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Nintendo is unlikely to follow the example set by Sony and Microsoft’s high-profile acquisitions.
Speaking during the company’s latest earnings report, president Shuntaro Furukawa said that Nintendo wouldn’t benefit from buying up other studios. He told investors that “our brand was built upon products crafted with dedication by our employees, and having a large number of people who don’t possess any Nintendo DNA in our group would not be a plus to the company.”
This isn’t the first time that Nintendo has committed to internal investment in recent months. As noted by Bloomberg (opens in new tab), Furukawa committed as much as 100 billion yen ($870 million) to strengthening the company’s game development, with a particular focus on organic growth.
That’s not to say that Nintendo’s not looking to make any purchases. Back in January 2021, the company acquired Next Level Games. The difference between that and Microsoft’s Activision acquisition or Sony’s recent purchase of Bungie, is that Nintendo had been working with Next Level for almost 20 years – the studio was the driving force behind the more recent Luigi’s Mansion games, and had focused on Nintendo titles for much of its lifespan. The partnership is more similar in scope to Sony’s recent other, smaller, purchases, such as those of Firesprite or Housemarque.
Speaking to Bloomberg, industry analyst Serkan Toto suggested Furukawa’s stance should come as little surprise; “I really have a hard time imagining which of the big [developers] they could even be interested in buying. Nintendo will always stay Nintendo. The company has always relied on first-party games, and I don’t see any reason why they should change.
With a list of upcoming Switch games this strong, Nintendo doesn’t need any outside help.
