Nintendo and Xbox have an increasingly close relationship - and there's a simple reason for that

Games like "Call of Duty," "Overwatch," and "Minecraft" are functionally identical across platforms. Why shouldn't I be able to play "Overwatch" on Xbox One with my friend on PlayStation 4?

The reason, of course, is business.

Sony's in the lead by a large margin, and has no real incentive — financially — to work with Microsoft on making games work between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

But Nintendo? That's a different story.

As of June 2018, Nintendo Switch "Minecraft" players are able to play with their friends on Xbox One and every other "Minecraft" platform...except for PlayStation 4.

Nintendo and Microsoft even released a commercial together:

Sony has since relented a bit on the concept of cross-play, and now allows "Fortnite" on PS4 to work with every other version of the game. It has yet to give in on "Minecraft."

Through "Minecraft," Microsoft implemented a limited form of its Xbox Live service on the Nintendo Switch. After launching the game, you could sign in with your Xbox Live account.

But Microsoft is taking that another full step forward with outright Xbox Live integration on a system level for the Nintendo Switch. That means you could earn Achievements, access your Xbox Live friends list, and other functionality tied to Xbox Live.

The company announced as much back in March at the annual Game Developers Conference:

"Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger," a panel description said. "Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK. Get a first look at the [software development kit] to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs."

This is the kind of move that can only happen with cooperation from Nintendo — notably, Sony's PlayStation 4 is absent from Microsoft's list.

But why would Nintendo allow Xbox Live on the Nintendo Switch? One particularly notable reason is that Microsoft created a gold standard in online game with Xbox Live. If Microsoft's willing to implement Xbox Live for various games, it offers Nintendo Switch a suite of services — voice chat, friends list, achievements, and more — that are otherwise less great on Nintendo's console.

Microsoft gets to sign up new Xbox Live users, and Nintendo gets a well-respected service with limited control on its popular game platform — it's a win-win.

Microsoft spent billions to acquire "Minecraft," only to continue supporting it as a multi-platform game.

Though billions presumably weren't spent on British studio Ninja Theory, Microsoft did indeed acquire the company not so long ago — which is why it's a bit strange to see one of Ninja Theory's games, "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice," announced as coming to the Nintendo Switch.

The same could be said for "Cuphead," a major Xbox exclusive game that was at least partially funded by Microsoft — it's headed to the Nintendo Switch in the near future.

Both are signs of Microsoft's continued flexibility with Xbox when it comes to Nintendo's platforms.

One of Microsoft's biggest plays in the last few years has been Xbox Game Pass, a monthly subscription service that offers access to a growing library of Xbox games.

The service has been a big hit with Xbox owners — every game published by Microsoft, for example, is available on Game Pass at launch. The next major "Halo" or "Forza" game will show up on Game Pass on day one. That's a pretty major move!

And it sounds like that service could end up on Nintendo's Switch console in some form or another. Rumors point to the service potentially coming to the Nintendo Switch — albeit as a part of Microsoft's still-in-development game streaming service, currently known as "Project xCloud."

Neither Microsoft nor Nintendo responded to these rumors back when they were reported in February.