Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@link3710 Maybe, they did seem to have mismanaged them towards the end. Regardless, Nintendo probably doesn't think they can be revived so easily and they're not a charity, they'd rather support something they know is going to succeed. Which is probably why they bought Next Level Games.

Speaking of, I wonder will anything else come of the Next Level Games acquisition? Like, could Nintendo help grow them so they can take on more/bigger projects? I'd definitely like to see Nintendo increase their output of games, and unlike AlphaDream, NLG has definitely earned increased support from Nintendo.

@theJGG The general Directs weren't random at all in the Switch era, before 2020 you knew for certain that there'd at least be:

• General Direct in January - March (for 2017, this was the live Switch presentation in January)
• General Direct in June (always the Tuesday of E3)
• General Direct in September (always 1st or 2nd week)

Partner Showcases every month makes things more random because 1st party announcements are announced randomly on social media instead of being tied to an event like a general Direct or E3 Treehouse Live.

@Grumblevolcano I do think for Nintendo this method makes most sense, especially as it’s all still really uncertain when things will return to a more normal state - I mean, Japan has just had another lockdown, not long before their Mario World theme park was due to open.

With E3 almost guaranteed to never be coming back (certainly won’t this year), that’s one date Nintendo don’t need to bother with. They can keep third party developers and publishers happy by doing regular partner showcases and just continue to shadow drop first party games as and when. It worked last year so why not continue to do that at least until Covid is no longer the threat it is.

@FragRed I wouldn't say it worked, rather that Animal Crossing meant whatever Nintendo did would've looked like it worked. They could've done absolutely nothing (as in no more announcements or releases) but promote Animal Crossing after it launched and it would've looked like it worked.

But Nintendo needs to be careful, relying too much on games that are already on the Switch will likely eventually result in a similar situation to what happened in the late Wii era.

@Grumblevolcano I think maybe after both 3D World and Monster Hunter Rise are out, there’ll be a mini direct like last year but until then, just focus on partner showcases. It all depends on whether this current lockdown is going to sufficiently cause problems for Nintendo like last time. Not just in Japan but in other parts of the world which all seem to be struggling still with the pandemic as it mutates and vaccines are slowly rolled out.

I think the big thing about NLG is that they've consistently developed some technically very accomplished titles. LM2 & LM3 are gorgeous games - in many ways the best looking games on their respective systems. Federation Force - despite the issues many had with it (I've not played it) - did things technically that few 3DS games attempted in terms of online multiplayer.

My guess would be that the big advantage for Nintendo in buying NLG is that it makes their in-house technical expertise more easily shareable throughout the company on other projects. I wouldn't be surprised for instance if NLG end up doing some grunt work on Metroid Prime 4, Mario Kart 9 or future Zelda projects. Or helping to develop the online modes for other first party projects.

That's definitely a big difference between NLG and Alpha Dream who clearly weren't as strong with the technical back end side of development.

Also - and this is pure speculation on my part - Nintendo may have directly employed many of the most talented people at Alpha Dream and folded them into other teams. They didn't have to purchase the whole edifice.

@StuTwo Yeah, adding AlphaDream's staff to other teams more sense, and @link3710 is indicating they did exactly that (source?).

As for NLG, that would make sense, they already do the same with Retro and Monolith. But I also feel like Nintendo could stand to increase their game output and they might see NLG as an investment in helping them. That usually is a major reason why publishers buy up developers, and while part of it is most likely avoiding them being snapped up by other developers, I have a feeling they'd also like to grow NLG so they can put out more games. They've been successful with multiple IPs, so I could see them growing into multiple dev teams so they can work on several games at the same time, say you could have one team working on Luigi's Mansion, another working on Mario Strikers or something else, etc.

I think in spite of this being an uninteresting acquisition, this could end up being a good strategy for expanding their studios, by partnering with third parties willing to work on Nintendo's IPs, getting the opportunity to prove themselves by reviving dormant IPs and proving themselves with multiple high quality releases, and then eventually joining the Nintendo umbrella. It's a win-win for everyone, developers get the opportunity to work with high profile IPs, Nintendo gets the extra workforce, and fans get to see dormant IPs get revived and released with more regularity. I think other studios could follow suit as well. MercurySteam might be a developer to keep an eye out for this, but I think we need to see more games from them before that happens (maybe in about 10 years). They did such a phenomenal job with Metroid: Samus Returns that if they show further success with more 2D Metroids, maybe work on some other Nintendo IPs as well, Nintendo might want to snap them up as well.

@Bolt_Strike There's no single source, the guy who told me told me to check out the LinkedIn pages on the people in M&Ls credits, and most are working for Nintendo now. I looked up a few myself and it seems true, wasn't going to check them all lol.

As for NLG? I'm pretty sure they were asking to be bought, and Nintendo saw them as too valuable to lose, and that's all there is to it.

MercurySteam almost certainly has to be working on another Nintendo exclusive (it's been 4 years, and they haven't revealed what they're working on outside of porting/maintaining Spacelords, who else is (usually) that leak proof?). I could see them having strong potential, but we'll have to see if they transition into doing more NIntendo games. I'm just hoping they are still developing new titles, and not trying to run a company off just continuing income from Spacelords...

@link3710 There's a lot of smoke when it comes to MercurySteam releasing another 2D Metroid this year to the point where I believe it. We'll have to wait for an official announcement, but I strongly suspect after Samus Returns, Nintendo wanted to bring them back to work on another one for Switch and we'll be seeing it very soon.

Some other possibilities for Nintendo's "partner and purchase" strategy:

-PlatinumGames: They have an extremely close relationship and develop multiple Nintendo exclusives such as Bayonetta, TW101, and Astral Chain. Why not make them 1st party games?
-Bandai Namco (or more likely, the team within Bandai Namco working on Pokken Tournament, Smash, and New Pokemon Snap, as Bandai Namco themselves are probably too big for Nintendo to purchase outright): They've done a lot of work with several Nintendo IPs and seem to be the only developer making non-mobile Pokemon spinoffs.
-Game Freak: This is more about overhauling Game Freak's development practices than expanding Nintendo's output, as Game Freak and TPC seem to only care about their bottom line and not making a quality experience. If Nintendo is so obsessed with protecting the value of its brands, they need to take control of the situation with Pokemon.

@Bolt_Strike Be careful with that smoke. I've been saying that on this thread since later 2019 as a very likely possibility, and it's been in all my predictions. Doesn't mean there was anything behind it. I don't think I've seen anyone suggest MercurySteam's involvement except in a 'it'd make sense if...' sort of way.

PlatinumGames - Nope. Platinum wants independence and self-publishing, and Nintendo respects that. They won't do a hostile takeover, so unless that changes they're staying 3rd party for the foreseeable future.
Bandai Namco - That's actually quite possible. That team is basically the new Flagship (the company that made the Oracle games, Kirby Squeak Squad / Amazing Mirror, Onimusha 1-3, Resident Evil 2 etc). Though, there's a good chance there's too much legal red tape to make it worth it.
GameFreak - ...Maaaaybe? That's a whole bucket of worms on it's own. No one knows what's going on behind the scenes there so... For the company as a whole, we'd see something along the lines of it becoming an exclusive Nintendo developer for at least a decade before a potential merger would happen, which seems unlikely at the moment.

As for who Nintendo might be interested in...
Team Cherry - It's a bit of a longshot, but given the company's strong partnership with Nintendo and overwhelmingly positive reception, if Silksong goes well I could see it maaaaybe happening.
Camelot - If it happens, it'll solely be because they think it'll resolve development woes by doing so. But I wouldn't count it out.
Good-Feel - Nintendo seems to be losing them as a development partner... Though they may just be growing, who knows. They were Nintendo published only for a very long time, I could see Nintendo wanting to find a way to keep that.
Genius Sorority - They already own a controlling set of shares I believe between Nintendo and TPC. But if something happens with GameFreak, GS (and maybe Ambrella) may also become part of the internal family thanks to a mass restructure.

@Bolt_Strike Platinum is definitely off the table in terms of being bought. They've already begun exploring self-publishing efforts and have vocalized their intentions to remain independent as a company

Also them being bought out by Nintendo would probably greatly impact their relationship with Square Enix considering they've been collaborating with them a lot recently with both NiER and Babylon's Fall

@link3710 there are other possible explanations for Mercurystream’s silence. They may have been pitching prototypes that never got picked up - or ones that got picked up and developed a little before going no further.

Or their staff might have been doing lots of contract work for enterprise apps. Who knows?

I think Nintendo may have missed the boat timing wise. Samus returns should have been an early port to Switch. At this point do Nintendo want to dampen hype for Prime 4 with a new 2d Metroid game/do they want the first new Metroid game on Switch to be a relatively un-ambitious title?

I’d love to be proven wrong on that though.

@StuTwo I wonder if the 40% stake purchased in Mercury Steam not long ago (can’t remember what company did it) was because as a company they were struggling and needed some quick financial capital. It seems real weird Samus Returns never came to Switch and being Nintendo, wouldn’t surprise me if the low 3DS sales made them hesitant of making any more 2D games in the franchise.

@FragRed Nordisc games, I forgot about that. At the time, it was confirmed MercurySteam had multiple titles in development.

@link3710 Are they the ones that now own THQ?

@FredRed

No, THQ is owned by the Austrian investment conglomerate, Embracer Group.

@Bolt_Strike

Calm yourself, none of the companies you listed are potential purchase options for Nintendo. Platinum has Tencent funding for their next several games. Bandai Namco has nearly 8,000 employees across toy lines, merchandising, television, etc. And Pokemon is too lucrative for any stock owner (in their right mind) to consider selling.

Nintendo buying NLG was a defensive manoeuvre, not an offensive one.

Conversely MS buying Bethesda was an offensive manoeuvre.

@StuTwo MercurySteam was never going to show their next game this early. They need a few years to polish it before it's ready to be seen by the public. It takes most developers about 3 years to develop a game and we usually don't see it until a few months before it's ready for release. Add in the pandemic probably pushing things back a year, and this year would be the first real opportunity for us to see a new game from MercurySteam.

They probably don't care too much if 2D Metroid comes before Prime 4. If anything, that would actually help Prime 4 as it keeps fans interested in Metroid and the series in the public's consciousness so there's more people hyped for Prime 4 when it's finally ready.

@Magician As I mentioned, Bandai Namco in its entirety is unlikely, yes. But that team working on Nintendo's games? They might be a more realistic purchase. As for Pokemon, Game Freak seems to be losing interest in Pokemon, so they might be more willing to sell their stake.

What makes you think that? The less frequent Poke-releases or the new odd new IP from them?

@Bolt_Strike If Nintendo were that eager to get hold of Bandai Namco teams that work on their games, I’m sure they could just offer them jobs in Nintendo. Wouldn’t that be the cheaper option than trying to purchase whole teams from the parent company?

Nintendo seems to be incredibly selective when it comes to any buy out. They had to purchase Next Level as it’s likely others were sniffing around when it became known the shareholders were wanting to sell. Now Nintendo have the studio I expect them to start investing to bolster the size and potentially create multiple teams. That would certainly help with either getting more games out the door from Next Level or just allow for additional support on Nintendo’s in house games, much like how some of the teams at Monolith Soft work.

@TheFrenchiestFry speaking of platinum, was it ever unveiled what was the fifth surprise from their website after the April fools joke of last year? 🤔
Edit: I checked and apparently no, it's still a "coming soon"