Danica Davidson
September 19, 2023 
A leaked email — which appears to be related to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) vs. Microsoft case (in which the FTC is arguing against Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard and Microsoft is arguing in favor of the purchase) — shows that Microsoft has also been interested in buying Nintendo, if possible.
The email in question was written in August 2020, back in the height of the COVID days, and has Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, talking about Nintendo and other things.
He wrote to Chris Capossela (Microsoft CMO and EVP) and Takeshi Numoto (Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Cloud + Enterprise):
“Takeshi, I totally agree that Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in Gaming and today Gaming is our most likely path to consumer relevance. I’ve had numerous conversations with the LT of Nintendo about tighter collaboration and feel like if any US company would have a chance with Nintendo we are probably in the best position. The unfortunate (or fortune for Nintendo) situation is that Nintendo is sitting on a big pile of cash. . .”
The email goes on to talk about other things as well, including Warner Brothers Interactive and ZeniMax.
The end of the email gets back to Nintendo:
“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. A long time…. :-)”
NBC News reports that more than one hundred documents have leaked, and that the FTC said to the news outlet, “Microsoft was responsible for the error in uploading these documents to the court.” Microsoft didn’t respond to NBC’s request for comment, or at least hasn’t as of this writing. It’s also unclear what Nintendo thinks of this, or what may or may not have changed in the three years since this email was written. Spencer noted on social media that it’s “hard to see our team’s work shared in this way because so much has changed and there’s so much to be excited about right now, and in the future.”
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
