They should expand their first party studios.

More games for their platform = more platform sales = more software sales for anyone making games on the platform = more third parties on the platform = more platform sales = more software sales for anyone making games on the platform.

I'm surprised that console makers don't do it more often.

I actually came here to say exactly this TBH.

I think an acquisition of Next Level Games is pretty likely especially if Luigi's Manson 3 sells and reviews great.

Hell back in 2014, they said they are only doing Nintendo projects from now on.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/01/next_level_games_doing_only_nintendo_products_now

Nintendo at this point might as well just seal the deal and buy them out.

I really think they should; acquiring Monolith Soft (and Retro back when they used to actually make games) paid off well for them.

You need quality games to fill the gaps between big EPD releases, otherwise you end up with game droughts that kill hardware sales momentum.

With MS and Sony hoovering up studios left and right, Nintendo would be wise to get in on the action. I'd love to see them bag Platinum, Shin'en, and Playtonic personally. I think it'd be great for them to grab a high quality porting house like QLOC or Panic Button to help maintain a flow of third party games to Switch.

Shin'en Multimedia

Next Level Games

I could see these 2 being acquired even though they basically work exclusively with Nintendo already just to ensure that they can't be taken away, similarly to why I think Sony finally acquired Insomniac recently, to make sure they don't risk not getting Spider-Man 2 in case anyone else buys them during this whole dev buying spree.

Platinum Games - I don't necessarily want to see PG get acquired by anyone, but should it ever happen Nintendo is definitely the best fit for them and gains the most from it. They're the most frequent collaborator with them and seem to have a great relationship, and while Sony and Microsoft usually get these types of games because they have full third party support, Nintendo doesn't so it works out for both of them. PG, whose games more often than not don't sell too well, gets secured funding to make whatever they want and Nintendo can continue to fill a crucial gap missing in their library.

I kind of think what they are doing now is working pretty well for them. For a long time I thought Nintendo's biggest first party holes were shooters and RPG's. But now they have Splatoon, and a mainline Pokemon game is about to be released for a home console for the first time. They basically have all of the major bases covered now.

On top of that, they do a good job of reducing software droughts by partnering with other companies to use their IP. Mario + Rabbids and Hyrule Warriors are good examples of that. If anything they could do more partnerships with third party companies like this, but I don't think they need to buy any more studios.

Studios that almost or entirely exclusively work with Nintendo like Next Level Games, Shin'en, Grezzo, and AlphaDream are no brainers.

I also think Level 5 and Platinum Games would be great acquisitions. With Level 5, Yokai Watch and Professor Layton might as well be 1st party Nintendo franchises given how those franchises have appeared exclusively on Nintendo systems to the best of my knowledge. Inazuma Eleven is also very Nintendo heavy. The big one hear that would be a shocker would be Ni no Kuni. That'd be a tough pill for PlayStation and PC fans to swallow, but it'd be a good gain for Nintendo and that's the point. As for Platinum Games, if there was one company that would make the most sense for Platinum to be bought by, it's Nintendo. They have a very strong and healthy working relationship already, the strongest one Platinum has at the moment, Square Enix being not too far behind. Bayonetta is essentially a non-official Nintendo franchise at this point. She's almost on the same level as Samus in terms of strong female characters on Nintendo. Plus, if it means more off the wall, compelling stuff like Wonderful 101 and Astral Chain, I'm all for it.

And that's it in terms of acquisitions that I can think of. Outside of that, I think the best approach would be to grow and expand upon the studios they already have.

Sega also has: Endless Space, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Phantasy Star, Bayonetta.. And saw some big success with Yakuza and Shenmue... But they are making a hard focus on the PC market now as that is where they are seeing the greatest profit growth.

Other companies are seeing similar like Capcom and Square.

Grezzo and Next Level games are already affiliates, so they are already as close as possible to being subsidiaries without actually being ones.

Shin'en and Platinum however would be pretty good fits in my opinion. However, becoming a subsidiary might clash with the studio's philosophy to create new, original IPs, and not sure if the owners of either company would want such a deal unless it would be lifesaver.

MercurySteam could be a good purchase. They seem enthusiastic about the idea of working on Nintendo IPs, they do nice work when they have a good game designer overseeing their projects and they haven't really done anything exceptional on their own so they'd probably be cheap.