Come along, because this gossip is a good one: in February 2019, the internet was abuzz with rumors of a partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft. According to the rumors, Microsoft would bring Xbox Game Pass and the xCloud streaming service to the Switch, along with some of its biggest hits, like Ori and the Blind Forest and Cuphead. The lighter ones would run directly on the console, and the heavier ones by streaming.
Neither company confirmed or denied anything. Until Mike Ybarra, Xbox vice president, posted on Twitter a screenshot with the meaning of the word “rumor” and, right after, added the line: “It’s a rumor that I only play PC games!”. What a lovely little mystery.
On its own, the line confirmed nothing, and many people read it as a pure joke. But the rapprochement between the two companies was already visible: Minecraft was on the Switch, and Banjo-Kazooie, from Rare, a Microsoft studio, had gained a place as a character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
What came next
Part of the rumor became reality, at least in games. Cuphead came to the Nintendo Switch on April 18, 2019, and Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition was announced at a Nintendo Indie World and released on the Switch on September 27, 2019, to universal acclaim on Metacritic. Ybarra, meanwhile, changed houses: he went to Blizzard, where he was executive vice president when he took over leadership of the studio in 2021, first sharing the post with Jen Oneal and then alone, and left the company in January 2024, when Microsoft, already owner of Activision Blizzard, announced 1,900 layoffs in the games division. My little gamer heart loves it when gossip yields chapters like these.
Source: Eurogamer.
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