Nintendo considers partnering and acquisitions

We currently live in a gaming future that would’ve seemed completely bonkers to gamers from the ’90s. Square Enix hasn’t made a good game in years and the Final Fantasy series is almost irrelevant, Nintendo is floundering, PC gaming is as popular and accessible as it has ever been, and phones have overtaken dedicated portable gaming. One of the first things to happen that would’ve seemed crazy to a ’90s gamer, though, is when Sega bowed out of the hardware business and Sonic began appearing in games with Mario. Nintendo could take this partnership to the next level, as CEO Satoru Iwata has stated that the company will begin looking into mergers and acquisitions.

For as long as Nintendo has been around, it has largely been an isolated company — you were either with Nintendo’s way of thinking, or against it. Occasionally, it ventured out from its cave and had some strange collaborations, such as the Zelda games on the Phillips CD-i, but it mostly stayed in its cocoon of doing whatever it felt like regardless of basic industry trends (such as a competent online service) or fan desires (new IPs, less mini-game collections). The Big N’s strategy sometimes worked, such as with the DS and Wii, but miserably failed other times, such as with the Wii U, which is why the company is now facing potential disaster. One strategy that Nintendo is mulling over to help stave off oblivion is that of mergers and acquisitions. If Nintendo can’t save itself, then it’ll hire people to help, but who could those people be?

In a discussion with PC Magazine editor Jeffrey Wilson, Sega came up as the optimal choice. The once-proud company still has a ton of great IPs under its belt, but simply doesn’t have the financial backing to develop them. For instance, with Fire Emblem: Awakening being a smash hit on the Nintendo 3DS, a new, fully fledged Shining Force could achieve a similar level of success stateside. Sonic and Mario have been pairing off in party games for some time now, and Sega is one of the only developers left in the modern gaming world that — more often than not — falls in line with Nintendo’s family-friendly persona. The companies have also worked together on one of the GameCube’s only modem-enabled games, Phantasy Star Online, and PSO2 is currently stuck in Japan without a US release in sight. Meanwhile, beloved franchises haven’t had new installments in years, such as Jet Set Radio, which last released 12 years ago. The list goes on and on.

If not Sega, then it only takes one quick look at a Steam sale to see that there are a bunch of indie developers creating successful games that hearken back to old-school Nintendo franchises. Nintendo has only been surviving thanks to milking every last drop of nostalgia gamers have left, and could certainly make a few pitches to some of these indie developers.

Sega seems like the best fit, but for now, there’s no word at allregarding which developers Nintendo is thinking about gobbling up. For Nintendo fans, the good news here is that the company is mulling over changing their (unsuccessful) strategies — something that also would blow the mind of a long-time gamer.