Nintendo Announces Acquisition Of Shiver Entertainment

@ $ony
@ M$

Watch how a real company treats an acquisition!

Still I consider this good news. Better for Nintendo to buy Shiver than let it get shuttered or floundered or...whatever ya'll call it & that.

Time will tell on what happens afterwards.

I hope this ends up being a good thing. Hey, maybe they'll help port some older Nintendo games to Switch and/or Successor!

@Spider-Kev Nintendo rn:

If Nintendo sees value in them then go for it.

Interesting they will still be working on other plaftforms. Maybe just completing existing contracts.

Never heard of them

@Tasuki it’s Nintendo’s ports and remakes department saying ‘hold my beer’

This isn’t anything like the other acquisition stories. Sounds like Nintendo sees a good dev about to get closed down and decided to keep them in operation. Even better that they can keep working across all platforms.

Interesting acquisition. Nintendo probably saved them from Embracer shutting them down.

And Nintendo will answer

Nintendoes and Nintendoesn't. Nintendo works in mysterious ways

Hope this means big things as far as ports go for the Switch and its enhanced model.

Honestly this sounds like a really smart acquisition. I bet having Shiver on their side following MK11 and Hogwarts Legacy obviously shows that they're gonna have Shiver help to work with other third-parties to help get their games on Switch and other consoles, probably so that Nintendo can have as many third-parties bringing ports of the biggest games to Switch no matter what. Interesting to see what they'll be doing next with Nintendo at the helm

Welp this could bode well for more 3rd party ports to Nintendo systems. Will watch and wait.

This news didn't come out of left field - it came out of the parking lot outside the ballpark. I have...many, many questions:

• If Nintendo's been keeping tabs on the Embracer Group situation, why did they apparently not attempt to acquire Free Radical Design when that studio at least had a Nintendo connection through being led by GoldenEye 007 alumni?
• Given Nintendo's track record with not letting anything tied to them appearing on other platforms beyond user-generated content (which they've still even gone after, and within the last month too), does "multiple platforms" just mean the Switch and its successor? Or are they actually going to let one of their subsidiaries work on projects for the competition?
• Are they still going to specialize in third-party games?
• If so, will Nintendo take over publishing duties, as they did specifically for the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI S?
• If Shiver isn't working on third-party content, then what would they be doing for Nintendo? Maybe they'll be a studio tasked with downgrading games meant for the Switch successor to the base Switch hardware as a means of propping up its library for a few years? That would only really make sense in the short-term, though.
• Does Nintendo eventually intend to restructure Shiver into a support studio, as they've done with iQue, or even task them with making new games again? It's not like their one stab at it - Scribblenauts Showdown - was really any good...

A bit random to be honest but who can even predict what Nintendo do.

In all seriousness, I wonder if Nintendo will end up poaching some of the talent inside Shiver Entertainment? Would that be a waste of money? 🤔

Anything that loosens Embracer's grasp on this industry is a W in my book

@Ulysses
Huh? Shiver is now a Nintendo studio, why "poach" Nintendo employees to work at...Nintendo?

Congrats Nintendo, Shiver Entertainment is a great addition to the Big N especially since that team also knows how to developed games for Switch and does it well. They had done great with Mortal Kombat 11 and Hogwarts Legacy on Switch, can't for what Nintendo had in store for them with Switch 2 and so on. The fact that Nintendo still let them work with other platforms as well means they will probably just be handling ports or multiplat like they had been doing until a main project is assign for them by Nintendo.

Can Nintendo also buy Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider so that the franchise will finally be in the hands of someone who'll treat it with respect?

@nessisonett Not random. It's a great strategy when you remember Nintendos hiring of Gio Corsi who was a PlayStation exec responsible for 3rd party relations. This acquisition goes hand in hand with that.

The statement about this acquisition reveals Shiver will still be able to do porting work for companies other than Nintendo.

So it wouldn't surprise me if this acquisition was to facilitate greater amounts of 3rd party ports to Switch 2 with Shiver on hand to offer to do the porting work on 3rd parties behalf making porting to Switch 2 less resource intensive and therefore more appealing for 3rd parties

If I remember correctly, when Iwata passed away, in one of the DICE events John Schappert handed a lifetime achievement award for him (I think Reggie received the award) and told an anecdote of him and Iwata to the crowd.

Shiver and Nintendo must've had a very good relationship.

@Liam_Doolan might be a good bit of info to include.

@SBandy1 maybe it will be like Dynamo Pictures(now know as Nintendo Pictures) despite be owned by Nintendo, they still worked on severals animation projects for others companies

Seems like a win win situation.

Don't have the budget to port your Triple A game to Switch 2? Nintendo could do it for you.

This is a pretty weird move. There's no chance Nintendo's putting their games on anything besides their hardware and mobile, and even then, they haven't put anything out on both. At the same time, if they're just going to leave them doing what they did before, there's not much reason to buy them. My most optimistic thought is that they could use them to make upgraded versions of Switch games for their next console, but so far there's a lot less reason to do that with the next generation than there was with this one.

@Zyph You're right! I found coverage from Polygon on the matter. Wonder if this means Nintendo bought Shiver in part because they saw it as a bit of a favor. They're apparently a very small team, or at least they were back when Saber Interactive acquired them in 2021 (just 17 employees), and they're kind of outside of Nintendo's usual wheelhouse when it comes to studios. They're clearly a valuable asset, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo hasn't forgotten Schappert's gesture and that ultimately helped make the acquisition happen, especially if they were on Embracer's chopping block. Back in the 90s, they acquired a majority stake in the Seattle Mariners for a similar reason - Yamauchi wanted to pay the city back for allowing Nintendo of America to set up shot in the Seattle area, and the Mariners were set to be moved elsewhere in the US unless a buyer was found.
https://www.polygon.com/2016/2/18/11058084/dice-honors-satoru-iwata-with-lifetime-achievement-award

Who here thinks the FTC might get involved. Nintendo really creating the portfolio.

Frye might have won the splatfest but Shiver still gets all the attention

@sixrings 17 whole employees at the last count! Clearly Nintendo is attempting to create a monopoly on the gaming industry at large, in addition to the sub-industries of video game porting, the US game industry, and the Florida game industry. If they buy another non-gaming company like Dynamo Pictures, it'll soon be clear - they'll want to own everything!

Why couldn't Nintendo have bought out AlphaDream before they were forced into bankruptcy? Would've been such a no-brainer, I don't get it.

Also--as I understand it, they can still publish multiplatform games. So, if Nintendo owns them, does that mean Nintendo will be profiting off PlayStation, Xbox, and PC game sales now in some small way?

Team might be small but their known for MEGA talent! They clearly have antiquate knowledge of the switch and I wouldn't be surprised they are in on the switch successor and might have done port work on the closed doors The Matrix demo and Breath of the Wild at higher resolution and rock solid 60fps. This is a massive win for Nintendo. They know real talent when they see it. This isn't about favors, this team deserves it and we will all reap the benefits!!! HYPE TRAIN FELL OF THE TRACKS!!!

Does this mean Nintendo will technically develop games for PlayStation and Xbox? Interesting

I bet Nintendo will make Shiver do more polishing work on the MK1 Switch port after this acquisition lol

This is BIG for Nintendo. As a fan I’m very proud of them.

Not putting much stock into the “multiple platforms” line…not really sure why everybody else is. Most likely means they’re still going to work on ports they’ve been commissioned to do already but once they’re completed they’ll work on Nintendo consoles exclusively. Why on earth would they continue to let them take port jobs to other platforms when Nintendo could have them spend their time working on games that directly benefit them

This is a very interesting acquisition, and one that seems quite forward looking given the amount of time it took ports to get to Switch. Having a dedicated studio "in-house" help these 3rd parties get ports on Nintendo's successor alongside other releases is quite a smart move.

The first order of business - getting GTA VI ported for a day and date release alongside the other versions. They've got about a year and half to do it. Best of luck team 🫡

@NintndoNik switch 2 wont be powerful enough to play gta 6 without major compromises

2 standout companies that have done incredible porting jobs are Night Dive (my favorite) and Panic Button. Can’t say I’ve heard of Shiver but I also haven’t played Mortal Kombat or Hogwarts so… there’s that.

I love the way Nintendo handles things like this, setting an example and all. So graceful.

I wonder if the strategy here is to approach 3rd party publishers and ask them to get their games on Switch, even offering to take on porting duties, in exchange for xx% cut of total sales. Could be interesting if this helps get more traction for devs that wouldn’t usually release games for Nintendo systems.

Elden Ring: Complete on Switch 2 should be their first project.

That’s for you @Spoonytech 😎

@ChromaticDracula Also Saber Interactive (World War Z, Witcher III), Acquire (Octopath Traveler I & II, Bravely Default), Shin'en (Fast RMX), Tribute Games (TMNT Shredder's Revenge, Mercenary Kings: Reloaded Edition, Panzer Paladdin), Arc System Works (Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, RWBY: Arrowfell, Persona 4: Arena Ultimax), DOTEMU (Streets of Rage 4, Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap HD), Virtuos (Dark Souls Remastered, BioShock Collection, L.A. Noire), Iron Galaxy (Skyrim, Metroid Prime Remastered), Toys For Bob (Crash N.Sane Trilogy, Crash 4, Spyro Re-Ignite Trilogy, Tony Hawk's 1 & 2 Remastered), ArtePiazza (Dragon Quest IV-VII, Romancing SaGa 2 & 3, Super Mario RPG), Engine Software (Ni no Kuni 1 & 2), Double Eleven Studios (Red Dead Redemption, Songbringer, Grounded) and Evening Star (Sonic Mania Plus, Penny's Big Breakaway) are all great dev for Switch as well. I would say WayForward (Shantae, The Mummy Demastered, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp) and Sonic Team (Sonic Forces, Sonic Frontier, Sonic Superstars) too but both had been disappointing as of late.

One other missing dev that would had also support the Nintendo Switch is Treyarch, they used to port the Call of Duty games to GameCube, Wii, and Wii U, had Call of Duty also comes to Switch, they would had been the main developer for porting those to Switch and Switch 2.

@PikaPhantom For the same reason Plaion chose Dambuster: the new Free Radical was all unproven freshman.

As a former part of Saber, Shiver has multiple pre-existing support contracts they still have to fulfill. Probably mostly Warner Bros.

Possibly

Unrelated. See: Bionic Commando for Game Boy

Support for Retro and NST. Possibly Next Level

Shiver already a purely support studio of about 20 people counting Accounting staff. I'm surprised they made Showdown at all, and I doubt they'd ever be allowed to lead a project unless they quadruple in size, and given how Nintendo let Retro bleed talent like crazy I doubt they would invest that heavier.

Shiver is just so small, but so specific in its abilities, and Lars is still... Desperate for positive cash flows that it was probably very quick and easy in Nintendo's part to negotiate terms that were very much in their favor. Plus, I'm sure Lars wouldn't have had it any other way. We've all seen the Archive. Getting to play a part in the story of Nintendo's 6th ever international team is probably enough for him... But he also REALLY needs the cash flow to pay off that Asmodee debt.

@Not_Soos Same reason they didn't buy Rare' talent bleed. Retro has always had the same problem, and were it not for the blackmail letting them get them for super cheap they would have just left Retro to sputter out and die otherwise. The only time Nintendo buys a studio outright is when want to make sure THAT SPECIFIC TEAM doesn't go anywhere or change at all. You know; the exact opposite reason Microsoft buys things. That's why the first thing Furakawa did was LOCK DOWN SRD and Next Level. To keep that specific combination of programmers and animators.

Alpha Dream was lost without its founder and spinning it's wheels on old ideas and what few new ideas the remaining staff had were Bowser's Minions. Apparently though, a lot of those new staff ended up at Monolithsoft. Same with when Vanpool closed down; they all just became HAL employees.

We still have no idea what happened with skip and Treasure though.

Can't say I'm impressed since Shiver's works (their ports) are just bad, but Nintendo likely wants the company for their technical knowledge; in this case, porting 3rd-party games to the Switch (and Switch 2) if nothing else.
Only time will tell if Shiver will get better or not on their job in the long run.

And while this isn't exactly a "loss" for Embracer, the less that awful company has the better imo.

@Zeebor15 Exactly, Nintendo cares about the people in the company, that's what they're buying. That's how they've always done things.

Well, that certainly came out of nowhere.

Since I've not played a Shiver game, I cannot talk about their quality, but whatever increases the number of devs working with Nintendo, the better. The fact they're not owned by Embracer anymore is a bonus.

@Anachronism Nah. It's more likely a move to get more 3rd party ports on Switch 2 by offering Shivers development resource to take on the porting work for companies who otherwise might not have considered a Switch port.

That's where Gio Corsis (Ex Playstation exec who was in charge of 3rd party relations) hiring fits in as he could use his connections to facilitate this arrangement.

Pretty neat how Nintendo's acquisitions are still like Yokoi being pulled off the toy line for a bigger purpose. They see potential and carefully invest in it, rather than them just chasing whatever studio has some big IPs at the moment.

@Zeebor15 Treasure was never part of Nintendo, they were always independent but one of the IP they work on (Sin and Punishment) is a Nintendo IP just like Sega and how Sega got Treasure to handle Dynamite Headdy, Gunstar Heroes, and that one Ronald McDonalds game. The only few IPs Treasure do own are Ikaruga, Guardian Heroes, and Radiant Silvergun.

@Scoopz That'd be a very considerate and smart move, though not a very Nintendo move. They've always kind of been off in their own little world. Anyone else is welcome to come visit, but they've never done much to actively draw third parties in. Could be you're right and they're just changing with the times, but either way it's still pretty out of character for them.

Wasn't MK1 terrible on Switch though? If only Saber Interactive had been for sale.

At the same time, Nintendo is underrated in their eye for talent in other studios. Rare was good but not amazing before DKC. Retro hadn't released a game before Metroid Prime. Game Freak had basically just made Pulseman.

They better make Frye and Big Man Studio next… /j

@Anachronism It's clear from their communications that they realise how they've managed the transition to new generations in the past has failed them so they understand the need to change what they've traditionally done before and proactively secure success. The hiring of an ex Sony 3rd party relations guy and a porting studio that will still take commissions from 3rd parties? It's a clear indicator of a new Nintendo that wants this next gen to be another winner.

Their strategy with Switch was first party games, indies and proven third party games. Looks like a sensible aquisition for the long term.

They likely want to have dedicated porting studios so their core studios are free to work on new games.

It's hard to get excited over this acquisition especially as there's no IP to bring with it, it just means more ports on a system that's already full of ports.

Come on Nintendo, buy Level 5 already.

Here is to a great cooperation!

@PikaPhantom Shiver probably has contracts for games on other platforms and Nintendo is just letting them finish their work. After they fulfil the contracts I wouldn't expect them to be developing games on non-Nintendo platforms.

Agree they definitely should have bought out Alpha Dream@Not_Soos

@Thomystic MK1 had issues at launch (publisher deadline), but was patched up quickly. It's no worse than MK11 which people said was a good port.

Embracer group are a bunch if morons 🙄, buy up as much as you can then struggle to pay off the debt then sell off assets, same nonsense Atari(formerly infograms) did. Idk what affect this acquisition will have but probably to secure access to more 3rd party ports.

I also don't get why Nintendo didn't buy Alpha dream or why they didn't buy Argonaut games back in the 90s.

Mortal Kombat 1 you say?

PS: Apparently there have been improvements.

@Scoopz To be fair, a big reason the Wii U got off to a rocky start was because of an overreliance on third party games. Considering the shortage of major Wii releases in its last couple years, it's really baffling how long it took its successor to build up a decent first party library. As long as they're competing against more powerful hardware, their success will always rely on their own games more than anything else.

Seems to me that going forward we will be seeing all the big sports games like Madden, EA Sports FC, NHL and maybe even F1 coming to Switch 2. I can’t wait to play NHL and Madden on a portable console.

Always a great day when Nintendo buys a company, not something that they usually do.
Let's see what they have in store for Shiver.

I think a team of specialists who know exactly how modern AAA games are working under the hood (& have the tricks to make it seem like these are happening with more modest hardware) is not a bad buy at all.

In theory they could do just about any job - even if porting 3rd party games to Switch is most likely.

Not going to lie, I originally mixed this up with the horror streaming platform "shudder" and got very confused.
This is still unexpected but not quite as left field as I first thought...

It says their focus will remain the same, porting games to multiple platforms. So does that mean they won't be focusing on Nintendo?

I know the MK 1 port sucked. Didn't read much great about Hogwart's Legacy either. Seems like an odd purchase.

@CutchuSlow multiple platforms could also mean multiple Nintendo platforms, not strictly rival platforms.

I wonder what Frye and Big Man have to say about this, Lol jk.

I’m not gonna fault them for the MK1 port, or Hogwarts in case there’s any roughness (I think it looks ok but I haven’t played it). I’ll just chalk that up to WB being cheap cash grabbing goobers, pardon my French, and giving out rushed deadlines. But I think Nintendo is bolstering their in-house porting capabilities for the next system, and this may be the first of a handful of studios/teams that will fill out those porting duties.

I'm actually surprised this is only the second studio they'll own in the states after Retro.
I don't think this has necessarily anything to do with ports, but i fear Nintendo will prefer doing remasters of the gamecube titles, rather than putting them inside a new NSO tier. More money to be made and they've almost ran out of WiiU titles to port.

@Anachronism You've gotta remember in the Wii and Wii U era Nintendos development resources were split between supporting two hardware platforms. Wii and DS and Wii U and 3DS. 3DS launched the year before Wii U and its pricing gave it a rocky start meaning Nintendo had to turn its fortunes around with killer software whilst also simultaneously preparing for the launch of Wii U.

The fact that after that experience Nintendo consolidated their development resource behind one platform shows us that internally they viewed the split resources as a significant factor in their previous misfortune.

Switch showed their thinking was right and was the 1st sign of a Nintendo willing to restructure and reallocate development resource in order to support a successful generation. So they're not as rigid as they were in the past.

Another sign of that is that by all accounts the next console is an iterative update instead of them throwing everything out and starting again centred around a USP. Their new CEO whilst less quirky and endearing than Iwata is more grounded and sensible in terms of business acumen.

It's not more powerful hardware and a sole reliance on 1st party that'll see them find success. Switch their most successful era ever proved that. It's a combination of presenting a great value proposition, (and marketing that effectively) having great exclusives, whilst also garnering a great level of 3rd party support.

Could want to implement some of Shiver’s porting work into their dev kits. Multiple uses for acquiring this company for Nintendo, especially with their porting track record.

@Serpenterror This list is awesome! I don't think I realized there were so many other studios behind some of these ports. Like, for example, I thought CDPR ported Witcher 3 to Switch. OK, I'm honestly motivated to edit my comment above because some of these studios deserve more credit. Thanks for the enlightening!

@Serpenterror I was using Treasure as an example of how Nintendo prefers to head hunt rather than buy companies wholesale

@Scoopz They'd been supporting two platforms for decades at that point with runaway success. The 3DS and Wii U both floundered out the gate because they tried to use third party support to make up for a poor first party lineup, though the 3DS at least caught itself pretty quickly and performed well enough to justify 5(?) hardware revisions. If anything, I'd say the reasons they combined their home and portable console branches were A) because they fumbled the Wii U in particular so badly (in terms of marketing, games, and the gamepad losing any sense of novelty with the rise of tablets) that they needed a win, and B) because technology finally got to the point where a portable system can play nearly any kind of game that a home console can.

Remember the Switch itself had a pretty meager launch lineup. The only thing that kept it in the spotlight for its first few months was the massive size of (and massive marketing push behind) Breath of the Wild. Having Skyrim in the Switch's announcement trailer certainly helped to sell the idea that it would be better supported than previous hardware, but even that didn't make it until half a year after launch. Looking at it now, the Switch still gets only a fraction of major multiplatform releases, and almost none of the AAA game of the year contenders you see on every other platform, and yet Nintendo's making more money than ever. The booming indie gaming industry has assured that even a moderately successful platform never has to worry about a shortage of games, so all Nintendo has to do is make sure their exclusives are high enough quality to get people on their platform in the first place.

As for the Switch 2 rumors, I won't be surprised if we end up with just a better version of the Switch, since that's more or less what we got with the Game Boy and DS families. But I absolutely do not want them to just focus on processing power. The point I was making is that they can't win a computational arms race with Sony or Microsoft, so they'll never be able to draw third parties in the same way. Even if their next console is mostly just an iteration on the Switch, I'll be disappointed if they don't throw one or two weird gimmicks in there for flavor. In my experience, Nintendo's always at their most fun when they're being a little weird. The day they start conforming to the sensibilities of the rest of the industry and stop walking to the beat of their own drum is the day they lose their most valuable asset.

While other companies acquire studios to kill the competition (and also the studio itself), the situation here seems harmless for both sides. Hopefully...

They need to port Jedi fallen order to switch 2.

@masterLEON This reminds me of like how PlayStation bought Nixxes for their ports to PC. Likewise, Nintendo is doing the same with Shiver for them to port 3rd party games to Switch.