Nintendo buys studio to bring more outside games to next Switch

NINTENDO has acquired Miami-based Shiver Entertainment to help bring more games from outside developers to its next-generation Switch platform.

The 11-year-old studio focuses on adapting video games developed for one platform to others, called porting, and did so successfully with Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 for the current Switch console. Nintendo “aims to secure high-level resources for porting and developing software titles”, the Kyoto-based company said on Tuesday (May 21).

The move signals greater interest from Nintendo to bring in content to bolster the offerings from its in-house creative studios, after decades of relying mostly on its own software to drive console sales. The company signed a 10-year pact with Microsoft last year to ensure the Call of Duty series will be on Switch platforms for the foreseeable future. The Shiver deal may also be a measure to address existing and future performance gaps with rival consoles.

“Nintendo’s next-generation machine is expected to be less powerful than the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, thus the purchase now is to expand the company’s support for outside developers when making high-end games for the new platform,” Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said. “Shiver Entertainment did a beautiful job in porting Hogwarts Legacy to Switch.”

A successor to the Nintendo Switch will be fully announced by March, the company said at its most recent earnings report, with the next-generation device not expected to go on sale until next year. BLOOMBERG