So uh who should Nintendo buy?

[Bryon15]

With Sony and Microsoft snatching up companies left and right, how will Nintendo respond? They're losing third party support. It's obvious what Microsoft and Sony are trying to do. I'm sure Nintendo sees it. Should they also purchase a big company to get more exclusives and stay relevant? Capcom or Sega would be good choices. So would bandai namco.

 

[Dead2009]

Possibly Sega, they're still well known but I dont think their purchase would be on the level of Activision or Bungie.

 

[linuxares]

They should acquire no one.
But if they must, Platinum Games and if they haven't already Hal Labratories.

 

[AmandaRose]

They don't need to buy anyone as people buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games. You only need to look at the list of the top ten selling switch games since the console launched and every one of them is by Nintendo.

 

[AmandaRose]

They should acquire no one.
But if they must, Platinum Games and if they haven't already Hal Labratories.

Pretty sure Nintendo owns at least a large part of Hal. Especially since Hal are now working out of Nintendo's building in Tokyo.

 

[djpannda]

They should acquire no one.
But if they must, Platinum Games and if they haven't already Hal Labratories.

well the issue with Hal is a bit different....Nintendo doesn't OWN HAL but kinda does... Nintendo owns half of Kirby.. almost all the games they make are Nintendo games ( expect some mobile) and Hal's headquarters is in a Nintendo Building.

Platinum games seems to be a great choice though.....
not all Platinum games have been hits but almost all have brought a different and uniqueness view..which would fit with Nintendo style ( and maybe good for Big N to have a Studio that can focus on "mature" games)

Pretty sure Nintendo owns at least a large part of Hal. Especially since Hal are now working out of Nintendo's building in Tokyo.

ahh beat me to it

 

[Harsky]

I personally think the money they spend on acquiring a new company should be spent on actually recruiting more coders or form an entirely new internal development team to try and see if they can revive some of their older IPs or inject fresh ideas into an existing property. Nintendo buying Sega would wouldn't instantly mean sequels to Dreamcast titles the next day if they don't have the resources to do so.

 

[linuxares]

Heck Retro Games would be a good fit for them

 

[Caleck]

Fuck it, Nintendo should buy Valve

I'm a sucker for pure, unbridled bedlam

 

[City]

I liked when Nintendo helped some companies push their games outside Japan. They should do that again, but this time acquire everyone.

 

[CoolMe]

Atlus. And i'm not saying they "should" or "will" do it (Sega is Great choice too).

 

[Lacius]

Heck Retro Games would be a good fit for them

I was going to say the same thing.

 

[yuyuyup]

Apple should buy Nintendo, and then some large bank should buy Apple, and then some hedge fund should destroy it all and buy a man-made island in dubai

 

[M7L7NK7]

Late 90's Rare

 

[The Real Jdbye]

With Sony and Microsoft snatching up companies left and right, how will Nintendo respond? They're losing third party support. It's obvious what Microsoft and Sony are trying to do. I'm sure Nintendo sees it. Should they also purchase a big company to get more exclusives and stay relevant? Capcom or Sega would be good choices. So would bandai namco.

They should buy Rare and tell them to make good games again. Microsoft has completely squandered their IP.

 

[Taleweaver]

You all know it:

They should buy valve.

/thread

 

[Axido]

There's no need for Nintendo to buy anyone... but it would be good if they owned significantly more of Gamefreak. If GF was a complete first-party dev (instead of those pseudo-first-party shenanigans that are going on), they might eventually polish their games to the point where there's not much room for criticism. Looking at you, Arceus.

 

[FAST6191]

So Nintendo's failings are third party support (how much of that is engines I don't know. I don't think they are as censor happy as they once were, and don't have the market share to command much like it was back on the NES/SNES), network code, stagnation in their first party efforts (possibly even being at the point of the everything and the kitchen sink approach making things bland vs prior efforts), emulation maybe (it is not good but how big an issue that is varies).

Buying things in can probably only solve the network code issue.

People saying buy Atlus (which are a division of Sega these days) then ignoring that Atlus has not been Atlus for a while now (that which made them beloved back in the day they have not really done) so would probably be better to look at one of the other "we bring somewhat niche Japanese games over" companies like NIS or Idea Factory/Compile Heart. That said the underlying idea is great -- set up almost a loss making effort (if you are otherwise burning billions that will amount to nothing in the long run) to translate basically everything they can find, possibly including ROM hacking old Japanese games and vice versa. Peak Atlus had more genuine good will from the gaming masses than any other company I can really think of.
I don't know how many additional consoles it would sell but the attach rate would go through the roof, and after the Wii they are probably a bit sensitive about that one.

I personally think the money they spend on acquiring a new company should be spent on actually recruiting more coders or form an entirely new internal development team to try and see if they can revive some of their older IPs or inject fresh ideas into an existing property. Nintendo buying Sega would wouldn't instantly mean sequels to Dreamcast titles the next day if they don't have the resources to do so.

Acquiring a new company can be a cheaper means of doing that. New coders are available but they are desired by everything from tech for tech's sake, financial firms, insurance companies, local councils and everything in between.
Trying to assemble that piecemeal, never mind having it such that they all reasonably get along, can be quite the time consuming and expensive operation.

There's no need for Nintendo to buy anyone... but it would be good if they owned significantly more of Gamefreak. If GF was a complete first-party dev (instead of those pseudo-first-party shenanigans that are going on), they might eventually polish their games to the point where there's not much room for criticism. Looking at you, Arceus.

Good luck there. Merchandise is the biggest draw there by... several times. As long as the games keep it vaguely fresh in the minds of the kids ( https://moneyinc.com/pokemon-franchise/ ).

 

[hippy dave]

Shame it's too late to buy Hudson Soft we probably don't need the whole of Konami.

Right now I wouldn't be adverse to Mercury Steam, they made a solid impression with Metroid Dread.

Sega would be nice, especially the M2 division (if that's the right name), with the emulation expertise. Might be a good time as they just sold off their arcade division.

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Intelligent Systems.

Whilst they're 2nd party Nintendo devs this whole situ smacks of Rare and someone will poach them at some point. Their games have that Nintendo feel down pat. Check out Pushmo series and tell if that wasn't reskinned with Mario and co it wouldn't have done huge numbers. Just goes to show the power of a strong IP when it comes to pushing a title as I think about 5 people played those games.

Odd to think they created the awesome Paper Mario and then went and ruined the whole franchise with recent sequels. Apparently that was due to Miyamotos influence though. N should buy them and give them a blank check to let their creativity roam free as it would generate some interesting stuff.

Aside from that, buy Sega. Dreamcast Virtual Console = "It prints even more money!" and we'd finally get a good Sonic game with Ns oversight and Segas zaniness.

Truthfully they don't need to buy anyone. They make their own games and they're great at it but a bit of innovation/fresh thinking really would invigorate them immensely.