In a decade now long gone by, there was excitement at the thought of seeing Mario and Sonic on the same console. As time has passed, there have been fewer console exclusives but there’s still that old bastion that will forever remain faithful to a console. Halo on Xbox, Ratchet and Clank on PlayStation and so on.
However, times do change and if Xbox division head Phil Spencer ever had the chance to have Mario on the console, he would absolutely be up for it. This was revealed in a snippet from an upcoming interview with AusGamers where he said, “I’d love to see Mario on Xbox. 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.”
Spencer also shared details on the relationship between the two companies with Minecraft. “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?”
He further noted that, “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.”
While it may not happen anytime soon, there’s still hope, right? Let us know whether you’d love to see Mario on Xbox anytime in the near future.