Why Did Microsoft's Acquisition of SEGA Fall Through?
"There was always talk maybe we buy SEGA or something like that..."
Microsoft's long-rumoured plan to acquire SEGA never came to pass because Bill Gates was sceptical the company had "enough muscle" to stop Sony, according to the company's former VP of Windows Sales.
But for Bill [Gates] this wasn’t enough, he didn’t think that SEGA had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing.
Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft between 1983 and 2003, made the claim in an interview with IGN due to go live later today. He explained that the acquisition of SEGA was originally floated as an easy way for Microsoft to enter the console space and stop Sony, especially given the huge financial losses associated with in-house hardware manufacturing.
"There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was [Sony,] SEGA and Nintendo. There was always talk maybe we buy SEGA or something like that; that never materialised, but we were actually able to license them what they call Windows CE, the younger brother of Windows, to run on their system and make that their platform.
"But for Bill [Gates] this wasn’t enough, he didn’t think that SEGA had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing.
"There were some talks but it never materialised because SEGA was a very different bird. It was always Sony and Nintendo, right? And Nintendo had some financial trouble at that point in time, so Sony came out with the PlayStation and bang! They took off, and everyone else was left behind."
The full interview with Joachim Kempin will be published later today but, in the meantime, check out what he had to say about why Microsoft entered the console business, as well as his suspicion that the Xbox 720's interface will be inspired by Windows 8.
