Seems like a pretty cut and dry thing, embracer group is having a fire sale and Nintendo found their porting skills valuable. It seems they’ll be doing porting work on commissions for other studios even as a Nintendo studio, which makes it a unique arrangement.
First of all, Nintendo's been eyeing the Embracer Group situation and apparently didn't see fit to salvage Free Radical Design despite it being led by GoldenEye alumni? Kind of odd.
Secondly...what?
Given Nintendo's track record, I have to assume "multiple platforms" is going to end up meaning the Switch and its successor. But are they going to be porting third-party games? If so, will they publish those versions, akin to Dragon Quest XI S? And if not...what first-party projects would Nintendo be eyeing them for? Is the intent going to be using them to downgrade some Switch successor games for the Switch to pad out its library? That wouldn't make much sense in the long-term, but maybe Nintendo intends to convert them into a support studio or developer of unique projects eventually?
@PikaPhantom we don’t know entirely what their plans are, but it’s fair to assume it’ll just be port work for their platforms, as you don’t see much work out there for porting down to PS4/Xbox One as you do Switch. As for why them out of anything in embracer, Nintendo is extremely conservative with buying studios and typically only go for ones they’ve worked with for a decent amount of time or teams that work on their platforms mainly. Shiver fit the bill of that, and was probably very cheap given Embracer’s comedically predictable collapse.
Better for Nintendo to acquire them than see Shiver shuttered or whatnot. Been awhile since we heard any acquisition news from Nintendo. I think last time it was when Nintendo acquired Monolith.
Anyways, I look forward to what Shiver can do for Nintendo & all. Of course, time will tell.
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Rare to witness Nintendo acquiring any studios, so the plan must be something interesting. Sure, it could be just business as usual, but I think Nintendo could be planning a little more.
I wonder if Nintendo is poaching the talent?
And is it possible Nintendo could offer them to relocate closer to one of Nintendo's headquarters?
That lists 24 staff. Maybe they're not all on there but even if you double that, we're looking at a fairly small studio.
Given that they don't seem to own any notable IP, I can only guess that they are working on something of strategic value to Nintendo, such as porting a game for the Switch 2 launch lineup.
That's how things seem to be going down across the Embracer group. Studios with big games that are about to ship are getting bought out, while those pitching for new work are getting shut down. It's a tough time for the business overall.
@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot Nintendo bought Next Level three or four years ago. Thats the last notable acquisition they made until now.
They also acquired Nintendo Pictures (formerly Dynamo Pictures, who made the Pikmin short films and has since worked on animation in games like Mario Wonder) and SRD (who's been working with Nintendo on development support since the 80s), both in 2022. So Nintendo acquisitions have become slightly more common, but Shiver is an unusual case because it's a company Nintendo hasn't directly worked with before, as far as I can tell.
A mid-tier port developer. If this were Panic Button, Iron Galaxy, or Feral Interactive I would be more enthusiastic. But as it stands this just signals that Nintendo wants more help with porting games to Switch 2. It's...whatever.
Good on the folks at Shiver Entertainment for being brought into the Nintendo-fold considering Embracer's house is still on fire at the moment. Vibes at the Shiver office must be flying high as (presumably) this locks in employment for the next decade or better. Assuming Switch 2 does as well as Switch 1 has done.
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@Dogorilla I still can't believe SRD wasn't always Nintendo-owned, I thought they were an internal studio for ages.
Still, I never know what to expect with these acquisitions. Dynamo Pictures went on to assist all over the place with Super Mario Wonder of all things after being bought out, and it seems like that was a good idea, on top of being credited in Pikmin 4, TotK and Super Mario RPG (all games that had top notch animation work).
But Shiver...? Like I feel like they aren't even going to be touching many Nintendo IPs, this feels like a move to better secure their third party release schedule.
This is a win for Nintendo in my book. Also, Nintendo doesn't purchase just to purchase or because the price is right. They had to have seen a great amount of talent in these devs to bring them under the Nintendo brands. Exciting times!
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Topic: Nintendo acquires Shiver Entertainment
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