The Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit rumbles on, and is throwing up all kinds of unexpected information. Aside from the fact that Epic's Tim Sweeney can't use a Switch properly, we've now been given an indication of just how close Nintendo and Microsoft have been getting in recent times.
During the trial, an Xbox business development executive was called to discuss bringing xCloud to iOS, as well as other platforms. Games journalist Stephen Totilo has shared portions of the document, which shows sections that have been heavily redacted. Apparently, Nintendo has requested these portions to be withheld as they contain "competitively sensitive information about negotiations between Nintendo and Microsoft".
It's pretty obvious that Nintendo and Microsoft enjoy a healthy professional relationship because the companies have collaborated on various projects in the past – such as Banjo and Kazooie making their way into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, given that the portion of the trial directly involves xCloud and it coming to other platforms, it's fair to assume that the redacted sections relate to Nintendo's negotiations with Microsoft on this topic.
How far are those negotiations? Are they still ongoing? Perhaps the discussion is already over, and we could see Game Pass come to Switch soon – or alternatively, the conversation has stopped dead and it's not happening. We might find out in the fullness of time, but at present, there's no way of knowing what stage things are at between the two companies – we just know that they've been talking. Make of that what you will.
Rumours that Game Pass is coming to Switch have been floating around for a while, with Xbox boss Phil Spencer saying he'd love to bring the service to more platforms (before changing his mind and then apparently leaving the door open). Nintendo's Doug Bowser seemingly poured cold water on the rumours late last year, too, while The NPD Group's Mat Piscatella has stated his belief that Nintendo "wouldn't allow" the service on one of its consoles.
Microsoft is currently running a beta program that allows Android and iOS users to access Xbox Cloud Gaming on their devices – and it works "impossibly well", according to our friends over at Pure Xbox.
What do you think is being discussed? If it's "competitively sensitive" information, do you think that is a hint that Game Pass could well be coming to Switch, as well as other platforms? Let us know with a comment below.
[source twitter.com, via comicbook.com]
Comments 54
Yay am first 😂be mind blowing if Xbox game pass does come to the switch.
I hope Game Pass comes to Switch because it's about the one thing the Switch is missing and it is a really cool idea. Someone also told me Microsoft is developing the chip's for the new Switch Pro, but I'm pretty sure it's a complete rumor!
@Outerdragon Yeah, It's the one thing switch is missing.
Microsoft want their games everywhere. Nintendo wants third parties. Game pass wouldn’t suit Nintendo. Not surprised the negotiation is being redacted. Everyone wants to know how they are trying to find common ground
Craziest E3 ever, if all the rumours come true...
I'd love gamepass streaming to come to the switch. At the moment I have to use my phone and a controller, its not exactly comfortable.
@RileyCrayCrayCool876 if microsoft cant even developed (design)chips for themselves they sure as hell wont/cant do it for nintendo
@Slowdive How do you know that?
No basis in any claim. Just geeks with nothing better to do trying to drum news out of nowhere. I will wait for an official announcement but I wouldn't hold your breath
Sparked rumours or reaffirmed Spencer's wishful thinking?
@Slowdive I see, good to know, thanks.
Lol, Nintendo won't even put virtual console on Switch or any retro consoles later than the SNES...This GamePass rumour remains ridiculous.
Gamepass on Switch would tank 3rd party sales on Switch. Everybody would just join Gamepass, and play games there.
MS claims that Gamepass users spend more on games, but their dataset is limited to their own ecosystem, and digital purchases. They have no way of tracking physical game sales or sales on opposing consoles. Gamers not subbed to Gamepass spend multiple times as much money as gamers subbed to Gamepass.
@Clyde_Radcliffe What remains ridiculous is the Switch Online service lol
Dual booting my Switch with Android and this is one of the main things I use it for. Not interested in pirating Switch games. Currently streaming Gamepass and also using Parsec to play AAA games from my PC.
Wintendo!
@GameCollector84
Yep they get nothing out of its pretty much it’s a Trojan horse that Nintendo would see a mile away, they drip fed VC and now their NSO service so they don’t complete against their dedicated games why in the world would they allow game pass to do a similar thing? MS seems to be spending millions on game pass astroturfers they really want to force the meme that they created the Netflix of gaming, that game streaming is the future (massive massive no just no to that) and that Nintendo and Sony must allow it on their platforms.
@GameCollector84
I agree that gp on switch would tank the 3rd party games. But they could make an arrangement for a "special" edition of gamepass that it wouldn't include for example, the games that are already available on the switch eshop.
Having a separate collection of games on a platform, it wouldn't be anything new for gamepass, since even gamepass on pc doesn't have all the games that gamepass on xbox has.
So i think that when we think about gamepass on switch, we should have in mind a different-smaller collection of games, compared to the xbox gamepass.
That would mean that we could see on switch games like halo but not like childern of morta. It would work for me.
Ah GOD!!
JUST GIVE USE RARE REPLAY ALREADY!!
I would love gamepass on Switch, although I would imagine it would be closer to the mobile version than the PC or Console.
Saying that, I would happily stream games like Outer Worlds and Doom Eternal via Xcloud if it meant I could play them on the switch without having to put up with the poor performance of the Switch versions.
I think it’s interesting that game pass is now allowed on iOS, as I thought Apple had similar concerns to Nintendo (it’s a 3rd parties virtual console on their own system) that could bypass apple’s app controls
N64 mini on its way🤞🏻🤞🏻
Oh quit it with that! It ain't gonna happen! You'll see the next zelda on PS5 before i can play Halo on my switch.
I don´t think Nintendo would allow it. Too much value for the price. It doesn´t fit into its mindset.
@kostasfil
That's a really good idea, but I think Nintendo would have to tread lightly. I could imagine a limited set of Gamepass games coming to Switch for $10 a month, causing a cacophony of people to complain.
"Why aren't we getting ALL of the games on Gamespass? This isn't fair Nintendo! We pay $10 a month just like any other GP user! We should be able to get all the games on the service!"
I think if it was Microsoft first party games only, Nintendo may be happy with that.
Imagine being able to play the upcoming games (Starfield + Halo Infinite etc) on the Switch. A Switch only subscription for a slightly reduced price would appeal to me.
I'd like it if some of the small games (Ori, Cuphead etc) continued to get standalone releases on the Switch - ideally physical.
Still think that Switch on the shelf meant nothing folks?
The only logical conclusion, after years of rumours, is that Xbox Xcloud Game pass is only coming to Switch Pro, not the OG Switch or Switch Lite.
Only half joking. 🤷
If I can play Starfield without having to buy an XBOX, then sign me up.
Microsoft wants Game Pass on everything, so of course they want it on Switch. The ball is obviously in Nintendo's court. If (and that's a big IF) Game Pass comes to Switch it will be on Nintendo's terms. Possibly a highly curated lineup that features only games not already on/not possible natively on Switch or maybe just Microsoft exclusive titles. Nintendo won't do anything that will harm sales potential on their own system.
@Outerdragon I wouldn’t see it as mind blowing since Switch sold double the consoles than Xbox in 1/2 the time. Microsoft needs to sell software since their console sales are low. Purely business speaking, in the console market Microsoft needs Nintendo more than the other way around. Plus, if MS already launched some of their games on N eshop, it would be ridiculous to push another MS eshop to Switch. Anyway, Switch has far better exclusives. The only two powerhouses that MS has is Halo and Gears of War- Nintendo has Metroid-far better than Halo in my opinion and Gears would be the only good addition, since Switch heavily lacks good TPS-no Mass Effect/MGS/Vanquish/RE remakes. Some game pass because of a few games?! N has the upper hand and MS gets their profit anyway-may it be from NinShop or Gamepass-why overcomplicate things and not just sell more games through the N eShop. MS probably just wants to have their eshop authorized by N software so they could suck data from Nintendo. Microsoft is plain stupid for not releasing Rare Replay sooner-since those who played it are a Nintendo players so logically more people who own switch would bother playing these old games than Xbox players who don’t even know most of these. For young audiences the games are too outdated so I don’t think Rare games sold well on Xbox, and even if they have, they would sell far more on Switch. Both companies are just losing so much money because the market was already entered with ED64 and Super 64 cartridges that cost just around 30-80,- USD and have every single N64 games on it. So I don’t think it would be smart to sell them-N should just add them for free for Online, since they don’t have much value except maybe a few rare (not Rare) games-and that’s not worth the hustle to allow 3rd party eshop software on Switch. Microsoft doesn't make money from HW sales, so clearly it would be more for Xbox players who have GPass and wanted to buy switch without rebuying the games. The momentum Switch has gives it a huge upper hand-no need to add the Pass- if Xbox want to sell, they should be grateful if they could just add their games to Nintendo Eshop.
Nintendo needs to grow up and put a damn web browser on the Switch.
I don't get cloud gaming/streaming services like Luna, Stadia, and xCloud. I mean there's already multiple platforms (PC, mobile, Switch, 3DS, PS4, PS5, Xbox, etc.) out there for you, all you got to do was put your service on there. These cloud gaming services act like they are their own platform and only will had their service on that platform and wonder why their service failed. C'mon Netflix and Hulu didn't become a success by being exclusive to just a VCR or a Blu-ray player, those services are on everything. Just expand and bring it to everything including the Switch.
Nintendo isn't going to do it, as they shouldn't.
Just because they got into talks, doesn't mean anything is set in stone.
@Jokerwolf We all know why they won't do it this time, anything that could potentially be use for exploitation of piracy is the likely reason a web browser is out of the question for Switch.
Setting aside Game Pass for the moment, which I don't believe in either for a variety of reasons, will Xbox Cloud Gaming, or any other game streaming service, be necessary at all in the near future? Even with a six year old Tegra X1 chip the current Switch can handle som really decent current-gen ports, even though it might need reduced detail and/or black magic porting skills. Consider if a Switch Pro would use the very much faster Tegra Xavier chip that is currently available. Even ports from the new generation of consoles shouldn't be a problem, though perhaps again with some smart porting. And then there is the even faster Tegra Orin chip, which hasn't released yet but a Switch Pro could possibly use. Why would anyone ever have use of a shaky, unreliable and latency-ridden streaming service then? I believe the advances in mobile processing technology will simply make game streaming obsolete before it ever has time to take off.
It's not coming to switch lol
@Ghost_of_Hasashi That is a ***** excuse if that is what they said, 12 million switches are forever hackable because they used stock X1 chips, also PC emulation is near perfect for the switch already, they are just lazy with features as usual.
Microsoft and Nintendo merging would be funny. 4K Super Mario on a Nintendo Xbox Series X. Would be an interesting way to compete against Sony.
I would much rather have a means of streaming content from my PC. It doesn't have to be from a particular ecosystem, but it would be nice to access my own content without a middle man.
@Jokerwolf Why would you use a web browser on consoles when even low-powered computers provide a more convenient method.
@GameCollector84 @SalvoHardin I doubt it would tank the sales that much given how many Switches sold anyway but @kostasfil did bring up that a potential Switch version of game pass most likely wouldn't have all the games Xbox has.
@Entrr_username It is a console standard and this is the only console they didn't have one in a long time. Seems like a deliberate way to keep game streaming off of the switch, but Nintendo always was paranoid.
If this is happening I’d be very surprised if it were the full-fat Game Pass library streamable. I can see them letting you stream Xbox exclusives but allowing games that are sold on Switch to be streamed wouldn’t make much sense for Nintendo. Wouldn’t make third parties happy I’d imagine either since it could potentially eat into sales of their games on Switch that are also on Game Pass.
@Slowdive You know, if these two platform holders are going to collaborate in a serious way (and I'm not quite convinced of that), it may have certain implications for the current Nintendo hardware cycle. And if I'm correct, many people might not be happy...
I imagine that one of the main reasons for collaborating with MS is access to more powerful hardware. Nintendo seems committed to pursuing the hybrid model (as they should be), but the corollary of this is that Nintendo cedes the market for "cheap desktop PC under your TV" to others. If Nintendo stuff ends up on the MS side, Nintendo will feel even less pressure to sell their own beefed-up hardware. I wonder how all the people here demanding a more powerful Switch would feel about that...
(Mind you, some people have profoundly unrealistic expectations about what a mobile game device under $400 CDN should be able to do...)
If Nintendo wants to make a horrible mistake and shoot themselves in the foot, they'd allow Game Pass on Switch and butcher eshop sales.
@Jokerwolf You don’t need an internet browser for game pass. The eshop exists for a reason.
Once again, why would you use a browser on console and not your computer or phone?
@Entrr_username why would you be against it? Why would you have a stance against a web browser? Web browser lets you use a ton of game streaming applications including parsec which is one of the best ones on top of game pass now being browser enabled. Also a bunch of other cool web based things you could do like Netflix and all the other streaming platforms. Being against it is just being contrarian and anti-consumer which you're clearly okay with and if that's so don't talk to me anymore please.
@COVIDberry
Nvidia is the one who supplying the Switch's processor, and if rumors of a DLSS-capable Switch Pro are true, then that trend looks to continue for the foreseeable future.
Not sure how you came to the conclusion that Microsoft would start collaborating with Nintendo in hardware.
Sure, why not. Maybe then, we will get Banjo and Conker back.
At least I can dream...
JUST DO IT. ✔
... Wun can only hope.
@westman98 Let us say that I am making a conjecture, rather than a conclusion. I find Nintendo very unpredictable, but it may be that there is something to a Nintendo-MS partnership. Neither of us knows.
At this point we have to choose which rumour to believe (if any), right? (I don't believe this "Switch Pro" stuff, unless we're talking about a larger screen on a refreshed model.) I'm simply saying that the strategies and strengths of Nintendo and MS have little overlap, which might be important if you are partnering in some way...
@COVIDberry
A DLSS-enabled 4K Switch Pro is much more believable that Nintendo partnering with Microsoft for hardware.
"I'm simply saying that the strategies and strengths of Nintendo and MS have little overlap"
That would be a reason why they shouldn't partner with one another, not a reason why they should. I'm no business expert, but I don't think companies with little in common form big partnerships with one another all that often, if at all.
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