Leak: Microsoft board supported buying Nintendo
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New Super Mario Bros. U. Screenshot: Nintendo
Microsoft's board of directors was "fully supportive" of a potential purchase of Nintendo if the opportunity arose, according to a newly leaked email from the company's head of gaming.
Why it matters: The merger would be the largest in gaming history, but Nintendo would have to be a willing participant.
- As of summer 2020, it was not, according to the email from Microsoft executive, Phil Spencer.
- The company did not respond on Tuesday morning to Axios' request for comment on the leaks.
Details: In an August 2020 email to Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft's commercial chief marketing officer, Spencer pondered the possibility of Microsoft buying Nintendo.
- Spencer noted that Nintendo was sitting on enough cash that it didn't have to make many deals. He said a large stockholder might push Nintendo toward dramatic business deals.
- "Without that catalyst, I don't see an angle to a near term mutually agreeable merger of Nintendo and MS and I don't think a hostile action would be a good move, so we are playing the long game."
- Spencer wrote that Microsoft's board is "fully supportive" of a bid for Nintendo or PC powerhouse Valve.
Zoom in: The Spencer email was included, possibly by accident, as part of a trove of exhibits uploaded to the website of the U.S. District Court of Northern California as part of the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to block Microsoft's $69 billion bid for Activision Blizzard.
- It wasn't listed as an exhibit on the court's site. Instead it was discovered after a user at gaming forum Resetera noticed that a seemingly innocuous deposition shared by the court contained attachments loaded with Microsoft's plans.
The bottom line: As of 2020, Spencer still held out hope that the merger could happen someday.
- "At some point, getting Nintendo would be a career moment, and I honestly believe a good move for both companies," Spencer said. "It's just taking a long time for Nintendo to see that their future exists off their own hardware."
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