Microsoft Approached Nintendo 20 Years Ago in a Bid To Buy the Company
As a new competitor in the gaming industry, Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo and the results were about what you would expect.
Leading up to the release of the original Xbox console, Microsoft tried to change the face of gaming as we know it. Bloomberg recently published a piece regarding the 20th anniversary of Xbox and the history that came with it.
In the article, several Microsoft and Xbox staff members of present and past talk about their ventures on creating the Xbox brand and arguably the most interesting topic, acquiring video game companies. Bob McBreen who was Head of Business Development at the time spoke on how Microsoft tried to acquire Electronic Arts, but they declined. Kevin Bachus (ex-director of third-party relations) detailed the conversations had with EA explaining “We met with EA a half-dozen times. They reminded us, Microsoft had a history of putting its toe in the water, and when things didn’t work out, they would abandon that market and pretend like it never happened.”