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List of Nintendo development teams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nintendo is one of the world's biggest video game development companies, having created several successful franchises. Because of its storied history, the developer employs a methodical system of software and hardware development that is mainly centralized within its offices in Kyoto and Tokyo, in cooperation with its division Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington. The company also owns several worldwide subsidiaries and funds partner affiliates that contribute technology and software for the Nintendo brand.[1][2]
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Main offices
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Nintendo (NCL) has a central office located in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′11.89″N 135°45′22.33″E) and a nearby building, its pre-2000 headquarters, now serving as a research and development building, located in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′29.00″N 135°46′10.48″E). Its original Kyoto headquarters can still be found at (34°59′30.03″N 135°45′58.66″E). Additionally, Nintendo has a third operation in Tokyo, Japan, where research and development and manufacturing are conducted. All three offices are interconnected and have video conferences, often for communication and presentation purposes.
In 2009, it was revealed that Nintendo was expanding both its Redmond and Kyoto offices. The new office building complex of Nintendo of America in Redmond is 275,250 square feet (25,572 m2) and would expand its localization, development, debugging, production, and clerical teams. Nintendo announced the purchase of a 40,000 square-meter lot that would house an all-new research and development (R&D) office that would make it easier for the company's two other Kyoto R&D offices to collaborate as well as expand the total workforce on new upcoming console development and new software for current and future hardware. Additionally, Nintendo has various subsidiaries and offices worldwide that contribute to the company's global operations.[3][4]
Nintendo owns several buildings throughout Kyoto and Tokyo, housing subsidiary and affiliated companies. One of the more famous buildings was the Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo building – previously known as the Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building – was jokingly called The Pokémon Building, formerly accommodated the complete Pokémon family which included The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc., and Genius Sonority.[5] It was also to home to HAL Laboratory's Tokyo R&D Center and Warpstar's Tokyo office until they moved into HAL's office in Sudachō in 2003. Genius Sonority would move out of the building to a new building in Kanda in 2005, while Nintendo would fully move out of the building when The Pokémon Company and Creatures relocated their offices to Kaigan and Gobanchō, respectively in 2007.
In 2020, Nintendo revealed that they were going to unify all four of their buildings in Tokyo into just one. With this, several divisions and affiliated companies came to be together in the same building, including Game Freak, Nintendo's subsidiary 1-Up Studio and after 13 years, HAL Laboratory with its Tokyo studio and headquarters.[6]
In 2021, The Nikkei reported that Nintendo was planning to expand internal development by renting an office facility adjacent to their headquarters and building a new development office around the site of their former headquarters.[7] The latter plan was later revealed in April 2022, as Nintendo acquired land next to their headquarters to be used as another development office, which was slated to open in 2027,[8] but was later moved to 2028.[9]
Buildings
Former offices
- Nintendo Osaka Office – Honjo Higashi, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan – closed in 2016
- Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building – Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan – closed in 2007
- Nintendo Tokyo Office (previous) – Asakusabashi, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan – closed in 2020
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Divisions
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Entertainment Planning and Development (EPD)
The Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development division was created on 16 September 2015, as part of a company-wide organizational restructure that took place under Nintendo's then newly appointed president, Tatsumi Kimishima. The division was created after the merger of two of its largest divisions, Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) and Software Planning & Development (SPD).[22]
The division assumed both of its predecessors' roles, focusing on the development of games and software for Nintendo platforms and mobile devices; it also manages and licenses the company's various intellectual properties. Shinya Takahashi, formerly general manager of the SPD division, serves as general manager of the new division, as well as supervisor for both the Business Development and Development Administration & Support divisions. Katsuya Eguchi and Yoshiaki Koizumi maintained their positions as Deputy General Managers of EPD, which they previously held under EAD.[22]
Platform Technology Development (PTD)
The Nintendo Platform Technology Development division was created on 16 September 2015, as part of a company-wide organizational restructure that took place under Nintendo's then newly appointed president, Tatsumi Kimishima. The division was created after the merger of two of Nintendo's divisions, the Integrated Research & Development (IRD), which specialized in hardware development, and System Development (SDD), which specialized operating system development and its development environment and network services.[22]
The new division assumed both of its predecessors' roles. Ko Shiota, formerly Deputy general manager of the IRD division, serves as the general manager (GM), while Takeshi Shimada, formerly Deputy general manager of the Software Environment Development Department of the SDD division, serves the same role.[22]
Business Development Division (BDD)
The Nintendo Business Development division was formed following Nintendo's foray into software development for smart devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, in March 2014.[23] They are responsible for refining Nintendo's business model for dedicated game system business, and for furthering Nintendo's venture into development for smart devices.
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Game development subsidiaries
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While most external first-party software development is done in Japan, Nintendo owns several overseas development subsidiaries, those being Nintendo Software Technology, Retro Studios, and Shiver Entertainment in the United States, Nintendo European Research & Development in France, and Next Level Games in Canada.
Although these studios are all subsidiaries of Nintendo, they are often referred to as external resources when being involved in joint development processes with Nintendo's internal developers by the Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development division, while the division itself oversees and is involved in the production of the games developed under the studios that lead their own games.
1-Up Studio
1-Up Studio Co., Ltd. (１‐UPスタジオ株式会社), formerly Brownie Brown Inc. (ブラウニーブラウン, Buraunī Buraun), is a Japanese Nintendo-funded and owned video game development studio opened on 30 June 2000 and based in Tokyo, Japan. On 1 February 2013, Brownie Brown announced on their official website that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, Brownie Brown are undergoing a change in internal structure, which includes changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio.[28]
The studio is known for the development of the Magical Vacation series, Mother 3 and A Kappa's Trail. Since 2013, it stands as a development support studio for Nintendo EPD.
iQue
Originally a Chinese joint venture between its founder, Wei Yen, and Nintendo, manufactures and distributes official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market, under the iQue brand. The product lineup for the Chinese market is considerably different from that for other markets. For example, Nintendo's only console in China is the iQue Player, a modified version of the Nintendo 64. In 2013, the company became a fully owned subsidiary of Nintendo.[29][30]
It became a translation and localization company for simplified Chinese since 2016 for Nintendo games. In 2018, it stopped to be a manufacturer for consoles at China and in 2019 began to hire programmers and testers to transition to be a supporting development company for Nintendo EPD.[31]
Mario Club
Originally a team within Nintendo itself, Mario Club Co., Ltd. was separated into a subsidiary in July 2009. The company handles testing, quality control and debugging for Nintendo published titles and as of September 2024, has 400 employees.[32]
Monolith Soft
Monolith Soft, Inc. (株式会社モノリスソフト, Kabushiki-Gaisha Monorisu Sofuto) is a Japanese video game development company that has created video games for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The company currently has two main studios, its Tokyo Software Development Studio, which is housed in the company's headquarters, and the recently opened Kyoto Software Development Studio. The company was previously owned by Namco Bandai Games, until 2007 when Namco Bandai transferred 80% of its 96% stake to Nintendo. In 2011, the remaining 16% was sold, and by late 2024, Nintendo had bought the last 4%, which had originally been left to the company's founders. A majority of Monolith Soft's staff are former employees of Square Co., who transferred to the new company shortly after the creation of Chrono Cross. They were previously involved with the creation of Xenogears, from which the Xenosaga series is derived.
Monolith Soft's Tokyo Software Development Studio is usually associated with the Xeno series, the Baten Kaitos series and Disaster: Day of Crisis,[25] while its Kyoto Software Development Studio is currently a development co-operation studio.[citation needed]
Next Level Games
Next Level Games is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The company has been working with Nintendo since 2005 with Super Mario Strikers, while since 2014, the company began to work exclusively under contract with Nintendo. In January 2021, Nintendo revealed they had purchased Next Level Games, after over a decade working with the developer per contract basis and 6 years having them working exclusively.
Next Level Games has worked on the two most recent entries in the Luigi's Mansion series, the Mario Strikers series, Punch-Out!! for the Wii, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the Nintendo 3DS.
Nintendo Cube
Nintendo Cube Co., Ltd. (エヌディーキューブ株式会社 NintendōKyūbu Kabushiki Gaisha), formerly NDcube, is a Nintendo subsidiary and Japanese video game developer based in Japan with offices in Tokyo and Sapporo. The company was founded on 1 March 2000, through a joint venture between Nintendo and advertising firm Dentsu, hence the Nd in the name.[33] In 2010, Nintendo decided to buy out 96% of the shares, with ad partner Dentsu stepping aside.[34] Since Nintendo Cube was founded, they have kept a low profile, working on various Japanese GameCube and Game Boy Advance titles. Two notable games that have reached western shores are F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and Tube Slider. As seen in the credits for Mario Party 9, Nintendo Cube indeed houses many ex-Hudson Soft employees, some vary between folks who have focused primarily on many other entries in the Mario Party series.
The company is currently best known for the Wii Party series and for taking over the Mario Party series, after Hudson Soft was absorbed into Konami.
Nintendo European Research and Development (NERD)
Nintendo European Research & Development SAS (or NERD), formerly known as Mobiclip, is a Nintendo subsidiary, located in Paris, France. The team currently focuses on developing software technologies, such as console emulation, video compression, and middleware for Nintendo platforms.[35] While an independent company, Mobiclip was responsible for licensing video codecs for Sony Pictures Digital, Fisher-Price and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
The team has been involved in the development of the Wii U Chat application, in co-operation with Vidyo, and has since contributed to developing emulators for prior Nintendo consoles, such as those for Nintendo Switch Online.
Nintendo Pictures
The company was founded by Hiroshi Hirokawa on March 18, 2011, in Tokyo, Japan under the name of Dynamo Pictures. Nintendo announced their intent to acquire Dynamo Pictures and change its name to Nintendo Pictures on July 14, 2022, citing the focus of the company to strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content. The deal closed on October 3, with the company becoming a full subsidiary of Nintendo, as well as adopting its new name. Since being acquired by Nintendo in 2022, they have functioned as a support studio specializing in animation, design, and cinematic work for video games developed by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.
Nintendo Software Technology (NST)
Nintendo Software Technology Corp. (or NST) is an American video game developer located inside of Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The studio was created by Nintendo as a first-party developer to create games for the North American market, though their games have also been released in other territories such as Europe and Japan, exclusively for Nintendo consoles.
The studio's best known projects include the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, F-Zero 99, Crosswords series, Wii Street U and other video games and applications.
Nintendo Technology Development (NTD)
Nintendo Technology Development Inc. (or NTD) is a Washington-based hardware focused Research & Development group for Nintendo. The group focuses on the creation of various software technologies, hardware tools, and SDKs for first-party use and third-party licensing across Nintendo platforms, in collaboration with the Nintendo Platform Technology Development division. Several side projects and unreleased prototypes are commonly linked to this Washington based subsidiary. NTD is also responsible for some low-level coding. Howard Cheng serves as the division's president.
Retro Studios
Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in October 1998 by Nintendo and the video game veteran Jeff Spangenberg after leaving Acclaim Entertainment, as an independent studio making games exclusively for Nintendo. The studio started with four GameCube projects which had a chaotic and unproductive development, and did not impress Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, but he suggested they create a new game in the Metroid series. Eventually the four games in development were cancelled so Retro could focus only on Metroid Prime, which was released for the GameCube in 2002, the same year Nintendo acquired the studio completely by purchasing the majority of Spangenberg's holding stock.
Retro Studios would develop sequels to Metroid Prime, which had expanded to a successful sub-series of the Metroid series. Outside of Metroid, they had assisted in Mario Kart 7 and revived the Donkey Kong Country series after original developer Rare's purchase by Microsoft.
Shiver Entertainment
Shiver Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Miami, Florida. It was founded in 2012 by John Schappert, previously of Zynga. In its earliest years, the company developed mobile games with Nexon; State Of Chaos and Beasts vs Bots were released under this deal.[36][37] The studio would form a working relationship with Warner Bros. Games, developing the Nintendo Switch ports for Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat 11 and Mortal Kombat 1. They also succeeded 5th Cell in the Scribblenauts series, developing Scribblenauts Showdown and Scribblenauts Mega Pack. It was acquired by Embracer Group in 2021, who placed the studio under Saber Interactive.[38] Following Saber Interactive's sale to Beacon Interactive, the company was moved under Embracer Group until Nintendo acquired them in May 2024.[39]
SRD
SRD Co., Ltd. (trade name SRD Corporation),[40] also known as Systems Research and Development, is a Nintendo subsidiary located in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, with an additional office in Nintendo's development headquarters in Minami-ku, Kyoto. The company was founded on 22 January 1979 and began working with Nintendo in 1983, programming games such as Donkey Kong (1981) and Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[41][42] They built an early test version of Super Mario Bros.[43] SRD became a prolific Nintendo partner. It exclusively programmed games for Nintendo and worked on around one hundred of them.[42] SRD contributed to the Mario and Animal Crossing franchises, most of The Legend of Zelda,[44][45] and some of Nintendo's more experimental projects, such as Nintendo Labo and Game Builder Garage.[46] On 1 April 2022, SRD became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo.[47][48] Toshihiko Nakago is the Representative Director and President of the company.[41]
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Affiliate companies
 | This section possibly contains original research. Unsourced, definition unclear, whitelabel contract development in common in Japan (March 2024) |
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Former divisions and subsidiaries
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References
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