By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
CaptainExplosion on 05 November 2025
Wyrdness said:
VersusEvil said:

So with Nintendo announcing they’re gonna buy studios I’d imagine a safe bet on who would be studios they have a good relationship with like HAL, Good Feel, Int Systems. Possibly a risky purchase (given their current condition) maybe Platinum Games. I would love them to buy Game Freak and get some quality control on the Pokemon franchise but I wouldn’t be surprise if somehow they legally can’t.

PG are the obvious targets tbh as they've been in collaboration with Nintendo since the Wii, they make a type of game Nintendo doesn't have an in house equivalent for as well as utilize a gameplay/mechanics first approach, it may be nothing but Astral Chain had Nintendo staff actively working on it with three of the lead design team being Nintendo employees. Often such a move is to nurture talent that specializes in that field I can see PG just being acquired or a Retro Studios like scenario where some PG staff leave to form a first party studio (Original members of Retro were originally the Turok Team aka Iguana).

That explains why Metroid Prime turned out as good as it did.



Around the Network
curl-6 on 05 November 2025

Dinkum, a totally accurate depiction of life in Australia, is out today on Switch



firebush03 on 05 November 2025

Kinda on the topic of acquisitions: Playtonic and Nintendo need to work on a project together. While Yooka Laylee is a fine game, I do strongly believe Nintendo can take these devs to the next level. There’s a lot of potential in that studio… and no, I wouldn’t want Nintendo to acquire them. At most, treat as a second party partner: I’d prefer Playtonic stay independent.



KLXVER on 05 November 2025
firebush03 said:

Kinda on the topic of acquisitions: Playtonic and Nintendo need to work on a project together. While Yooka Laylee is a fine game, I do strongly believe Nintendo can take these devs to the next level. There’s a lot of potential in that studio… and no, I wouldn’t want Nintendo to acquire them. At most, treat as a second party partner: I’d prefer Playtonic stay independent.

I would love to see them do a new 2D Donkey Kong game. Yooka-Laylee An The Impossible Lair is probably the best DKC "knock-off" Ive ever played.



firebush03 on 05 November 2025

Okay… so I think I’ve just connected some dots.

During the Switch generation, we saw Nintendo work extensively with second party studios on “smaller” titles; e.g. Mercury working on Metroid Samus Returns & Dread, Next Level Games working on Luigi’s Mansion 3, Grezzo working on Link’s Awakening & EoW, IS working on Paper Mario TTYD.

Now, Nintendo has been open in their intention to expand developer headcount in preparation for the ensuing Switch 2 technical leap. But how could Nintendo possibly bring in such a large number of competent devs to fill these new office spaces? The answer: Look for smaller studios. -> If the studio looks promising, then assign them a remaster/remake project (in order to help devs understand how Nintendo makes their games). -> After they’ve learned from the remake, shift focus to an entirely original mainline entry. -> If all goes well, acquire them.

That said: if this theory holds, then Mercury and Grezzo could be joining Nintendo soon, just as NLG had in 2021 following the success of LM3. Camelot and IS are also good candidates, the latter having been involved with Nintendo for several decades at this point.



Around the Network
curl-6 on 05 November 2025
KLXVER said:
firebush03 said:

Kinda on the topic of acquisitions: Playtonic and Nintendo need to work on a project together. While Yooka Laylee is a fine game, I do strongly believe Nintendo can take these devs to the next level. There’s a lot of potential in that studio… and no, I wouldn’t want Nintendo to acquire them. At most, treat as a second party partner: I’d prefer Playtonic stay independent.

I would love to see them do a new 2D Donkey Kong game. Yooka-Laylee An The Impossible Lair is probably the best DKC "knock-off" Ive ever played.

Seconding this, Impossible Lair was fantastic and a new DK by the team would be a dream come true.



CaptainExplosion on 05 November 2025
KLXVER said:
firebush03 said:

Kinda on the topic of acquisitions: Playtonic and Nintendo need to work on a project together. While Yooka Laylee is a fine game, I do strongly believe Nintendo can take these devs to the next level. There’s a lot of potential in that studio… and no, I wouldn’t want Nintendo to acquire them. At most, treat as a second party partner: I’d prefer Playtonic stay independent.

I would love to see them do a new 2D Donkey Kong game. Yooka-Laylee An The Impossible Lair is probably the best DKC "knock-off" Ive ever played.

As long as they wholly acquire the company and not take it for granted like they did Rare.

Although being independent has given Playtonic a broader audience than Rare had with Nintendo, but Nintendo gave them a BIGGER audience.



curl-6 on 06 November 2025

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is out on Switch 2 on December 4th:

Last edited by curl-6 - on 06 November 2025

firebush03 on 06 November 2025
curl-6 said:

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is out on Switch 2 on December 4th:

Full game on cart— love to see it! Unfortunately, this is a game I’ll have to skip. Backlog is way too big, plus I wanna tap into some retro games I’ve never played. (Did you know? I’ve only beaten three N64 games total: Mario 64, Zelda Majora’s Mask, and Banjo Kazooie. And only three SNES games: SMWorld1+2 and SMRPG.)



firebush03 on 07 November 2025

Granted, this isn’t the first time hearing this from Nintendo higher ups in recent times, it still is a tad bit concerning…