonald’s and My Little Pony?

What about that!?

@ATaco
He’s a slug and MS/game pass is the blob a hideous rolling mass consuming and decaying anything it touches so no wonder they wanted Activision it’s like when black holes merge.

Microsoft isn't going to buy Nintendo.

Savage_Joe the good news if that if Microsoft buy Nintendo we are one step closer to a goldeneye rerelease yay! X

@blindsquarel I think it’s less a piece of ‘clickbait’ and more of a ‘reading/humour’ comprehension test.

Judging by the comments, there appears to be a roughly 70-80% pass rate among Nintendo Life’s readership.

@Savage_Joe the good news if that if Microsoft buy Nintendo we are one step closer to a goldeneye rerelease yay! X

@Maxz
Ninty could never afford MLP, but a small mom & pop company like Disney? I could totally see that.

If Microsoft were even allowed to buy Nintendo, i doubt they'd have spent 70 billion on Activision-Blizzard.

Certain laws in Japan make it very difficult for foreign investors to purchase Japanese companies. Not impossible but very difficult, with the added local tendencies to stick to their own products, many foreign investors steer clear of Japan in general.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/japan/2021-10-13/why-nobody-invests-japan%3famp

I know most won't be able to read that article but the gist of it is, Japanese people don't like foreign companies very often.

Also as others have stated, Nintendo actually own most of their own stock to avoid a hostile takeover. Microsoft tried in the early 00s to buy Nintendo and even then Microsoft were worth 150b with Nintendo at 10b and still were not able to legally do it.

Pay attention to what ex Microsoft employees show up at. That will be the next company they destabilize to purchase.

Oh, I thought this was going to be a conversation starter, not a s***ty fanfic.

By the way, where is this Japanese law that people constantly claim is a real thing? The closest thing I’ve ever found is that they want to limit foreign ownership, and that it’s difficult to do, not that it can’t happen, Sharp Electronics being perhaps the biggest case where it did happen. And that the Japanese prefer partnerships over buyouts.

Wait you’re suggesting that Microsoft buys Nintendo which ensures that we get all our purchases moving forward on whatever systems they release next, and perhaps even frame rate and resolution boosts to the old catalogue, and lag free internet with messaging and voice chat…… and there are people here who think that’s a bad idea?

This is ludicrously dumb.

Bruh, just bruh at all that fake conversation

@westman98 Yeah, as a former PlayStation-first guy, I know I'd be nervous if I worked at Sony. Will PlayStation be losing CoD, for example? Fortunately, Nintendo's selling points are safe.

@KateGray Good, good. One does not simply watch an excellent Disney film only once!

@Snatcher it's because they didn't wanna spend the time porting it.

@Nickinator
The current speculation is that Call of Duty Warzone will remain on PlayStation where it will continue to receive content updates, while new premium Call of Duty games (Modern Warfare, Black Ops, etc) may no longer release on PlayStation anymore.

This would be a devastating blow to Sony if it came to fruition, particularly for the American market where 8 of the Top 20 best-selling PS4 games are Call of Duty titles.

@Tyranexx I'm going to watch it for the 5th time! (Weak I know)

Nintendo would rather commit seppeku than be bought out by another company. Plus thinking of Microsoft quickly becoming the Disney of videogames is giving me the chills 🥶

Plus if we ever get to the point where there is only one first party developer and one console, gaming would officially die.

I'm a fan of Both Nintendo and Microsoft. I'd be happy either way, but I'd highly doubt it. First of all Nintendo would Decline it Again. And with Nintendo and Microsoft together, sony would officially die.

This was a hilarious read, Kate. Nice burn about Nintendo putting out 20-year-old games (I was playing Adventures of Lolo on Switch Online yesterday when I realized it's three decades old). The Chris Pratt as Clippy joke is wonderfully underplayed. Oh, and the XBendo mockup is great. Saying the name out loud made me laugh.

Microsoft buying Nintendo is like TNA buying WWE. What would you do with the company after you bought it? Other than hogging all the IPs into Game Pass I don't see Microsoft knowing what to do with great IPs like F-Zero, Super Mario, Kirby, Drill Dozer, Golden Sun, Metroid, Kirby, Super Smash Bros., etc. Seem like their idea of building their empire is buying more talents without asking the question are these talents actually good or know what they are doing. You could be the jack of all trades but still the master of none.

Remember WCW could steal every good wrestlers from the WWF and still failed cause they failed to create new stars and the old stars are yesterdays news. Microsoft is like the new WCW, buying all the old companies that Nintendo and Sony doesn't want anymore. Instead of creating new studios with great talents from within, they took talents they hardly know about from elsewhere and throw their own under the bus. If Microsoft keep this up I don't see them in the gaming business for too long. Nintendo and Sony build their own studios and only acquired other studios when they see great potential in them, Microsoft doesn't seem to know that.

When Nintendo and Sony acquired a studio they push those studio to great height. Nintendo acquired Rare and push them in creating legendary games like Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, GoldenEye 007, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. What did Microsoft did with Rare? They had them make a Conker port, a lame Banjo-Kazooie vehicle game, some Kinect stuff, Viva Pinata, and that's it. Microsoft needs to learn all of that or else their acquisition decision may come back to bite them.

hmm what if it was the other way around what if Nintendo bought Microsoft???

I do see Nintendo partnering further with Xbox and I think a close partnership is all it takes to take things to next level.

@Atomic77 Microsoft is like 10 times larger

@Atomic77 What would they need with Microsoft though? Nintendo doesn't do OS and UI or creating Game Pass or making the next internet browser. They don't deal with PC stuff.

@Specter_of-the_OLED considering COD was the top selling PS5 game despite selling less than usual, I fail to see why Sony “wouldn’t want them anymore”.

Already tried multiple times in the past. never happened and never will.

You can NOT just buy a japanese company. even if you have all the money in the world.
thats also the reason you see so few foreign buyouts/takeovers of japanese companies.
a financially superhealthy company like nintendo with a HUGE historical background will never be bought by an US company.
Thats why Nintendo literally laughed their asses off when MS made an attempt for a takeover in the gamecube era.

While not my only concern, Nintendo just wouldn't be Nintendo anymore if they were bought by Microsoft, regardless of how much freedom they were granted. Probably the only time where I'd consider such a purchase is if Nintendo couldn't keep up. Of course if it came to that, Nintendo probably wouldn't be Nintendo anymore anyways.

Ha ha ha.

Anyway, would only conceivably happen if Nintendo nosedived considerably over a 10 year period. Even then....

MS buying Nintendo would be the worst thing ever in gaming. Hopefully it’ll never happen…

Being N-fan since 80s, I’ve always preferred Nintendo doing their own hardware. But now after spending some time with PS5, I’m not so sure anymore. Maybe not selling the company, but focusing only on software might not be the worst thing nowadays

I know this is meant to be a joke but I bet that's actually how the conversation would go.

If Activision Blizzard cost Microsoft $70 billion, imagine how much Nintendo would cost them. If we're talking now, with how successful Nintendo are then hundreds of billions.

I'd be really surprised if Nintendo sold to an American company though. I'd see them more going the Sega route of merging with another Japanese company.

@WoomyNNYes So you’re saying Nintendo is your only system? If you’re complaining about that then get a PlayStation and a PC.

I would see it as a good thing, Nintendo are atrocious at making hardware nowadays and their online infrastucture is an absolute joke. We have a big company like Nintendo do the very bare bone when it comes to offering a good subscription service and then Microsoft who just put it all out there! A huge amount of gamesthey put out on Xbox, 360, One and now Series is there to play for just 10 quid a month! Nintendo...throw us a Yoshi puzzle game every couple of months.

Also I genuinely see Phil Spencer...despite the fact that he always looks like he is having a acid flashback...as someone who cares about games. We've not had anyone in a big company show this since that beautiful man, Iwata.

"Spencer slams his door and slides the "AVAILABLE" sign to "IN A MEETING"."

This makes no sense. We all know it would be a system running on Windows, so it would just show a blue screen of death.

That won't ever happen as Nintendo can't work in an American business structure.

@Giancarlothomaz Not all Companies are covered. Mainly covers national security interests which is probably not Nintendo.

Stating the obvious; Xbox is a better more powerful games console than the Switch. The Switch is the less powerful console that struggles to keep up with third party AAA games.

But the Switch or rather Nintendo has two advantages.
1. The Handheld game play.
2. The Nintendo characters.

And while Microsoft could easily come up with their own Handheld xbox it would be beneficial for them to buy Nintendo. Mario alone would be worth a billion.

Nintendo is vulnerable.

Sony will buy Nintendo to have more IPs

@IronMan30 he can, but it won't help since Bowser has no say so.

@NintendoEternity Sony has an amazing catalogue of games that continually receive multiple awards. I'm sure they'll be just fine

@Scrubicius you realize this is all a joke, right?

@Savage_Joe I hope you didn't think I was for real when I called you a suck up, I was making fun of the comment you made to hot goomba, I'm sorry if I offended you.

@Lem1697 if you're into their exclusives, but unfortunately I can't get into their games. Little big plannet on ps3 turned me away from Sony and bought me right back to Nintendo. Especially being banned for having offensive content online of "killing frosty". Lost respect after that. Uncharted gets boring quickly and I couldn't finish ratchet and clank on ps4, I lost interest fast.

@Azuris if it wasn't for Nintendo, Sony wouldn't be here at all.

@Snatcher you didn't offend me. Though I did report the comment, not because of those words, but because I believed it had nothing to do with the conversation. Had I not reported, the mods would still remove the comment because it was literally 2 words, and they get picky on those kinds of comments.

@Savage_Joe Few, I'm very glad I didn't offend you, I was worry'd I did, and your probably right, it would have gotten removed one way or another.

@RaphaBoss oh man wait until you hear about movie scripts

@Snatcher Doooo iiiiittttt!

What alot of NintenDoomed fandom forget is that if Nintendo hadn't come out with consoles like NES/SNES - We wouldn't have a PlayStation shortly after. It was the Japan Gaming Industry that brought the gaming back to NA and world but people tend to have amnesia about this. Microsoft is and will always be a O/S and Office corporation. Their gaming department is pathetic in lack of Innovations to start making Creative gaming to start.

@Tyranexx You Know I will! 🤩

Why do we come to this website again?

This was hilarious, thanks Kate! Was a great read and I’m experiencing a rough time right now so I appreciated the laughs!

@IronMan30 The article yes, but looking how miss information is being spread in the past years I am never sure if the comments are meant to be as a joke or does the user actually believe it.
😁

Emoji’s!

What if Micr-
They won't.

Solid burn about the 20-year-old games business model. Solid burn.

They should have bought them during the days of the 'console which shall not be named'.

Not sure the FTC gives a flying duck about monopolies in the high end toy market.

Now that would be totally blocked. Nintendo has the distinction of not only being worth a ton of money and having tons of major properties... but they are also a hardware company, competing in both the handheld and home console businesses.

These two things alone would stop such a deal dead in its tracks. Although, knowing Nintendo's pride, I would love to hear how they laugh their asses off and joke and mock Microsoft out of their offices for even trying to buy them... just like they already did once in the past.

But I think Microsoft learned from their mistake leading to total humiliation. Phil Spencer has since gone on record commending Nintendo with high praise, and they have worked together many times over the last several years. In other words, both companies can--and should--coexist on their own, and they seem to be friendly enough to each other to cooperate, while still technically being competitors.

I like it. It's totally different from the Nintendo vs. SEGA days, where Sega was always trying to get straight to Nintendo's neck or start a massive bloodbath.

Fantastic job again, Kate!

There actually is more than one Nintendo. theres nintendo hq in japan but theres also Nintendo of America.

Microsoft can't buy Nintendo. 1) Nintendo is not for sale. 2) The Japanese country is pretty restrictive to these kind of transactions by foreign countries. It's easier for Microsoft to buy Ubisoft for example, not SONY, nor Nintendo or even Bandai Namco. High tier companies that represent strategic sectors in Japanese economy can't be acquired by companies from other countries. Nintendo represents a great cultural and historical value in Japanese country.

This was great. I actually want to play Forza Mario kart now though!!!