Nintendo has announced its purchasing 100 percent of the shares of long-time development partner, SRD (Systems Research and Development) for an undisclosed amount and thus becoming Nintendo’s newest internal studio.
The deal is set to finalize on April 1st when the company’s new financial year begins and is part of the company’s plans to expand its internal development capabilities. PR says the acquisition “will have only a minor effect on Nintendo’s results”. SRD was founded in 1979 and currently has around 140 employees. The developer has been collaborating with the console manufacturer on the software side for 40 years, which kicked off with work on the Famicom in 1982.
“SRD is a development company which has been closely involved for nearly four decades in developing Nintendo video game software. Completion of the Acquisition (exclusive of treasury stock) will serve to strengthen the management base of SRD and secure the availability of software development resources for Nintendo, in addition to facilitating an anticipated improvement in software development efficiency,” Nintendo said in a statement.
Franchises the studio has worked on include Donkey Kong, Mario, The Legend of Zelda (has developed almost every game in the series), Yoshi, Animal Crossing and more. The first games they developed include the NES versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.
The early work led SRD to create a jump mechanic ‘test’ for Super Mario Bros. which Shigeru Miyamoto in Iwata Asks Interview said “it turned out to be pretty good.” The developer’s most recent projects include 1-2 Switch, Ring Fit Adventure, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Game Builder Garage.
The acquisition is off the heels of Nintendo president Shuntaro’s statement when asked about Microsoft and Sony’s acquisition moves from last month. His response was that “having a large number of people who don’t possess Nintendo DNA in our group would not be a plus.” That wasn’t a lie as the company has worked with SRD since the beginning of the company’s switch to the console market, so the move definitely says that SRD has that special DNA the company is looking for.
Nintendo’s other most recent acquisition from last year was Canadian developer Next Level Games who developed Mario Strikers on Gamecube and most recently released Luigi’s Mansion 3. The next game the studio is developing is a follow-up to its beloved Gamecube game, Mario Strikers: Battle League, which was announced at this past Nintendo Direct and is coming to the Switch on June 10th.
