| Viper1 said:
Nintendeo owned 49% of Rare which was a controlling share. That made them first party, not 3rd party or, colloquially, 2nd party. Nintendo doesn't fully own GAme Freak, who make the Pokemon games. Would you then say that Pokemon is not first party? |
Pokemon is technically a 2nd party game (Colloquially), but a 1st party IP.
Controlling share doesn't matter. What matters is full ownership, a.k.a. acquisition (as far as the definition goes).
First-party developer
In the video game industry, a first-party developer is a developer that is part of a company that manufactures a video game console, and develops exclusively for it.
-> First-party developers may either use the name of the company itself (like Nintendo), have a specific division name (like Sony's Polyphony Digital), or have formerly been an independent studio before being acquired by the console manufacturer, such as Rare or Naughty Dog.[1]
(happyD note: in this occurence the mention of Rare relating to its acquisition by Microsoft, not Nintendo, as that never happened)
Sorry to be pedantic, but sometimes Viper it's necessary.
