Nintendo, one of the biggest and oldest games companies, has made an acquisition for one of its closest development partners. These past few months have seen huge purchases being made, of course, with Take-Two acquiring Zynga, Sony buying up Bungie, and the biggest of them all, the planned takeover of Activision Blizzard King by Microsoft.
There has been speculation that Nintendo might be forced to make some purchases of its own in light of these recent consolidations in the industry. But the Japanese veteran hasn't traditionally been too big on such deals. Now, it seems Nintendo has made a move in order to secure one of its most long-running partners.
As reported by Games Industry Biz, Tokyo-based SRD Co. is led by Toshihiko Nakago and has been a close Nintendo partner for nearly 40 years. SRD has worked with Nintendo on some of its biggest and most significant titles, including Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and The Legend of Zelda on the Famicom/NES. Their most recent project was last year's Game Builder Garage on the Nintendo Switch.
In an official announcement, the company said this deal will "serve the management base of SRD and secure the availability of software development resources for Nintendo". As analysts have observed, Nintendo rarely makes acquisitions. "Nintendo's greatest asset is its IP and that is what shapes its M&A philosophy and why it is extremely selective about its investments", commented Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners.
Last year, Nintendo acquired Vancouver-based Next Level Games, the studio that developed Luigi's Mansion 3. With this latest buyout, Nintendo has made SRD Co. an internal studio wholly-owned by it, and the deal is expected to close on April 1, 2022. No figure was disclosed on the amount exchanged for the deal.
This latest acquisition is "in line with Nintendo's previous acquisitions. Usually studios that have direct experience + proven track record working with Nintendo IP", Ahmad wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, Games Industry Biz has explored how ongoing industry consolidation will likely push Nintendo into "securing its most valuable partners".