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EA Founder Predicts MS Purchase of Nintendo
New site Xbox2News.com (via Evil Avatar) has up an interview with Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and recent AIAS inductee. During the course of the interview, he is asked what he sees as the future course for Nintendo. His answer? "My magic eight ball says they will be acquired by Microsoft within five years." Tycho has commentary on the man's forcasting abilities in today's post.
I just don't see it happening. Ever.
ea's grand plan is to just buy everything.
surely they must think that other companies do so as well and by logic microsoft is bigger than N, so they buy them.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
That's a big shocker. Didn't we all read a little while ago, that when Bill Gates was asked about buying Nintendo, he said something in regards to "I haven't talked to them, but if the Nintendo President called me up, I'd definitely answer the phone". This doesn't seem like any additional news, besides the obivious assumption that Microsoft likes Nintendo, is in competition with Nintendo, and therefore, could theoretically, buy Nintendo to aid in competition with Sony. Gasp! What a surprise!
Where was it when you were trying to figure out if making 80 Army Men games in 3 years was a good idea?
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
!8ball does EAs founder smoke something other than tobbaco
8ball : Most likely
" I don't think prices will go up, in part because gamers can always rent the games." WTF? The norm for a new game is 50 bucks. By his rational the new game price would have been steadily been dropping for the past decade because we've always been able to rent. I don't buy the renting theory. There is a certain je nae say qua about owning the game.
-Dipster
Today, Slashdot will post silly, unsubstantiated rumors from 'experts' speculating out of their nose.
My Magic 8Ball says Trip Hawkins is full of crap.
i really dont think the monopolys and mergers commision would be very happy about this.nintendo is a large company ,
and have a large stake in the games market , most importantly the dominance of the mobile gameing maket. Now this may change due to the advent of the PSP ,
though as it stands now Nintendo is neigh on a monopoly in this position.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Tripp Hawkins was also the CEO of 3DO, and we all know how well that worked out. I'd say his credibility in terms of prediction was pretty much shot since he thought the 3DO would take over the world. As opposed to, you know, being a wildly overpriced system with a handful of lame, FMV-laden titles.
If Nintendo were unprofitable, I would think they could be for sale.
But they are not. They are VERY profitable. They have the BIGGEST franchizes in games. They have no reason to sell to Microsoft unless Microsoft offers ludicrous money.
Also, Nintendo isn't just video games. Pokemon anyone?
Anyway, I don't see Nintendo ever selling to anyone.
He doesn't know what HD-DVD or Bluray is! He doesn't understand the question!
With regards to his Nintendo prediction, apparently no-one's told him that Ninty has been profitable for 43 years straight, and have something like $8 billion in the bank. Why the hell would they want to sell to Microsoft?
Do you guys really think Nintendo, a traditional Japanese company would ever sell itself to an American company like Microsoft? I highly doubt it. Nintendo is a very proud company, unless they're completely dead I think they'll keep kicking. If they had to sell out I'd think they'd be more interested in giving assets to Sony than Microsoft. I'm sure Microsoft would love to acquire Nintendo, that would probably help them out a lot in the Japanese market. But coming from the founder of EA I put little to no stock in his .02.
How long before Super Mario Brother XP is released?
They'd like to break into the North American market, and what better way than opening up shop in Redmond, WA. More over they could get back to their roots with a Nintendo branded version of Freecell.
Given their management's emphasis on employee culture, deciding to merge with an organization as large as Nintendo would be a real surprise.
Advice: on VPS providers
Yeah, I'm sure MS will try again after what happened last time. . .
http://www.gamerah.com/ver_imagen.php?id=226
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20547
(dialogue after rescuing the Princess from King W32.MyDoom):
"Thank you, Mario, but your spyware is in another directory!"
If EA wants to decrease the number of platforms they support, that's one thing. But just wishing Nintendo away won't make it happen. Hawkins can talk all he likes about the likelihood that Nintendo will merge with MS, but there is no basis in reality that points to this ever happening.
And really, Hawkins knows what he's doing when he mouths off like this. He wants it to happen, and is trying to push the idea by trying to support it with his credibility in the press. Unfortunately for him, not every company is run like EA is, or how 3D0 was. He may have first-hand experience with jumping from crisis to fix to crisis to fix, but Nintendo does not (decades of profitablity and market leadership have proven that).
Biggest red herring of the day. Ho hum, move along.
First, as some others have said, the Nintendo buyout speculation is probably just smoke drifting off the top of Hawkins' head. But it is certainly not impossible. A lot of unlikely things would have to happen first. For one, Nintendo is facing a significant threat in the form of the Sony PSP which could, despite its technical drawback re battery life, eat into the profits that Game Boy dominance has brought Nintendo for many years. If Sony took say 25% to 40% of the handheld market from Nintendo, that would hurt. The next thing that would have to happen is that Microsoft learns from its mistakes and gains significant marketshare in Japan with Xbox 2. If Microsoft were to make those gains at the expense of Nintendo, then 5 years from now, we could see a Nintendo that was in danger of losing money. And what would make them sell out to a non-Japanese company like Microsoft? Perhaps anger and hatred of Sony. Remember, the original Playstation project was a Sony made CD addon to the SNES, which Nintendo decided to scrap. Sony went on to release the project as the standalone Playstation and the rest is history. Nintendo has been losing marketshare ever since. So it probably would not be a big stretch to say that Sony and Nintendo are not the greatest of pals.
This is all highly speculative and improbable. Nintendo still has a chance to turn things around and get more third party developers onboard. And of course, they still have those great franchises, Mario, Zelda, etc... But it will not be easy. If they have another goof up like sticking with cartridges too long, then Microsoft may find itself with another campus in Redmond. If Mario comes to MS, then Clippy may be out of a job too!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I really think my disdain for Microsoft would turn into a full-blown rage. I'm getting angry just thinking about it.
Goddamnit, does their douchebaggery have no limits?
I predict that in 5 years MS pulls out of the console race entirely based on poor Xbox 3 sales. Then MS buys EA. MS is a software company so it actually makes sense.
I don't think the two companies are really comparable. Square was (and Square-Enix is) mostly a game studio for one niche genre of games with an occasional non-RPG game here and there. All they did was make the games. Before the merger Square had EA doing their distribution in the states.
Nintendo, on the other hand, does more than just make their games; they handle all the other aspects. They handle their own distribution. They have a tremendous amount of capital saved up for investing on game production. They make their own console and portable systems. And then there's Nintendo's other side markets like Pokemon cards and such.
Square made a huge gamble on borrowing all that money for the Honolulu studios that made FF: The Spirits Within. The odds didn't turn out in their favor and eventually they had to sell that studio. Mostly like they mergered with Square-Enix for a major capital boost.
Nintendo on the other hand would have to make a really huge investment to put them in the trouble that Square got in. And given Nintendo's past conservative tendencies I don't think they're going to do this anytime soon. They're going to keep playing it safe for quite sometime into future. And it's going to keep earning them money.
-Shawn "If the Name Don't Rhyme It Ain't Mine" Conn
That is crazy talk.
Worst case scenario for Nintendo. They lose all market share in both the console and handheld markets. If this happened, they'd start releasing their games for other system. My guess is if they starting releasing games on the PS2, they'd probably jump right to the top of the most successful game publishers.
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
I think the same "rumour" was sprouted around the same time last year, and possibly even before that. I think it would be a sad state of affairs if that were to happen.
Seriously, before you consider listening to crap like this, consider the source.
Here's an old interview with Mr. Hawkins that should speak for itself, particularly when you consider that he was hawking one of the biggest failures in video game history.
One of the reasons slashdot can be such fun...
http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=4086
Hehh...Ahahahahaha.
Good one guys, "Microsoft buys Nintendo". Yep, mmhmm. An American company buying a Japanese one. Cracks me up.
In all seriousness though, I think you should be putting more money on Nintendo buying Microsoft someday.
That conversation had NOTHING to do with buying Nintendo.
Somebody over heard bill g saying that if nintendo called he would answer the phone.
Nothing more.
It had nothing to do with buying Nintendo. A reporter heard the word Nintendo come out of bills mouth and they blew it up into something it wasn't.
All of the major game sites already dispelled that rumor long ago.
I'll give you links if you are interested.
Several analysts have mentioned the same before. There are several benefits from a merger between nintendo and MS in the console market.
MS has a good cover of the adult/young adult target, has a strong online service and the hardware is probably the most featured rich in the market however it has failed to penetrate the japanese market and (with certain huge exceptions) doesnt have good 1st party titles.
Nintendo is completely in the other side of the spectre, his target centers in the children/family target (with some succesful attempts at the teen/adult) is ripe with 1st party titles and has great penetration in Japan (its homeland) however his hardware is pretty much basic and lacks third party support plus they turned their backs to online gaming (which now becomes a problem for the next generation)
If you simply add A+B a console created by both companies would join the best of both worlds And probably tear the domain of the console market right out of Sony hands. However THIS is NEVER going to happen.
The reason is simple, while MS has smiled and the prospect of getting their hands in nintendo (mostly due to their Japanese penetration which is the goal for their next console) Nintendo simply is not interested. Their business model is simple, create a console as less expensive as possible and then populate it with their well stablished franchises focusing in gameplay (in some cases) and family games, since this are the ones that statiscally sell the most. So sticking to family games (and known franchises) is a proven formula for better profits.
The profits will simply not be the same if a third party dominated their own market or a partner company was able to take a piece of them. So nintendo has announced several times if they (for whatever reason) stopped producing consoles they wouldnt become a third party developer (unlike sega) since the benefits wouldnt be as good as the ones they are receiving now.
And while some have predicted that the PSP would dominate the handheld market (which is the prime income of nintendo at the moment) most analysts agree that Nintendo And sony will simply SHARE it with the teen/adult base on Sony's side and the rest using nintendo handhelds. Besides Nintendo is already working in the actual Succesor of the GBA, of which we know to little of, but can expect to be similar to the psp in several aspects. Also they are preparing their next generation console as well so they arent out of the console war either.
Trip Hawkins is probably basing his conclusion in pure industry especulation and daydreaming. so is unlikely to take him as a trustful source.
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Based on principles alone, I'd say Nintendo would much rather go with Sony than Microsoft. Neither of them really meets their standards of endurability on systems (I've seen pics of a GB Color that was dropped in motor oil and came out working, with minor screen damage, compare to PS2 disk read error after a year or two) but I cannot see Nintendo willingly being bought by Microsoft. That's about as likely as Apple being bought by MS. They would alienate their fanbase in seconds, and that's death to a franchise based company like Nintendo.
SAILING MISHAP
Wintendo!
Is Capitalism Good for the Poor?
Ever since microsoft brought out the X-Box and started to become the gaming powerhouse they are today, there have been rumors that microsoft would buy various japanese/asian companies.
Buying some japanese companies to gain a foothold in the japanese market makes sense for Microsoft (only if they are sucessfull companies obviously).
But, given the way the japanese system works, its unlikely that the other players in the japanese market would sit by and let Microsoft (a big foriegn company) buy a well-known japanese outfit.
As for the Nintendo buyout, it would never get approval from all the various governments that need to approve it (e.g. US government, EU governments etc) because it would give microsoft too much power.
I'm not sure of the intricacies of Nintendo in Japan, but Nintendo of America is a part of the Big N that might be sold to the MS. Perhaps Nintendo sees more money in no longer making hardware? (*cough* Sega *cough*)
About the rushed Xbox 2-before-others, I remember two systems that did that (*cough* Saturn *cough* Dreamcast *cough*). Both systems were superior in everyway, but early release meant more expensive hardware and greater initial loss. By the time the costs caught up, the other systems were out and much cheaper with a greater initial software base.
Therefore, HD-DVD vs. DVD format will be a moot point until the other systems come out. The extra space won't be used until extra content is needed. But if they don't use a denser format, they may as well continue on with the XBox and wait for the processors and drives to be cheaper.
That has to be one of the toughest decisions in hardware. Be superior or be popular. The "rush" idea has been tried--we'll see if it works.
While they're at it, I hope they try forward compatibility on new games: games for XBox that play with greater detail and features when played on the next system. They might actually convince people to have both Xboxes.
"I predict than in 3 years earth will be hit by an asteroid, half of the USA will be lost forcing MS and most US companies to emigrate to Japan. In the meantime Linux becomes the most used OS in the world.
However 1 1/2 year later the rest of the giant asteroid hits Japan without warning, most of Japan is destroyed forcing Japaneses to move to France, most companies get bought by EA (since France is EA's property now) and most Japanese become employees as soon as they land. Sony president dies and Nintendo's president is seriously wounded, in his dying breathe he gets a visit by Bill Gates (who is now his neighbour and an emigrated japanese) who promises he will never allow Nintendo to be acquired by a Gaijin, in his dying breathe he agrees and exactly 5 years from now Nintendo is acquired by MS (which is the last japanese company in earth), Meanwhile a revolution explodes in France due to the high overpopulation of overworked citizens, and deadlines are missed so nobody cares about MS releasing the Xcube."
The USA (the half of it currently sinking) is ran by a monkey due to a major bug in the ballot computer. "Is not the first time something like this happens!" comments the office spokesman, while JOJO elected president efusively nods. "He may not be the best er.. critter to ran the country, but he is white, male, Religious and against gay marriage!" JOJO applauds vigorously, while the USA slowly sinks and most Americans have to move to Canada.
Oh that zany 8-ball! what a card!
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Of course M$ tried to buy Nintendo before and the Nintendo board told them "Thanks but NO Thanks!"
" Ever since microsoft brought out the X-Box and started to become the gaming powerhouse they are today"
Huh???
Go back to playing halo, fanboy.
"If EA wants to decrease the number of platforms they support, that's one thing. But just wishing Nintendo away won't make it happen."
But that strategy served Acclaim so well!
Is it just me or do you think he was just making a joke? I mean he said magic eight ball and everything.
Did you get that thing I sent ya?