The video game industry has been shaken up in the last couple of weeks with the major announcements of Xbox’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, followed closely by Sony’s purchase of Bungie. In the wake of the news, many people — myself included — wondered if Nintendo would make its own acquisition or if it would continue its pattern of marching to the beat of its own drum.
Perhaps as expected, they seem to be more interested in the latter.
In Nintendo’s most recent investor Q&A, President Shuntaro Furukawa was asked if the company is seeking to acquire video game companies. Furukawa replied by saying that Nintendo is more interested in investing in the companies it already owns:
“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.”
This answer doesn’t come as a total surprise given that Nintendo stated last year that it would be investing up to 100 billion yen in the studios it already owns. What this does say is that the company is steadfast in its dedication to previously-announced plans and doesn’t seem interested in jumping to acquire companies in response to what its competitors are doing.
Furukawa went on to add that while Nintendo isn’t entirely ruling out the possibility of acquiring more companies, it would only do it if it were deemed “necessary,” though he didn’t elaborate on what the company means by “necessary.”
For reference, the last time Nintendo purchased a company was in 2021, when it acquired Next Level Games, which had been working with Nintendo since the release of Super Mario Strikers on GameCube in 2005. After a long development history with multiple titles under its belt, Nintendo likely considered Next Level Games to have the “Nintendo DNA” Furukawa and the company value in its development studios.
So if you were hoping for news of Nintendo acquiring a studio and making more waves in the industry, don’t hold your breath. They’re too busy breaking sales records with the Switch and outselling the Wii.
Source: Bloomberg