Nintendo is the third biggest player in the console gaming market but its recent struggles have put the company in a very peculiar position. A statement from an analyst mentioned that if Nintendo Switch failed, the company may have to move out of the console business.
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Instead, Nintendo would be forced to develop games for rival machines – PlayStation, Xbox, PC. Nintendo games are among the most popular IPs in the world and certainly rivals won’t have any problems with bringing these titles to their machines. Nintendo as a game developer can do much better, some believe.
If Nintendo Switch fails and Nintendo moves out, is it OK for Microsoft to allow Mario on Xbox? Well, Phil Spencer has no problem with the idea.
I’d love to see Mario on Xbox,” Phil says enthusiastically. “As someone who’s been in this industry and played games forever, I’ll still say it: Nintendo has the strongest first-party of anybody. They’re just fantastic and the memories that they have instilled in so many of us, who’ve played their games and had those delightful experiences, having those on Xbox would be great. Obviously we have Minecraft on Nintendo and when that opportunity came up to work with them on Minecraft, you know, some people might look at it and say ‘why would you even do that?’, but with Nintendo, it’s been a great partnership on Minecraft. In fact they put Mario in Minecraft on Wii U with the mash-up skin pack.
And continuing to work with them on that and building a stronger relationship… I mean if that paid dividends down the road that lead to something else, that would be fantastic. I know I get questions all the time on would I ever like to see Banjo in Super Smash Bros. and I’m, like, “yes, I would do that in a second”. And certain people think I’m saying that as some sort of PR answer and I’m, like, why wouldn’t you?
Anyway, I’m a big Nintendo fan and I think they’ve been incredibly important for the games industry, they do a great job with younger audiences, and if we ever had a chance to work with them in the future, I would absolutely do it.
Would you support the idea of Mario on Xbox and PlayStation, as well as PC? Share what you think in the comments below.
Source: Ausgamers
