Today, Nintendo has announced that they have agreed to terms to acquire Next Level Games, the developer behind Luigi’s Mansion 3, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and more. Next Level Games has made games for other platforms such as PlayStation and Xbox but in 2014, the developer announced that it would work exclusively with Nintendo developing software titles for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch. This is the first time since 2007 that Nintendo has acquired a studio. Next Level Games will be Nintendo’s second studio that they own in North America alongside Retro Studios.
Next Level Games is based in Vancouver, Canada with nearly two decades of experience developing games for various consoles. Before working exclusively with Nintendo, Next Level Games developed NHL Hitz Pro, Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Ticket to Ride, Jungle Speed, Punch-Out!!, Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!!, Transformers: Cybertron Adventures, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, and Captain America: Super Soldier.
Talking about the acquisition, Nintendo said “Completion of the acquisition will serve to secure the availability of NLG development resources for Nintendo, including development expertise, as well as facilitate an anticipated improvement in development speed and quality by enabling closer communication and exchange of staff with the Nintendo development team.”
The reason for the acquisition came from Next Level Games as “a number of owner-directors recently determined that the time is right for them to sell their shares, and NLG therefore began exploring potential sale transactions.” Working with Nintendo before over the years and then exclusively starting in 2014 probably made this acquisition very easy for both parties.
Nintendo’s acquisition of Next Level Games is expected to be completed on March 1, 2021. They also noted that this will have only minor effects on Nintendo’s results for this fiscal year. Nintendo will start reflecting the earnings forecasts with respect to NLG for the next fiscal year and thereafter.