Nintendo’s Iconic Frontman Mario may be Heading to Xbox

A statement from head of Xbox Phil Spencer may hint at future collaborations between Xbox and Nintendo.

Nintendo has already laid down the groundwork in its fledgling relationship with Microsoft, firstly through the announcement of a Wii U version of Minecraft as well as supplementing the massively popular sandbox adventure game with free Super Mario themed updates. In a recent interview excerpt posted on AusGamers, Spencer elaborated on the possibility of seeing Mario and other well-known Nintendo characters make an appearance on Xbox:

“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. 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. 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?” 

At this stage in time, it remains unclear whether a new Mario game is being planned for Xbox One or Microsoft’s Project Scorpio. Project Scorpio is due for release sometime in 2017.