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Nintendo acquiring Shiver Entertainment, Switch porting studio

Woopah

Member
Nintendo has finally realised that their future is off their own hardware /s

On a more serious note it is good to see some more action from Nintendo's first party software investment fund, even if this was not a move I was expecting. Perhaps they want help making some of their Switch 2 games cross gen?

The folks at Shiver are probably over the moon about this, considering the likely alternative. To my knowledge (reinforced by some quick Google research), Nintendo has never closed or even had any major layoffs at a fully acquired subsidiary.
They have at layoffs in the localisation and marketing departments, but not development really.

The closest thing they've had to a studio closure in recent years was when they shut Project Sora. But that was a weird team that apparently was only formed for one game.
 

Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
Xenoblade Chronicles X port confirmed.
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BlackTron

Gold Member
So third parties would let Nintendo port games for them? I mean if it came with a good fee Nintendo has secured a good developers that knows how to port software efficiently, but how many third parties would use it? Companies sometimes are weird with what they can and cannot control…

Switch 1 would probably have had even more ports if such a resource existed, even if many of the games we got wouldn't have used it.

Of course I'm not sure what their real intention is here but last gen Nintendo also did many ports internally. There are many ways they can be kept busy before letting our imaginations go crazy.
 

SaintALia

Member
How bizarre. The studio doesn't seem to be one of those 'special' Nintendo partners(ones they've worked with personally over years on projects) and will continue to do the same thing they've been doing.

I'm guessing Nintendo must have gotten them super cheap, realise they need to get more studios that can port under their arm, as well as realising that the studio needs to be free to port other titles to various platforms as well. And maybe they might have other plans for them.
 
Good on nintendo picking up a support studio if there's anyone that can port a game to there console/handheld will be this studio kinda similar to Sony buying nixxes that deals with ports to pc
 

Hardensoul

Member
How bizarre. The studio doesn't seem to be one of those 'special' Nintendo partners(ones they've worked with personally over years on projects) and will continue to do the same thing they've been doing.

I'm guessing Nintendo must have gotten them super cheap, realise they need to get more studios that can port under their arm, as well as realising that the studio needs to be free to port other titles to various platforms as well. And maybe they might have other plans for them.
This is more options to entice 3rd parties to port to Switch more importantly Switch 2. Shiver is that studio to port. IMO

Once existing Shiver contracts are done. Shiver will be to busy and would exclusively porting to Nintendo consoles.
 
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Woopah

Member
Switch 1 would probably have had even more ports if such a resource existed, even if many of the games we got wouldn't have used it.

Of course I'm not sure what their real intention is here but last gen Nintendo also did many ports internally. There are many ways they can be kept busy before letting our imaginations go crazy.
How bizarre. The studio doesn't seem to be one of those 'special' Nintendo partners(ones they've worked with personally over years on projects) and will continue to do the same thing they've been doing.

I'm guessing Nintendo must have gotten them super cheap, realise they need to get more studios that can port under their arm, as well as realising that the studio needs to be free to port other titles to various platforms as well. And maybe they might have other plans for them.
I think Nintendo realised that having these specialist studios around is beneficial to their business. So they stepped in to save this one before Embracer could shut them down.
 

Tams

Member
This is almost certainly to directly port third-party games to Nintendo consoles and to offer assistance to third-parties to port games to Nintendo consoles.

With indie/small developers, this would often be the difference between there being a port or not as otherwise they might not have the resources. For larger developers and publishers, it would be more of a bargaining chip.
 

CamHostage

Member
So third parties would let Nintendo port games for them? I mean if it came with a good fee Nintendo has secured a good developers that knows how to port software efficiently, but how many third parties would use it? Companies sometimes are weird with what they can and cannot control…

Yeah, doesn't make clear sense to me. (That said, there are ways this could work out or reasons why it makes financial sense, a few of which have been mentioned above. )

if a studio wants to bring its games to Switch, great, but there are companies you can get to help do this, you don't just call up Nintendo. And Nintendo doesn't usually call up studios and say, "Hey, you know what would be great on our platform is your game, can we get that done for you? " (Console makers do talk with publishers, but it's more an economic chat than a technical one.)

This would be an unusual arrangement, and especially with Switch 2 rearranging the capability levels as well as also potentially podiuming which platform dominates the gen, its also not as necessary as with Switch 1 "miracle ports".

Sony bought a porting studio too, but that job had pretty much been for porting their own PS games to PC.
 
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Tams

Member
Yeah, doesn't make clear sense to me. (That said, there are ways this could work out or reasons why it makes financial sense, a few of which have been mentioned above. )

if a studio wants to bring its games to Switch, great, but there are companies you can get to help do this, you don't just call up Nintendo. And Nintendo doesn't usually call up studios and say, "Hey, you know what would be great on our platform is your game, can we get that done for you? " (Console makers do talk with publishers, but it's more an economic chat than a technical one.)

This would be an unusual arrangement, and especially with Switch 2 rearranging the capability levels as well as also potentially podiuming which platform dominates the gen, its also not as necessary as with Switch 1 "miracle ports".

Sony bought a porting studio too, but that job had pretty much been for porting their own PS games to PC.

Those porting companies add another party that needs to make a profit, and clearly, not many use their services.

By having an in-house team, for either porting help or the full works (I assume with respective revenue shares), there are only two parties, maybe three parties if there's a separate publisher.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
This is almost certainly to directly port third-party games to Nintendo consoles and to offer assistance to third-parties to port games to Nintendo consoles.

With indie/small developers, this would often be the difference between there being a port or not as otherwise they might not have the resources. For larger developers and publishers, it would be more of a bargaining chip.

That’s what the press release says. Good move for Nintendo to have more control over the ported software with a dedicated in-house team.
 

DKPOWPOW

Member
I wonder if they bought this studio because Tantalus has been busy?

Or perhaps it's for Switch 2's BC (bit late for that though).

Helping fund 3rd party ports seems a bit of a stretch to be honest.

Maybe GameCube will finally get it's time to shine on NSO?

Who am I kidding? That's money on the table, they can remaster the whole damn library and make billions.
 

Gambit2483

Member
I wonder if they bought this studio because Tantalus has been busy?

Or perhaps it's for Switch 2's BC (bit late for that though).

Helping fund 3rd party ports seems a bit of a stretch to be honest.

Maybe GameCube will finally get it's time to shine on NSO?

Who am I kidding? That's money on the table, they can remaster the whole damn library and make billions.
They bought them as a porthouse. Most likely a porthouse for PS4 level ports. Heck they might even squeeze out some PS5 level ports
 

bigdad2007

Member
This lines up with the rumors that while the Switch 2 architecture is different enough from Switch 1 that it will require individual game patches for BC.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
They bought them as a porthouse. Most likely a porthouse for PS4 level ports. Heck they might even squeeze out some PS5 level ports
If Senua's Saga without a dedicated OS and translating from windows instructions can run on Steam Deck, Switch 2 will definitely get lots of PS5 games in my opinion... I think that studio is being bought to give technical support to other studios
 

Woopah

Member
I wonder if they bought this studio because Tantalus has been busy?

Or perhaps it's for Switch 2's BC (bit late for that though).

Helping fund 3rd party ports seems a bit of a stretch to be honest.

Maybe GameCube will finally get it's time to shine on NSO?

Who am I kidding? That's money on the table, they can remaster the whole damn library and make billions.
If GameCube comes to NSO, I think it will be done by NERD.

I don't think Nintendo was looking for a poorhouse, but they wanted to prevent this porthouse from being closed.
 
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