Thread 725220851

In their last financial briefing, Nintendo's CEO mentioned how they are currently looking into buying companies for the purpose of game development and increase their output of software releases.

In that same briefing, Nintendo listed they have ~$14 billion in cash on hand which would be used to make said acquisitions and minimal debt.

Who should Nintendo buy, /v/ and why?

For some context, here are the market caps of various larger video game companies that Nintendo could buy out Microsoft style in a potential hostile takeover:

Ubisoft - $830 Million
Sega - $3.8B
Koei Tecmo - $4.2B
Square Enix Holdings - $7.7B
Capcom - $14B (Nintendo owns a small stake in Capcom already)

Many smaller individual studios/companies would probably only be worth the tens up to 100 million USD.

https://mynintendonews.com/2025/11/05/nintendo-is-currently-considering-acquiring-video-game-companies/

>>725220851 (OP)
They're not looking to buy studios for ip, they're looking for more studios to get more games out. It'll most likely be smaller studios and companies that already have a history of working with nintendo like platinum.

>>725221838
This
Nintendo HATES their internal studios having any sort of external identity, they wouldn't buy anyone with an actual name.
They might headhunt from those companies, but they would otherwise most likely restrict themselves to otherwise no-name studios.
Anything is possible, sure, patterns are only true until they aren't, but this would be a pretty stark break from the way Nintendo does things.

>>725221838
That's actually what I was thinking they'd do. But I wanted to list all those companies just to show how much fucking money they just have in savings that they could spend.

I think they'll most likely buy these:

Mercury Steam
Platinum
A few smaller studios that they've worked with in the past like Tantalus and Grezzo (both did Zelda remasters/remakes and Grezzo made Echoes of Wisdom)
Also fully acquire HAL Labs and all things Kirby (the founders are getting old and probably want to sell it to them) to avoid a repeat of the Rare situation, and lets them use Kirby for movies and the theme parks far more easily.

>>725220851 (OP)
Nintendo isn't Microsoft, they aren't going to buy other companies just to own them and their IPs, it'll be because the company itself is useful to them.

>>725220851 (OP)
Buy back Rare or toss money at Microsoft so they can use the IPs for New games.

>>725222191
I don't know, Monolith Soft has a pretty strong identity and history that shows in the games they make even today, but Nintendo bought them a decade and a half ago and the Nintendo of back then isn't the same as today's Nintendo.

>>725222398
The Rare of today is not worth buying.

>>725220851 (OP)
Imagine if Square-Enix was cleaning house from the western offices to be bought by Nintendo.

>>725222398
>>725222546
Reposting
There's one incentive for them to buy if Microsoft was looking to sell
NSO
We know games can outright leave the service and Rare's games make up a significant chunk of the N64's library
It'd arguably be cheaper to just negotiate with whoever would own the IPs (since separating them for the most part only makes these more of a legal headache since how intertwined Rare's games are) but it's still the one logical incentive period for Nintendo to make a purchase if the opportunity was given since if those games left due to whatever possible owner not willing to play ball, NSO loses notiecable value
Even re-releasing DK64 requires negotiation since Jetpac is in the game

>>725220851 (OP)
It's gonna be smaller studios for development support you fucking idiot
Besides, Nintendo buying large publishers would lead to anti consumer bs
They'd take away games from established digital store fronts to ensure Nintendo exclusivity and will only POSSIBLY dripfeed them back

>>725222268
How fast would they be able to recoup on the loss though?
People are saying it's gonna take years for Xbox to fill in the gaping hole left by Actiblizz

Camelot
They're like 33 people tops and their owners are reaching retirement age

>>725225721
Depends on who they buy and for how much.

>>725222268
>Mercury Steam
It depends if Nordisk is willing to share and they can overhaul management since the guy in charge is apparently a jackass
Wouldn't be the first time they bought a studio for Metroid and it took ridding the douche in charge

>>725220851 (OP)
That's exactly what Xbox and PlayStation did about 10 years ago. I wonder if Nintendo will end up just as badly in a few years.

>>725220851 (OP)
Please buy Platinum and Clovers

>>725226475
Clovers is an internal team within Capcom

>>725228387
It isn't
Clover was
Clovers isn't

Kind of a wild guess but level five

>>725220851 (OP)
Nintendo will buy Platinum and set them on a path to make non-flops.

>>725222445
Monolith Soft is a major exception in that they are a support studio with enough capability to make their own games.

>>725228620
>Level Five
Nah, Nintendo and L5 work well together as partners, but what L5 likes doing would not be possible under Nintendo.
Namely their focus on media mix properties primarily centered on a Japanese market (Musashi and Inazuma being their current ones).
Level 5 is also pretty large for what seems like a niche company, and they've started expanding into full multiplat territory.

>>725222546
They're competent and creative devs
They just need actual direction

>>725220851 (OP)
Nintendo wouldn't waste money on multiplat studios. I think if they're really interested they'll lock down smaller studios with promise

Get Shin'en or Caged Element for a new F-Zero

This isn’t really new for them.

In the last ten years they’ve bought Monolith Soft, Shiver Interactive, Next Level Games, and Dynamo Pictures (now Nintendo Pictures).

People read acquisitions and think dumb corporate mergers like what Sony and MS are doing, but it’ll most likely be just picking up companies they already work with heavily (HAL, IntSys, Game Freak, whatever).

They don’t have much reason to acquire a studio that isn’t already intimately familiar with their development patterns.

Nintendo has more IP than they have studios to produce games for them. They need warm bodies to make the games they want to make. They're not gonna go buy Capcom or whatever.

>>725222445
Monolith Soft has really been doing overtime consulting and working with other Nintendo teams to develop their open worlds. Practically every open-world title from Nintendo has had Monolith on board.

>>725220851 (OP)
>bandai namco is safe
thank god digimon isn't gonna be gobbled up by them

>>725233362
Shin'en has repeatedly stated that while they love F-Zero, they'd rather work on their own IPs
Buying them would just cause the talent to look somewhere else
Nintendo and Monster Games had a healthy relationship with Excite games which Monster loved working on but while the former eventually saw them more as a team to make ports and support work the latter's true hearts lied in wanting to make racing games so they were bought up to do Nascar.
They don't hate Nintendo or anything, their office proudly still has Nintendo merchandise it's just that they wanted to do something Nintendo didn't want them to do.

>>725233771
>(HAL, IntSys, Game Freak, whatever).
It'd be pointless because they have a perfectly healthy relationship already
They co-own Kirby, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, etc
Buying them changes nothing

>>725239316
It changes that co-ownership to full ownership, wouldn't it? They'd gain more control of those series.

>>725238515
The Bandai side of it is why Bandai Namco is worth a ton.

>>725233771
That's why they're probably going to scoop up some studios that they've worked with in the past or ones that are already familiar with how the Switch 2 works.

>>725239574
Yeah but do they need it?
They're pretty comfortable just letting those studios do their own thing
They'll only buy if they're looking to sell

>>725239574
I’n sure whatever arrangement they have is fine as is and wouldn’t be necessary, plus the other companies likely enjoy their sense of independence

MercurySteam is a no-brainer, I'm surprised they haven't yet.

do any of you retards actually play any video games, or just pretend and LARP that you do?

>>725220851 (OP)
They should buy SNOY then close it forever and keep the cursed IPs in a vault.

>>725220851 (OP)
Buy the fucking Spaniards and chain them to the 2D Metroid mines.

>>725240728
Nordisk owns 40% of them and the guy in charge of MercurySteam is an egotistical asshole

>>725220851 (OP)
>they have $14 billion in cash on hand
... that's it?
isn't that what they make in a single year?
these fuckers don't save up?

>>725241529
It’s what they have “in cash” l, not in total. Sure they got several more billions in the bank and/or in investments

>>725239594
>The Bandai side of it is why Bandai Namco is worth a ton.
and digimon is a bandai franchise. your point?

>Ubisoft - $830 Million
Wow they fell off hard

>>725220851 (OP)
>In that same briefing, Nintendo listed they have ~$14 billion in cash on hand which would be used to make said acquisitions and minimal debt.
How much do they spend per year?

>>725220851 (OP)
Probably companies they've worked with. Platinum would be the most obvious.

I have a feeling they'll eventually buy HAL and Intelligent Systems whenever those guys that own it want to retire.
Captcha: GAY0N

>>725245605
They've lost over 90% of their value in 5 years.

Some vaguely realistic pics, some more than others
>Arika
>Arzest
>Camelot
>CAProduction
>Eighting
>Day 4 Night
>Genius Sonority
>Grasshopper Manufacturer
>Grezzo
>Hal Laboratory
>Indie Zero
>Intelligent Systems
>Inti Creates
>Platinum Games
>Studio 2 and Studio S
>Tose
>Tri-Crescendo
>Ubisoft Milan
>Ubisoft Toronto

>>725247378
>Arzest
>Grezzo
Good god, please no, especially not Grezzo. But these are probably the most likely ones to happen.

>>725245795
Nintendo has been profitable every year since 2012, and aside from that year, pretty much every year since the NES launched.

>>725226421
depends on who they buy. MS and PS have big, dumb parent companies that aren't game minded.

>>725245605
Look at their disaster of last year. Look at their games coming out this and next year. they're OVERVALUED there.

>>725222445
>>725228880
>>725236654
Hmm now where have I heard this exact type of shit before?
>>725220851 (OP)
Nintendo won't buy anything until Microshit and Sony are done devaluing whatever scraps they'll maybe sink 30% into.

>>725247378
Forgot to include MercurySteam and Tantalus, fuck

Also, probably HAL Labs.

>>725247752
>posts a company that didn't get bought out by Nintendo

>>725248723
>posts a company that Nintendo would have and had the money on the table for only to lose it to microsoft because he who hesitates is lost.
The point I'm making is that they don't buy companies based on merit, they buy them when they're cheap and understand corner cutting like Nintendo. They have to exhibit Gunpei's philosophy of never developing new technology.

>>725249359
Nintendo buys companies when they're directly useful to them.
Currently, Nintendo likely wants dedicated smaller scale title developers to fill out their exclusive catalog more. Buying Monolith Soft would not do that as they are a support studio that develops large scale games when not doing that.

>>725220851 (OP)
>ruins paper mario
>ruins animal crossing
>ruins smash
>kills f zero
>kills and ruins metroid
>ruins pikmin
>ruins zelda
>ruins 2d mario
>ruins 3d mario
>kills warioware
>ruins mario kart
>allows pokemon to be ruined
>demaking and wokifying old franchises
does anyone care?

>>725248154
worst possible choice. nintendo hates lewd games

>>725249461
>Nintendo buys companies when they're directly useful to them.
They don't even own Pokemon you dumbfuck.
>Nintendo likely wants dedicated smaller scale title developers to fill out their exclusive catalog more. Buying Monolith Soft would not do that as they are a support studio that develops large scale games when not doing that.
They want less than 50% because then they don't have to be daddy mone gibs and hand hold them. They really just want to be publisher, sit on their asses and collect checks from poor saps much like every single other successful "game" company.

>>725220851 (OP)
They should buy Square Enix, but in a few years when the company is in the gutter and trading at fire sale prices.

>>725242297
Cash for a publicly traded company is money laying around that needs to be put to use. Typically it is given to investors in the form of a dividend or stock buyback if there is no good way to invest it.

>>725249997
They own 1/3 of the pokemon brand. It’s a 3-way split between gamefreak, nintendo, and the pokemon company

>>725252913
Creatures actually
TPC was made to be the middle man between all three that handles the big franchise stuff

>>725247565
Anon I think the point was Anon asking how much Nintendo spends to beg the question what is the typical amount they comfortably spend

>>725241215
If the EPD expansion goes well they'd probably just go back to handling 2D Metroid in-house

>>725222191
Honestly seems like a smart strategy. Look at how buying big name studios worked out for Sony and Microsoft

>>725255643
If it was a smart strategy it sure as Hell hasn't worked for Ubisoft

>>725224929
>The Apple of gaming is looking to buy a company that would have gone under 5 years ago if it wasn't for an MMO that's only played on PC and PS4/5
Anon, put down the pipe

>>725249665
There are a lot of tendies out there, anon
I know it's really common to use that insult on here but it's one of the few situations where the problem you see on 4chan might actually be worse in real life

>too late to get grasshopper
>got got by the chinks at netease

>>725250294
Likes of SE, Konami, Sega or even KT are way bigger fish than it looks.

SE have a very successful manga division for example.

>>725249731
Amusing because Inti seems to suck their balls constantly much like Compile Heart sucks Sony's. They need a good stab-in-the-back moment to disillusion them. I imagine it'll come soon as Nintendo are just getting worse and worse with the censorship nowadays and it's only a matter of time before they ban an Inti game from a western release while jerking off about "muh brand". Misplaced corporate loyalty is a major problem with Japanese publishers.

>>725256714
Nintendo seems more than fine with inti despite everything, probably due their works with capcom.

>>725257365
...Until they try making a new Gal*Gun, which Inti seem to have deluded themselves into believing 2025 Nintendo would be fine with when they get cold feet over something as baseline as fucking Neptunia now.

>>725222398
>>725222546
>>725225091
People say "Nintendo should just buy Rare!" but

1. Virtually all of the old staff who made Rare good are gone
2. Nintendo would not be able to make their games. These are British games written by British people and seeped in British culture, game design, and humor. You can see this in how the Japanese have handled Donkey Kong since Rare left, and later the Americans.

A Banjo-Kazooie game made by the Japanese would be utter dogshit.

Bare in mind, this is what they said in 2022
>“Our brand was built upon products crafted with dedication by our employees, and having a large number of people who don’t posses Nintendo DNA in our group would not be a plus to the company."

https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-acquisition-dna

>>725258525
Yeah, and this is what they said in 2019. I think you should take anything they say now with a healthy grain of salt.

>>725221838
Even more extreme, they're actively ignoring any studios with noteworthy IP because Nintendo are game devs first and foremost, they hate having properties in their portfolio that they already aren't utilizing, they absolutely want to avoid adding more to that list
They want to acquire studios that will become dedicated teams to a specific series, like they will soon get Eighting and place them as Pikmin's team going forward

>>725257789
Anon I think the last post is more meant that Rare's IPs are more valuable to Nintendo than the studio itself and is important not in a sense that they'd prioritize new development with said IPs.
I don't think the shareholders would be pleased with an acquisition like that though even if Microsoft dissolved Rare beforehand and only sold the IPs

>>725220851 (OP)
House House.

Mercury Stream is a headache that Nintendo doesn't want to wrangle. Even if they wanted to do a Spangenberg and oust the leadership, they would also need to deal with the 40% Nordisk ownership and buy those shares. With Retro they had a stake in it from co-founding it.
What they will do is open up shop in Spain with a bespoke studio or expansion of NERD that will poach the Dread team by offering competent management and better working conditions.

While Nintendo has been working a lot with Mercury Stream, I really hope they won't turn them into a primary studio.
Their games are technically competent, yeah, but really lack the charm, and feel way too actiony... Though that might be just because of Sakamoto's direction.
I know lots of people like Dread and Samus Returns, but I really am not a fan of their Metroid productions.

>>725220851 (OP)
>Ubisoft - $830 Million
>Sega - $3.8B
>Koei Tecmo - $4.2B
>Square Enix Holdings - $7.7B
>Capcom - $14B (Nintendo owns a small stake in Capcom already)
yeah nintendo isn't being any of these, they'd probably only buy smaller developers they already have a very close relationship with, like mercury steam, good feel and grezzo

Not gonna happen, but I want them to buy crapcom just to give snoys the final deathblow
>MH, RE etc are now permanent Nintendo exclusive first party games

>>725247378
>>Hal Laboratory
>>Intelligent Systems
I don't think they'd want to sell, I think they're rather comfortable as is
>>Studio 2 and Studio S
I don't think you understand what this is

>>725259170
>NERD
Aren't they Frogs?

>>725221838
100% relatively small companies only

As a spaniard, i really hope they try to wrangle mercury steam into something good. It's obvious there's potential for good things in that studio, but when they are left on their own they dont have any kind of vision or understanding of what an interesting project looks like.

It's clearly a retro studios situation. Japs have the vision, and the studio has the expert muscle. Plus I'd be super hype to find kensuke tanabe drinking at some bar on a random weekend.

>>725261875
yeah
they should open up a spanish branch and start actually making games

>>725220851 (OP)
If SNK wasn't owned by delusional Saudis who just opened a billion dollar movie studio based on their IP then I would have thought they'd be a good pickup. Nintendo needs a replacement for the phoenix wright exclusives, they should rescue the danganronpa guys. Level 5 also makes the kind of shit retarded tendies would love but they just don't have the right IP attached.

It's too late now but they should have stepped in to save Japan studio, they were the most Nintendo like team at Sony.

>>725228387
No it isn't, not only are they completely independent but the next okami game isn't even being made in partnership with capcom, it's outsourced to another studio.

>>725240728
The majority of the shit they make is bad and has flopped.

>>725220851 (OP)
Whichever they buy tendies will suddenly defend those games companies btw

>>725259829
>The reason tendies are triggered by capcom is this
Lmao

>>725225091
>If Microsoft was looking to sell
Why would they sell anything? They're literally pic related: the company. That's how they were when they bought Rare and nothing's changed since then.

>>725267896
They sold Hi-Fi Rush didn't they?

>>725268052
Wish they sold the evil within too

>>725222268
>>725247793
Tantalus doesn't make original games
They're a hired gun for port work and remasters and even then Nintendo could just have Shiver do the job if third parties no longer need their services

>>725240728
Nintendo probably saw the tard wrangling for dread was not worth it with how the first instance they left MS on their own they shat out blades of fire.

>>725257569
>>725256714
This has never happened, you are inventing a retarded hypothesis towards the the same company that allowed takahashi to give one of his character a harem.
Neptunia has become a yuritroon garbage franchise so fuck them.

>>725220851 (OP)
Why buy companies when you can pay them to make games for you? I don't understand that.