Editing Microsoft

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{{Infobox Company
|title         = Microsoft Corporation
|logo          = [[File:Microsoft logo.svg|250px]]
|type          = Public
|headquarters  = {{flag|USA}} Redmond, Washington
|founded       = April 4th, 1975
|key_people    = John W. Thompson <br> Brad Smith <br> Satya Nadella <br> Bill Gates <br> Paul Allen <br> Asha Sharma
|industry      = Technology
|products      = Computers, Software, Video Games
|num_employees = 221,000 <small>(2023)</small>
|website       = [https://www.microsoft.com/ Microsoft Corporation]
|interwiki     = wikipedia
|interwikiname = Wikipedia
|interwikipage = Microsoft
}}
'''Microsoft''' is an American technology company founded on April 4th, 1975 by {{s|wikipedia|Bill Gates}} and {{s|wikipedia|Paul Allen}}. The origins of Microsoft can be traced back to 1972 when Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Traf-O-Data, which primarily developed computers meant to calculate and interpret raw data collected by traffic counters and cameras. In 1975, the two developed and pitched a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) agreed to sell the interpreter, now called Altair BASIC. Gates and Allen would shut down Traf-O-Data and establish Microsoft around this time. The company would become a leader in the technology industry, with operating systems like Xenix and MS-DOS, and later {{s|wikipedia|Microsoft Windows}}, as well as the Microsoft Office Suite, the Internet Explorer web browser, the MSX line of personal computers, and the Bing search engine. The company is also known for manufacturing hardware products, including the {{s|wikipedia|Xbox}} video game consoles, as well as managining the {{s|wikipedia|Xbox Game Pass}} subscription-based service. Its video game division, {{s|wikipedia|Xbox Game Studios}}, publishes well-known series by in-house studios such as ''Halo'', ''Age of Empires'', ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'', ''Forza'', ''Fable'', and ''State of Decay'', in addition to indie-developed titles such as ''Super Lucky's Tale'', ''Ori and the Blind Forest'', and its sequel ''Ori and the Will of the Wisps''. The company's portfolio also includes franchises from companies acquired by them, including {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}}, {{uv|Perfect Dark}}, ''Killer Instinct'', ''Battletoads'', ''Conker'' (under [[Rare]], acquired in 2002), {{uv|Minecraft}} (under [[Mojang Studios]], acquired in 2014), ''Gears of War'' (acquired in 2014 from {{s|wikipedia|Epic Games}}), ''Pillars of Eternity'', ''The Outer Worlds'' (under {{s|wikipedia|Obsidian Entertainment}}, acquired in 2018), ''Wasteland'', ''The Bard's Tale'' (under {{s|wikipedia|inXile Entertainment}}, acquired in 2018),  ''Hellblade'' (under {{s|wikipedia|Ninja Theory}}, acquired in 2018), ''Psychonauts'' (under {{s|wikipedia|Double Fine Productions}}, acquired in 2019), ''Doom'', ''Quake'', ''Wolfenstein'', ''Fallout'', ''The Elder Scrolls'', ''Dishonored'', ''The Evil Within'' (under {{s|wikipedia|Zenimax Media}}, acquired in 2021), ''Call of Duty'', ''Guitar Hero'', ''Skylanders'', ''Crash Bandicoot'', ''Spyro the Dragon'', ''Tony Hawk's'', ''Candy Crush Saga'', ''Diablo'', ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', and ''Overwatch'' (under {{s|wikipedia|Activision Blizzard}}, acquired in 2023).  <!--Note: Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft did not publish Cuphead nor do they own the IP. The game was self-published and owned by its developer, Studio MDHR, so do not add it here as Microsoft has no involvement in the property other than finance it--> 

On September 24th, 2002, Microsoft purchased [[Rare]], alongside the license for their original intellectual properties, such as {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}}, {{uv|Perfect Dark}}, and ''Conker''. Rare's contributions to the {{uv|Donkey Kong}} and {{uv|Star Fox}} franchises remain under Nintendo's ownership, excluding certain characters from ''Diddy Kong Racing''. <!--Note: Tiptup reappeared in Banjo-Kazooie's remaster on Xbox Live. (while a very small DK cameo was changed entirely) T.T. and Tiptup both appeared in a pitch for a cancelled Xbox game called the Fast and the Furriest which had no Nintendo involvement. In recent years Fangamer has released DKR merchandise through Microsoft. Taking these facts into consideration it seems safe to assume Microsoft owns the DKR characters--> On November 6th, 2014, Microsoft purchased [[Mojang Studios]], alongside the {{uv|Minecraft}} franchise, from its original founder, {{s|wikipedia|Markus Persson}}. On September 21st, 2020, Microsoft announced that it agreed to acquire {{iw|wikipedia|ZeniMax Media}}, which was finalized on March 9th, 2021. On December 2nd, 2020, Microsoft acquired popular tournament organizing website smash.gg, later rebranded to [[start.gg]].

==In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''==
Microsoft owns [[Rare Ltd.]], the company that created the {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}} franchise and owns its titular characters, [[Banjo]] and [[Kazooie]]. The ''Banjo-Kazooie'' universe debuted in ''Ultimate'' as DLC on September 4th, 2019, with {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} as a playable fighter, alongside the stage [[Spiral Mountain]], a location from the original ''Banjo-Kazooie'' games, multiple spirits, and 10 music tracks from both ''Banjo-Kazooie'' and ''Banjo-Tooie'', including a remix composed by Grant Kirkhope, the original composer of the ''Banjo-Kazooie'' games.

Microsoft also owns [[Mojang Studios]], the company that created the {{uv|Minecraft}} franchise. The default skin from the game, {{SSBU|Steve}}, was released in ''Ultimate'' as the second fighter for Fighters Pass Vol. 2 on October 13th, 2020, along with {{SSBU|alternate costume}}s based on the secondary skin [[Steve|Alex]] and two common enemies from the games, the [[Zombie]] and the [[Enderman]], alongside the stage [[Minecraft World]], multiple spirits and 7 music tracks from ''Minecraft'', ''Minecraft Earth'' and ''Minecraft Dungeons''.

Three characters from properties published by the Microsoft-owned [[List of companies with minor representation#Bethesda Softworks|Bethesda Softworks]]: [[Vault Boy]] from the {{uvm3|Fallout}} series, the [[Dragonborn]] from ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', and [[Doom Slayer]] from the {{uvm3|Doom}} series, also appear as DLC Mii Fighter costumes. It should be noted that Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft after the Vault Boy costume's release.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Xbox Game Studios logo.png|The logo for Microsoft's video game division, Xbox Game Studios.
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*As Microsoft produces the Xbox line of game consoles, it is the first, and so far only, company with content featured in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series which currently competes with [[Nintendo]]. It is the second company with content featured in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series to compete with Nintendo at any point in its history, following [[Sega]] and preceding [[SNK]], although both other companies stopped making consoles prior to providing content for ''Super Smash Bros''.
*Currently, all Microsoft properties represented in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series are franchises that became property of the company via way of acquisition of their development companies.
**{{uv|Perfect Dark}} was owned by [[Rare]] prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2002.
**{{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}} was co-owned by Nintendo and Rare before the rights were transferred over to the latter during the buyout.
**{{uv|Minecraft}} was owned by [[Mojang Studios]] prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2014.
**{{uvm3|Fallout}}, {{uvm3|The Elder Scrolls}}, and {{uvm3|Doom}} were owned by ZeniMax Media (by way of Bethesda Studios) prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2021.
***Additionally, ''Fallout'' was originally owned by Interplay Entertainment before selling the IP to Bethesda Studios, while ''Doom'' was originally solely owned by id Software prior to Bethesda's acquisition of the company in 2009.
*Microsoft is the third third-party company to be introduced to the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series as DLC in the form of playable fighters, the first two being [[Square Enix]] and [[Atlus]].
*Microsoft is the first major non-Japanese third-party company to be represented to the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, followed by [[Disney]].
*During {{h1|Mr. Sakurai Presents|Mr. Sakurai Presents "Banjo & Kazooie}}, [[Masahiro Sakurai]] recommended that players play the original {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}} titles on the Xbox One, the mention of which caused the word "Xbox" to be [http://web.archive.org/web/20190909020028/https://www.nintendoenthusiast.com/2019/09/05/trend-xbox-twitter-japan/ the number one trending topic on Twitter in Japan], due to the console's infamously poor performance in the country.
*Prior to competing with Nintendo, in Microsoft's [[wikipedia:Encarta|Encarta Encyclopedia]], the image in the Video Games article depicts a family playing ''[[mariowiki:Mario Paint|Mario Paint]]'', and is even credited as having been provided by Nintendo of America.
*Microsoft is the first of two third-party companies to have more than one DLC fighter in ''Ultimate'' ({{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} and {{SSBU|Steve}}), with the second being [[Square Enix]] ({{SSBU|Hero}} and {{SSBU|Sephiroth}}).
**Square Enix also precedes Microsoft in having multiple major universes that all debuted in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series through DLC ({{uv|Final Fantasy}} and {{uv|Dragon Quest}} from the former, and {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}} and {{uv|Minecraft}} from the latter).

{{wikipedia}}
{{Companies}}
[[Category:Perfect Dark universe]]
[[Category:Banjo-Kazooie universe]]
[[Category:Minecraft universe]]
[[Category:Microsoft|*]]
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