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Nintendo once laughed off Microsoft's offer for acquisition

This was during the days of the original Xbox.

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A new Bloomberg article has shed light on Microsoft's many attempts at acquisitions during the days of the original Xbox. The tech giant looked to strengthen its first-party offerings in the early 2000s and were in talks to acquire the likes of EA, Square, and even Nintendo.

What we found hilarious in this article was Nintendo's reaction to Microsoft. Kevin Bachus, former director of third-party relationships at Microsoft, mentions: "Steve Ballmer (former Micosoft CEO) made us go meet with Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired. They just laughed their asses off. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went."

Obviously Nintendo wasn't keen at all to sell out to the competition, but we can't help but ponder a reality where Nintendo was scooped up by Microsoft. Microsoft did, however, acquire Rare, a studio which largely developed for Nintendo platforms, and look what happened there! Perhaps Nintendo's future would have also been in lackluster Kinect titles.

Thanks, IGN.

Nintendo once laughed off Microsoft's offer for acquisition


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