In the FTC v Microsoft case over the Activision Blizzard King acquisition, several documents have been shared without redactions, leaking information that Xbox certainly did not want out there. One of the details discovered in these unredacted emails was that Xbox chief Phil Spencer wanted to acquire Nintendo, Valve, and Warner Bros. Games.
“Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in gaming,” Spencer said. “I don’t see an angle to a near-term mutually agreeable merger of Nintendo and MS and I don’t think hostile action would be a good move so we are playing the long game. But our board of directors have seen the full writeup on Nintendo (and Valve) and they are fully supportive on either if opportunity arises as am I […] Confidentially we have two fairly active M&A discussions in gaming right now, Warner Brothers Interactive and ZeniMax.”
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We know how this panned out -Microsoft acquired ZeniMax, leading toStarfieldandRedfall’sXbox exclusivity. It also leaked in 2020 that Microsoft was interested in buying Warner Bros. Games, but it evidently didn’t pan out.
Whether it’s still interested in Nintendo and Valve isn’t known. It’s possible, given that Spencer stressed that Microsoft and Xbox will have to play “the long game” and that it would be a “career moment” for him. However, given the pushback to the Activision Blizzard King buyout, it’s incredibly unlikely that Microsoft would get past regulatory bodies to buy one of the three major console manufacturers and the owner of the largest PC gaming storefront.
“I love this discussion and value you looking at the opportunities here,” Spencer said. “At some point, getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies. It’s just taking a long time for Nintendo to see that their future exists off of their own hardware.”
It’s not just Microsoft’s acquisition strategies that have leaked,its future console plans have too, along with new design photos. In the unredacted FTC documents, we see that Xbox is working on a mid-gen Series X refresh that is digital only, meaning it has no disc drive, with 2TB of storage. It will cost the same as the current model as its hardware is not any better.
Microsoft is planning to launch this new version of the console in October of next year, along with a new controller featuring gyro and haptic feedback called ‘Sebile’.
