Nintendo has always been protective of its key franchises, but the company has loosened up quite a bit over the last few years. During the Nintendo Switch era, the company has allowed a lot more companies to play with its IP. Major companies like Ubisoft were allowed to use franchises like Mario and Star Fox, while smaller ones like WayForward and Brace Yourself Games got involved with Advance Wars and Zelda. It seems that trend will continue, as a report from GamesIndustry.biz claims that it knows of “three studios that are deep in conversation around making games based on Nintendo brands.”ย
Videos by ComicBook.com
The report does not go into any further detail about which studios are in talks with Nintendo, or what franchises they might get a chance to work on. However, it does show just how much things have shifted for Nintendo, and the faith it’s starting to place in other companies. It’s easy to see why this is the case: by relying more on third-party studios, Nintendo has been able to greatly boost its number of exclusive games. During the Switch era, the company has published first-party games at a near monthly rate.ย
Putting it All on the Table
Nintendo’s embrace of third-party studios definitely expanded in the Switch era, but things have been gradually building for years now. During the GameCube years,ย Soul Calibur II featured an appearance by Link, while Konami was allowed to make Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. Despite building for decades now, few could have predicted just how much Nintendo would start to embrace working with outside studios. Nintendo still puts specific limits on these types of partnerships, but there’s a lot more freedom than ever before.ย Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a perfect example; the concept of a turn-based shooter that mixed Mario characters with Ubisoft’s Rabbids seemed like a bizarre concept on paper, but the game was both a critical and commercial success.ย
A lot of these games have also helped to fill the void between major releases. Six years passed between the releases of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but Koei Tecmo’s Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Grezzo’s remake of Link’s Awakening gave Zelda fans something to enjoy in the meantime.ย
Nintendo and Epic Games
While Nintendo has embraced working with other companies, it hasn’t been able to come to a deal with Epic Games. Both PlayStation and Xbox have allowed their characters to appear in Fortnite, but Nintendo has not. In an interview with Axios last month, Saxs Persson of Epic Games revealed that they are still trying to come to an agreement with Nintendo to use its characters. No reason was given for why Nintendo has held out, but it’s possible that the company doesn’t want skins of its characters appearing on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo allows Epic Games to use its franchises the way so many other studios are getting to, or if the relationship between the two will remain as is.ย
What studio would you like to see make a Nintendo game? Have you enjoyed these partnerships between Nintendo and other companies? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachampย or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
[H/T: Nintendo Everything]
