Perhaps you saw the first news on the big leak from Microsoft this morning, in particular these official documents released by the FTC and the media The Verge which reveal the existence of new Xboxes that Microsoft is preparing for next year , in 2024. This was in reality only the tip of the iceberg, because other confidential elements were found in the wild, such as this Phil Spencer email, dating from 2020 and which sets a bit of a fire to powders. While the man is trying to improve his image among gamers and the entire industry, he has just revealed in a leaked email that buying Nintendo would be for him: “a career moment”. We might as well tell you that on social networks, Twitter in particular, these comments are taking on enormous proportions and that this is relaunching the console war with a vengeance. Here is exactly, word for word, what Phil Spencer tells his colleagues Chris Capossela (Executive Vice President and General Manager of Marketing at Microsoft) and Takeshi Numoto (Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft):
“Takeshi, I completely agree that Nintendo would be the main asset for us in gaming and that today, gaming is our most likely path to becoming relevant to consumers .I’ve had many conversations with Nintendo’s CEO about working more closely and I feel like if an American company had a chance with Nintendo, we’d probably be in the best position.”
So far so good, now it gets a little more awkward for Phil Spencer:
“The unfortunate situation for Nintendo is that they are sitting on a big pile of cash, they have a board that, until recently, has not pushed for further increases in market growth or stock appreciation. I say “until recently” because our former Microsoft board member, ValueAct, heavily acquired Nintendo stock and I kept in touch with Mason Morfit over time. as it made acquisitions. It is likely that it will push for more Nintendo shares, which could create opportunities for us. Acquiring Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe it would be a good move for both companies. It just takes Nintendo a long time to understand that its future exists beyond its own hardware. A long moment…. :)”
We could therefore see a form of arrogance on the part of Phil Spencer who gives the feeling of looking down on Nintendo and its managers, believing that the future of the Japanese giant lies in partnerships and consequently an acquisition. With everything digital looming and the lead that Microsoft may have over the competition, Phil Spencer obviously thinks he is somewhere the savior of the Nintendo brand, a company that Microsoft has fantasized about for more than 20 years. We remember that in 1999, the Redmond firm attempted to acquire Nintendo, which laughed out loud at the proposal. A hard blow to the ego of Microsoft which apparently has not yet digested this affront.
For Phil Spencer, to be able to bite Nintendo, it is necessary to do it gently and not a hostile action, because it would obviously be frowned upon by the industry and especially among players, who are very attached to the Nintendo brand, synonymous with childhood. happy for many people. In any case, this desire for acquisition would be shared by the Microsoft board of directors. Board of directors which would have “taken note of the state of play on Nintendo, but also of Valve and Warner Bros Games which are also in the crosshairs of Microsoft. Moreover, still according to these same documents, it would be the management licenses and franchises which would have undermined the acquisition of Warner Bros by Microsoft.
As you have noticed, the leak is massive and unfortunately not in favor of Microsoft in terms of images, which continues to come across as the wealthy ogre, ready to buy everything for the slightest desire or out of excessive ego. We will obviously wait for an intervention from Microsoft and Phil Spencer to see how things will evolve, but here, clearly, the FTC and the media The Verge must have their ears ringing…
