Xbox Not for Sale: Microsoft’s 2000 Nintendo Bid [2026]

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told The New York Times that Xbox is not for sale, and the line landed in the same news cycle as an old Microsoft story that gaming outlets keep retelling. In 2000, while the company was building its first console, Steve Ballmer reportedly sat Nintendo down to ask whether it would consider being acquired. The people in the room say Nintendo laughed. A quarter century later, the company that once tried to buy the most protective platform holder in games has to tell the public it is not shopping its own console business.