Many years ago, Microsoft attempted to buy Nintendo, the famous Kyoto company, through a letter. As you can imagine, things did not go according to Microsoft’s plans. Today however a fragment of that famous letter was exhibited in the new Xbox museum, which celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the console.
Microsoft’s letter to Nintendo
Sent in 1999 gives Nick Thompson, former VP of Microsoft Hardware, a Jacqualee Story, former executive VP of business at Nintendo of America, the letter is mostly obscured. However, there are some snippets of readable text.
The letter begins with: “Dear Jacqualee, I appreciate that you took the time to arrange a meeting with Mr. Takeda and Mr. Yamauchi to discuss a possible strategic partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft on future video game platforms. I understand Mr. Takeda on possible partnership and will try to [illeggibile] the guidelines it requested “.
Other sections of the letter continue to mention Project Dolphin, the code name of the GameCube. Unfortunately we don’t know what Microsoft claims in the letter regarding Dolphin to the Kyoto company because the letter it is not readable. It’s a real shame because it would have been interesting to analyze it in detail old strategy of Microsoft.
We know from a Bloomberg article, that tells the story of Xbox, that Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Nintendo he was completely rejected. The former Xbox executive, Kevin Bachus, he recalled:
“Steve [Ballmer, ex CEO di Microsoft] arranged a meeting with Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired. They actually just laughed out loud. Imagine someone who, for a whole hour, laughs in front of you, at you. The meeting went more or less like this “.
Microsoft made a second attempt in 2000 to establish a partnership with Nintendo. According to Microsoft’s idea, the Kyoto company would have taken care of the videogame part while Microsoft than that hardware, the most technical. The talks, as you can imagine, didn’t work out and so did this partnership was rejected.
To visit the virtual museum of Microsoft and Xbox, you can consult the official website.