Special feature: Nintendo’s latest studio

It’s not unreasonable to think that someday another video game company will be acquired. Nintendo Announcement The company’s acquisition of Shiver Entertainment, turning a specialized ports company into a wholly owned subsidiary, is not normal business for a Japanese company.

Nintendo has historically been very cautious when acquiring outside developers, preferring strategic partnerships rather than incurring the financial risk of having many teams under a first-party umbrella. Nintendo’s coffers have been overflowing through the Switch cycle, and it could have been easy to splurge on something like Embracer during the pandemic boom, but that’s not how Nintendo works. The Swedish company’s loss is Nintendo’s gain, as Embracer Group is currently undergoing restructuring.

But why Shiver Entertainment? With a talented team across the industry, what is it about this Florida-based company that piqued Nintendo’s interest to bring it into the first-party ranks? Take a look. Let’s.

Business Shiver Entertainment – A Brief History

Founded at the end of 2012 Shiver describes himself “We’re a boutique game developer based in warm and sunny Miami, Florida. Our small team is made up of incredibly talented people who enjoy working together to make amazing games.”

from Shiver’s website:

Our goal is to create the world’s best games and have you enjoy them. Part of the appeal of our boutique-sized studio is the ability to combine your interests with the needs of a project and work on different aspects of the game. You won’t be a cog here hoping to tackle the fun areas of the game. You’ll be doing it from day one, working alongside some of the most talented people in the industry.

John Schappert, Jason Andersen (two co-founders of Tiburon Entertainment), Jon Osvald (Senior Vice President of Games at Zynga; ville game) and Investment from NexonShiver was initially focused on free-to-play for mobile, but has since shifted its focus to “console (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch) and PC development for both featured titles and contract work on original IP.”

Mobile RTS beast vs bot was announced in 2015, but I’ve since had a hard time finding evidence of it. some videos And some dead store links. Based on the information we’ve gathered, it may not actually be on sale. In any case, Shiver seems to have pivoted from mobile development to console development, putting his technical know-how into porting work in partnership with other studios, most notably Warner Bros.

In 2021, Embracer Group acquired the studio under Saber Interactive. This was until Saber himself was freed from his Embraced. in March 2024 Shiver then remained in Embracer’s portfolio until it was acquired by Nintendo.

Business Shiver Entertainment – Gamegraphy

So what are the games that Shiver has worked on that have definitely been released? Below is an overview of all the games that Shiver has supported and is credited with porting to Switch.

• Scribble Notes: Showdown (2018)
• Scribblenauts Mega Pack (2018)
• Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
• Hogwarts Legacy (2023)
• mortal kombat 1 (2023)

Yeah, there are some big names out there, but even if there’s porting expertise on display, there are few with glowing CVs that you’d think would get Nintendo’s attention. Mortal Kombat 11 was fine and by all standards Hogwarts performed admirably on his Switch, but what about Mortal Kombat 1? it is pretty mean On Nintendo’s system.

Perhaps Warner Bros. gave Shiver the impossible task of porting this game to Switch. And this game will work in any condition. not at all It’s a little miracle. Either way, Nintendo must be seeing something beyond the credits. Canada’s Next Level Games (Luigi’s Mansion 3, mario strikers battle league) created a first-party studio. 2021. SRD has been a partner of Nintendo for almost a year. 40 years Before finally becoming an in-house subsidiary in 2022Because their arrangement worked well. Why is Shiver suddenly worth getting?

Business So why is Nintendo interested in Shiver?

John Schappert, CEO of Shiver Entertainment, is an industry veteran who has worked for some of the industry’s biggest companies. The software programmer, who worked at Visual Concepts in the early ’90s, co-founded Tiburon Entertainment in 1994 (“tiburon” means shark in Spanish, and “quiver” is a collective noun for toothy fish). We worked closely with EA on games like Water in the Logo (where the connection wasn’t obvious just by looking at it). madden series.

EA acquired Tiburon in 1998, and Shappert moved to EA in 2002, eventually becoming executive vice president for a short time before moving to oversee Xbox Live at Microsoft Game Studios. He returned to his EA as his COO for nearly two years and then took the same position at Zynga. Since 2012, he has held several chairman positions, and since 2013 he has been CEO of Shiver.

Why is this all relevant? Schappert is a no-nonsense guy with industry credentials and knowledge of game development from both the field and the boardroom. Shiver is a far cry from a hot indie startup, and is being helmed by someone who is reassuringly professional and experienced to Nintendo’s upper echelons.

Shappert also has a personal connection to Nintendo, having been present at DICE’s posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for Satoru Iwata. Mr. Shappert presented the award. (To Reggie Fils-Aimé) He spoke about the generosity of the former Nintendo president. “Mr. Iwata left an indelible mark on the industry. He made the game bigger and better.” He said.

“My friendship, admiration and respect for Mr. Iwata is so great. He was not an ordinary video game executive. He was a game maker and a designer… His passion and dedication will be greatly missed. So please cherish every game.”

Add to this the technical expertise of his company, with its modest, if not “dead” technology, and its valuable contacts and connections to other studios across the industry, and the acquisition starts to make a lot more sense.

And let’s not forget that this will have a minor impact on Nintendo’s financial results for the current fiscal year. A small studio in Florida is relatively cheap to buy, especially compared to the huge fees other companies are paying. Vast studio and its IP. of announcement Shiver’s “capital” is listed as “US$10” (which would certainly be a very good deal), but the actual price is an undisclosed amount of debt that Nintendo will assume in connection with the sale.

Nintendo has a lot of money, but they don’t maintain it by spending money recklessly. There’s no doubt that Nintendo made a good deal on this game.

Business The Switch is the Future

Shiver could also be deployed as a support team for third parties that need help bringing their games to Nintendo’s platforms. As you can see from the credits, the studio is used to plugging into existing pipelines with other companies, and by having a first-party team on hand to help with the technical details, it’s easy to see what’s next. Ensure you get the third-party support you need for your Switch. It’s easy to say that Nintendo games sell Nintendo platforms, and that’s true. But the wide appeal of current consoles also includes core gamers who want to play the biggest titles on the go. Now that other portable devices such as the Steam Deck are available, it makes sense to have a dedicated team to ensure continued support for exciting non-Nintendo titles.

In its announcement, Nintendo outlined its future intentions.

Shiver’s focus remains the same and continues to be commissioned to port and develop software for multiple platforms, including Nintendo Switch.

The acquisition of Shiver Entertainment may have come as a surprise, but it seems like a smart acquisition given the developer’s acumen and the type of expertise Nintendo believes is worth bringing in-house. As per Nintendo president Shuntaro FurukawaAll indications are that the Switch 2 will continue down a similar path of being an interactive update of the current system’s hybrid concept, with third-party games still welcome on the upgraded platform. It’s possible that Shiver’s support team’s expertise will also be utilized for first-party games, as the team certainly has the talent to leverage for in-house projects.

Whatever your exact game plans, having Shiver as part of Nintendo makes it much easier to find optimization solutions, alleviate mobile chipset bottlenecks, or move your game to the next platform. It should be easy.