Microsoft made an attempt to acquire Nintendo in 2000 as part of its plans for the first Xbox, but that only led to hilarity from the Japanese developer, writes Bloomberg Wednesday in a reconstruction of the creation of the game console.
Representatives of Microsoft at the time pointed out, among other things, that Nintendo was better at making games than making hardware. The Nintendo 64 could not compete with the PlayStation.
The attempt was not appreciated by the company. “Imagine an hour where you are only laughed at,” Xbox CEO Robbie Bach said of the conversation. Bloomberg. Talks with game giants Electronic Arts and Square also ended in a softer for the company, which was not taken seriously by the game industry at the time.
Within Microsoft itself there were also many question marks about the project. Bill Gates was angry that the first Xbox didn’t use Windows, and his later successor Steve Ballmer is said to have been outraged about the cost of the project. Still, the need to compete with PlayStation producer Sony turned out to be too strong.
The company eventually sold 24 million copies of its first game console, released in 2001. Due to the cost of making the Xbox, Microsoft lost about $ 4 billion ($ 3.2 billion) on the device in the first four years.
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