Microsoft

Microsoft is an American technology company founded on April 4th, 1975 by and. 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, 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 video game consoles. Its video game division,, publishes well-known series such as Halo, Gears of War, Forza and Fable 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.

On September 24th, 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare, alongside the license for their original intellectual properties, such as, , and Conker. Rare's contributions to the and  franchises remain under Nintendo's ownership, excluding certain characters from Diddy Kong Racing. On November 6th, 2014, Microsoft purchased Mojang Studios, alongside the franchise, from its original founder,. On September 21st, 2020, Microsoft announced that it agreed to acquire, which was finalized on March 9th, 2021. On December 2nd, 2020, Microsoft acquired popular tournament organizing website smash.gg, later rebranded to start.gg. On January 18th, 2022, Microsoft announced intentions to purchase and all subsidiaries. After several delays and interventions from international trade commissions, the deal finalized on October 13th, 2023.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Microsoft owns Rare Ltd., the company that created the franchise and owns its titular characters, Banjo and Kazooie. The Banjo-Kazooie universe debuted in Ultimate as DLC on September 4th, 2019, with 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 franchise. The default skin from the game,, was released in Ultimate as the second fighter for Fighters Pass Vol. 2 on October 13th, 2020, along with s based on the secondary skin 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 Bethesda Softworks: Vault Boy from the series, the Dragonborn from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Doom Slayer from the  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.

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.
 * was owned by Rare prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2002.
 * was co-owned by Nintendo and Rare before the rights were transferred over to the latter during the buyout.
 * was owned by Mojang Studios prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2014.
 * ,, and 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, Masahiro Sakurai recommended that players play the original titles on the Xbox One, the mention of which caused the word "Xbox" to be 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 Encarta Encyclopedia, the image in the Video Games article depicts a family playing 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 ( and ), with the second being Square Enix ( and ).
 * Square Enix also precedes Microsoft in having multiple major universes that all debuted in the Super Smash Bros. series through DLC ( and from the former, and  and  from the latter).