Leaked Microsoft document criticizing Nintendo leaves gamers enraged
Xbox/NintendoIn the massive leak of documents that revealed many of Microsoft’s internal correspondence was a conversation about Phil Spencer wanting to buy Nintendo, saying that the game company doesn’t know what the future of their own product should be.
The Microsoft documents leaked to their ongoing court case have been illuminating as to the internal operations of one of gaming’s most powerful companies.
While the majority of the biggest leaks were related to what the company has on the horizon and what they plan on investing in over the next few years, some internal correspondence has caught the eye of those scanning the documents.
One conversation confirms that Xbox was eyeing a Nintendo acquisition in 2020. And, while the company has had a past history of trying to acquire one of gaming’s most beloved companies, the wording around why they’d want to buy out Nintendo has left some angry at Xbox.
Phil Spencer believes Nintendo is taking “a long time” to see their future
The leaked 2020 correspondence shows that Phil Spencer has a massive amount of faith in Nintendo’s IP, and that they feel they’re the company in the US that’s in the “best position” to try and buy out Nintendo.
Considering that Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox are the only three survivors of gaming’s early era of console makers, this acquisition would likely have narrowed that down to two.
While Xbox has tried to buy out Nintendo in the past, this new document reveals how Phil Spencer sees Nintendo. Many fans of the legendary Japanese publisher and developer weren’t happy with his comments.
The meat of what people were complaining about is the part at the very end: “Getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies. It’s just taking a long time for Nintendo to see that their future exists off their own hardware. A long time… . :-)”
This is paired with Spencer stating earlier in the email that the biggest problem with getting Nintendo is that they’re sitting on a “pile of cash” that makes them difficult to acquire, and that they’re playing “the long game” in trying to buy out the company.
Criticism of Microsoft across Twitter is scathing. One user claimed that reading the last part “made my skin crawl”. Others were very critical of Microsoft’s strategy of acquiring existing studios rather than creating their own new IP.
“Microsoft will really try to do anything to avoid having to create their own games from the ground up huh?” commented one Twitter user. Meanwhile, others wondered why Microsoft was trying to acquire Nintendo in the first place.
While there are some who are excited about the idea of having Nintendo’s games cross platform, those people were met with overwhelming criticism from people who felt Nintendo’s first party games should stay on their platforms.