In a 2020 email, Phil Spencer wrote that the acquisition of Nintendo would be really a dream. Here’s his word.

In the email written in 2020, which emerged due to the grave leak that occurred in the merger of Microsoft and the FTC, Phil Spencer spoke to Chris Capossela and Takeshi Numoto about an incredible moment in his career.

You will remember that Microsoft tried to buy a Nintendo in 1999, roaring in response, but as it turns out, that situation has changed a lot and Spencers words form a precise, long-term strategy.

Takeshi, I absolutely agree with my own opinion that Nintendo is our main asset when it comes to gaming. Today gaming is the most powerful way to make it more relevant to the consumer, wrote the head of Xbox.

Acquire Nintendo

Phil Spencer

I had a lot of conversations with Nintendo CEO about better collaboration and, I think, if a United States company could give a chance to them, was probably the best in the position.

A bad luck (luck), is that Nintendo literally sits on a huge pile of moneyso much so that its board of directors didn’t push for an further increase in market share and growth.

We said that, until recently, our former Microsoft board member, ValueAct, bought the Nintendo shares massively and I kept contact with Mason Morfit throughout his acquisitions. He could push for more shares, leaving us with possibility of finding another solution.

In fact, if we didn’t see this catalyst, I didn’t see the possibility of a near-term merger between Nintendo and Microsoft, and i don’t think an hostile action would be a good move, but so we worked long-term. However, our board of directors saw the entire documentation on Nintendo (and Valve) and, like me, it is absolutely favorable to an acquisition where the opportunity presents itself.

ZeniMax and Warner Bros.

Phil Spencer

I can tell you personally that we are discussing the acquisition of two companies that are very active in the gaming market this time, Warner Brothers Interactive e ZeniMax. I brought ZeniMax to the director’s last week. Before addressing the question, I asked Emy and Satya, who asked if they wanted me to slow down, but both of them gave me an emphatic no.

If the transactions make sense, they’re going to do all three. I’m not going to say that Warner Bros. or ZeniMax are Nintendo, but both are for sale and we can buy them if there’s something going on. The biggest obstacle to WB is the control of proprietary rights, as long as it will not exist – we’ll have to decide whether or not we want to, and in that case we want ZeniMax to deal with the expectations of the company’s founders.

However, one of those things, of course, will happen. This will help us continue to multiply our value in gaming. Seeing the scale, ZeniMax is the size of our current set of first-party studios; therefore it would double our content catalog.

My experience with this conversation, and you take this opportunity.

At some point, the acquisition of Nintendo would be a career-defining moment, and I honestly believe this would be a good move for both companies. For a long time, it’s not difficult to take in to realize that the future of the game exists beyond hardware. I spend a lot of time. 🙂