Nintendo confirms the purchase of Next Level Games, the Canadian developer responsible for several games from Luigi’s Mansion, Punch Out and Metroid Prime.
First hit on the Nintendo table in 2021. The Japanese company has just announced that it is acquiring 100% of Next Level Games, a Canadian developer with whom they had been collaborating since 2005, when both worked together on Super Mario Strikers for Gamecube. Since then, the two have crossed paths in the sequel to that one, Mario Strikers Charged Football (Wii, 2006), in Punch-Out! (Wii, 2009), Metroid Prime: Federation Force (Nintendo 3DS, 2016) and the Luigi’s Mansion saga, of which Next Level Games has made its last two installments: Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon (Nintendo 3DS, 2016) and Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Nintendo Switch, 2019). No figures have been given, but the purchase is expected to become effective on March 1, 2021, when it is approved by shareholders and the Canadian Investment Law.
Along with Game Freak (Pokémon saga), Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem, Paper Mario) or Camelot Software (Golden Sun, Mario Tennis), Next Level Games was one of the most important names among Nintendo’s second party developers. The Japanese giant is used to working like this, with agreements that respect the autonomy of its collaborators, having to go back many years to remember a case of similar acquisition. For example, the purchases that come to mind, Monolith Soft (Xenoblade) and Retro Studios (Metroid Prime), date from 2007 and 2002 respectively.
This is the brief statement issued by Nintendo about the acquisition, where it ensures that the owners of Next Level Games were looking for who to sell to and had been exploring possible transactions for some time. Nintendo guarantees the continuity of the study and ensures that from now on they will have their support and experience, thereby anticipating an improvement in the quality and development times of Next Level Games.
