Nintendo Plan Aquisitions

[JasonLD]

Is it going to be related to N5? or DS? As far as partnerships go, Nintendo got what they need with IBM and ATI.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

The 1-UP article:

Nintendo has recently established a special fund with an eye towards mergers and acquisitions, Japanese business publication Toyou Keizai Shinpousha reports. While the exact amount of money set aside isn't clear, it's dedicated to the potential acquisition of other companies.
The fund is reportedly to be directed towards acquiring technological resources that Nintendo doesn't yet possess. Other companies with more diverse holdings, like Sony, have been able to develop and manufacture hardware technologies in-house in this generation, or through partnerships with other companies. Nintendo, by comparison, relied on IBM and ATI for the primary components of the GameCube, so Toyou Keizai proposes that Nintendo may be looking to expand its in-house hardware development capability.

Nintendo has also been reaching out to more independent developers of late, however -- Kuju Entertainment, N-Space, and others -- so expanding its internal software development effort could be a priority as well, in the face of its plans to debut a third hardware platform at the end of this year.

Nintendo has considerable amounts of cash on hand. Even after adjusting its expectations downward, it still expects to turn a profit of more than $300 million for the recently-concluded fiscal year, which is a drop in the bucket of approximately $6.2 billion in liquid assets listed in its September 30, 2003 financial report. It would take a fairly significant shopping spree to put a dent in Nintendo's war chest.

http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1562480,00.asp

 

[Sonic]

You know Clashman I really never thought about the sports games that SEGA offers as being a benefit to Nintendo. But you are right, that would be quite an added bonus. Overall though I think it would be a bad idea for Nintendo as that would probably end up scaring all 3rd parties away unless Nintendo became the #1 console company again.

 

[Magnum PI]

which technology could nintendo want to acquire ?

which company could be of interest ?

transmeta ?
imgtech ?

just throwing names..

 

[Clashman]

You know Clashman I really never thought about the sports games that SEGA offers as being a benefit to Nintendo. But you are right, that would be quite an added bonus. Overall though I think it would be a bad idea for Nintendo as that would probably end up scaring all 3rd parties away unless Nintendo became the #1 console company again.

I don't really know if it would scare 3rd party devs away. I think it would in some ways it would attract them. Lack of unique sports titles, IMO, gives XBox and PS2 better access to a coveted demographic. Having Sega Sports exclusive to Nintendo would give N a leg up in that demographic, and thereby enticing 3rd party devs with similar audiences, (namely the HS to College crowd that plays sports games extensively), to work with them. Just a thought.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Nintendo would better invest money in getting exclusive third party games, or perhaps buying shares from a major third party developers like Sega, Namco, Capcom, Konami,... to secure a trainload of titles.

 

[Teasy]

I also didn't consider Sega's sports games, nor did I consider Virtua Fighter. An exclusive sports lineup and the biggest fighting game out there is just what Nintendo need.

Sega seem more then willing to sell exclusives at the moment (most of the Sega exclusives on XBox for instance). So I think it would be a better idea to just pay Sega for exclusive games rather then buy them. Since Nintendo don't need all of Sega's games and Sega would be very expensive. Get the key sports games exclusively plus virtua fighter, Shenmue 3 and a couple more (Panzer Dragoon maybe). Shouldn't cost too much to get those 7-8 games. Then either pay Bizarre Creations for the Project Gotham series as an exclusive.. or just buy them outright.

Probably wouldn't cost them more then 150-200 million dollars in total (if they buy Bizarre Creations). And for that money they would have filled the gaps in there lineup with top exclusive sports, fighting and racing games. Money very well spent IMO.

 

[Ty]

And for that money they would have filled the gaps in there lineup with top exclusive sports, fighting and racing games. Money very well spent IMO.

I thought you used to argue that Nintendo didn't have any gaps in it's lineup?

 

[Teasy]

Some strange people may have imagined that I said Nintendo have no gaps in there exclusive lineup. But in reality no I have never said that. Nintendo most definitely have quite a few gaps. So do MS, and even Sony have some.

 

[SegaR&D]

Don't worry about it we ain't goin anywhere

Sammy didn't buy us to toss over to someone else.

 

[zurich]

Instead of focusing on big glamorous acquisitions, it's much more likely this fund is developed to purchase 'hot, fresh, new, and cheap' studios, like Retro and others.

 

[Clashman]

Instead of focusing on big glamorous acquisitions, it's much more likely this fund is developed to purchase 'hot, fresh, new, and cheap' studios, like Retro and others.

True, and if it is used to address some of the holes in their lineup, then I would say it's a good investment.

Still, it's fun to fantasize. I mean, come on, Sonic and Mario would rock!

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Instead of focusing on big glamorous acquisitions, it's much more likely this fund is developed to purchase 'hot, fresh, new, and cheap' studios, like Retro and others.

True, and if it is used to address some of the holes in their lineup, then I would say it's a good investment.

Still, it's fun to fantasize. I mean, come on, Sonic and Mario would rock!

Super Smash Bros: Sega Vs Nintendo ^^
That would be sooo awesome...

 

[jvd]

Well nintendo buying sega would make my dreams come true. Only needed to buy 1 console to play nintendo and sega games .

But i think sega is to big for nintendo to take in .


I much rather see them buy some smaller studios that make solid games .

 

[Sonic]

You know what? Nintendo should buy a big chunk of EA (Is EA publicly traded?) and reap the profits from them. Not all of EA, just enough to sway the decision making process some. It would be a good way for Nintendo to get very enthusiastic 3rd party support from EA.

Teasy, is the PGR series even owned by BC? I thought it was a MS property.

 

[jvd]

You know what? Nintendo should buy a big chunk of EA (Is EA publicly traded?) and reap the profits from them. Not all of EA, just enough to sway the decision making process some. It would be a good way for Nintendo to get very enthusiastic 3rd party support from EA.

Teasy, is the PGR series even owned by BC? I thought it was a MS property.

I was hoping they would buy something that had talent



But hey why not right sonic ?

 

[Sonic]

You're so cruel jvd. Am I supposed to fit into the the standard SEGA guy and loathe EA for being so massively successful? I mean it was SEGA that practically created EA and brought them to their successes. But I'm not spiteful. As far as talent goes, you're right Nintendo would be much better off with another company.

I like the idea of Namco and Capcom. Namco could bring Nintendo much needed talent in the way of action games are concerned. Gamecube doesn't seem to have many good action titles and I think with Namco on board that would seriously change. Anywho, I expect Japanese games to get much bigger next generation than they are now.

 

[nobie]

I bet Nintendo will buy some smaller developers, the 1up article mentions Kuju Entertainment and N-Space. Come to think of it this might have something to do with acquiring developers to work on 1st party Gameboy DS software. Buying the engineering talent to develop N5 internally would be stupid, how much money would they have to spend to put them on the same level as Sony? And even Sony is outsourcing some of the development of PS3 with IBM and Toshiba.

 

[Teasy]

Teasy, is the PGR series even owned by BC? I thought it was a MS property.

Project Gotham was originally started as a PS2 game. So unless MS bought the series from Bizarre Creations and paid them to develop an XBox version then I think BC still own it. I'm pretty sure that BC themselves aren't owned by MS. They certainly weren't right upto early 2003 anyway and I haven't heard any different since then.

 

[ERP]

Teasy, is the PGR series even owned by BC? I thought it was a MS property.

Project Gotham was originally started as a PS2 game. So unless MS bought the series from Bizarre Creations and paid them to develop an XBox version then I think BC still own it. I'm pretty sure that BC themselves aren't owned by MS. They certainly weren't right upto early 2003 anyway and I haven't heard any different since then.

I don't have any information on this, but I would bet cash money that MS own the rights to the Project Gotham series (at the very least the name).