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StarTopic Nintendo First Party Software Development |ST| Nintendo Party Superstars

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Yeah, France seems like the only likely location. Should be easier to set up a game dev team within NERD than to start from scratch. MercurySteam I see only happening if Alvarez and whoever else has a stake in the studio cashes out.
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
Yeah, France seems like the only likely location. Should be easier to set up a game dev team within NERD than to start from scratch. MercurySteam I see only happening if Alvarez and whoever else has a stake in the studio cashes out.
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Curious if there's been anti-poaching agreements included in these collaborations. Is there precedence for Nintendo assimilating employees like this?

Also, NOE's headquarters is in Frankfurt, and NERD is in Paris, so France or Germany seem like reasonable guesses. (Of course for me personally I wouldn't mind them setting up shop in the Netherlands xD .)
 
manfromthedam said:
Curious if there's been anti-poaching agreements included in these collaborations. Is there precedence for Nintendo assimilating employees like this?

Also, NOE's headquarters is in Frankfurt, and NERD is in Paris, so France or Germany seem like reasonable guesses. (Of course for me personally I wouldn't mind them setting up shop in the Netherlands xD .)
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Not sure, but Nintendo is no stranger to working with spinoff companies if they collaborated with the people before. See AlphaDream (rip :cry: ) for example.
 
www.grezzo.co.jp

Unityエンジニアの緊急募集を終了しました

新作オリジナル開発の「Unityエンジニア」の緊急募集につきましては 採用予定数に達した為、募集を終了とさせて頂きました。 たくさんのご応募ありがとうございました。 引き続き、UIデザイナー...
www.grezzo.co.jp www.grezzo.co.jp

The urgent recruitment of Unity Engineers for the new original development
We are sorry to inform you that the urgent recruitment of "Unity Engineer" for the new original development has been closed.
Thank you very much for your application.
We are still looking for UI Designers and Level Planners.
For more details, please see the Urgent Recruitment page.
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Looks like Grezzo has filled the two Unity Engineer positions.
 
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manfromthedam said:
Curious if there's been anti-poaching agreements included in these collaborations. Is there precedence for Nintendo assimilating employees like this?

Also, NOE's headquarters is in Frankfurt, and NERD is in Paris, so France or Germany seem like reasonable guesses. (Of course for me personally I wouldn't mind them setting up shop in the Netherlands xD .)
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I think Nintendo generally doesn't actively poach talent from other companies as a way of maintaining positive relations. Like for example, if Davide Soliani left Ubisoft and pitched something to NCL, I think they would consider cooperating. But them going to him and offering to finance his own studio wouldn't be in character for them.
 
manfromthedam said:
Curious if there's been anti-poaching agreements included in these collaborations. Is there precedence for Nintendo assimilating employees like this?

Also, NOE's headquarters is in Frankfurt, and NERD is in Paris, so France or Germany seem like reasonable guesses. (Of course for me personally I wouldn't mind them setting up shop in the Netherlands xD .)
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Nintendo Delta Softworks!
 
manfromthedam said:
They'd definitely settle in Twente where I live and look for an in-house composer! Nintendo of Twente - the abbreviation would be NOT *


*which is exactly the chances of this happening xD
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Considering German -- yeah, I know, wrong language -- , it could be referring to a dire need, though I could see that referring to a situation caused by the formation of this establishment, rather than necessarily the necessity for said establishment.


nenned said:
The problem with this is where would they put them? Mercury Steam in in Spain and Dave Soliani's team is in Italy. Not exactly close by. Even if Nintendo were to open a studio between those 2 countries (France?), would they be willing to relocate themselves and their families? The only other option would be to open several studios across various European countries that are home to developers friendly to Nintendo, but that probably wouldn't be very cost effective. I think their best option would be to continue to foster good relationships with those teams to produce content for Nintendo consoles.
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Chalphy said:
I think Nintendo generally doesn't actively poach talent from other companies as a way of maintaining positive relations. Like for example, if Davide Soliani left Ubisoft and pitched something to NCL, I think they would consider cooperating. But them going to him and offering to finance his own studio wouldn't be in character for them.
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These are certainly important considerations, though somewhat addressed by the conditions which lead to these particular suggestions. Such a proposition would only be made to secure the support of those in these studios, and, as such, the focus would be less on setting up for support in Europe and more to support the teams. If that meant setting up a couple different studios, it would be up to the value calculations.

It is no coincidence that both studios in question meet two primary criteria:
  • Circumstances there might lead the team members to leave, regardless of the suggestion of a place for them to land -- Mercury Steam more obviously than Ubisoft Milan, as reports indicate that studio specifically to have a culture nonconducive to the retention of employees whereas reports of Ubisoft refer to the broader company rather than to Milan itself
  • The teams and Nintendo have been cultivating a working relationship and channels of communication, which both provides a reason Nintendo might be open to bringing them on and also a way they might let Nintendo know of any such intention

For such a situation as described, conditions would likely push the team members to seek going elsewhere, and the forged connections could lead to further discussions with Nintendo, rather than Nintendo actively enticing team members away.

It should probably be noted that I don't particularly expect the situation to play out as such.


ILikeFeet said:
the only places I can see Nintendo with a dev team in Europe is France and Germany. more so France as there's a major tech team already there
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Dardan Sandiego said:
Yeah, France seems like the only likely location. Should be easier to set up a game dev team within NERD than to start from scratch.
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If Nintendo were to start up a whole new team, rather than use teams as mentioned above, this seems the most likely way for that to occur (and, truly, the more likely option of the two in general).
 
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Employee update

MONOLITH SOFTWARE INC.
273 as of December 2021 (down from 275)

Good Feel
138 as of January 2022 (down from 142)

Nintendo of Korea
36 as of March 2021

Pokemon Center Co., Ltd.
180 as of August 2020
 
Invincible2020 said:
Nintendo give me Mario Galaxy 2 HD. Please!
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that ship:
link-wave.gif
 
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I'm just glad I was able to experience this time with all of y'all. It was fun while it lasted.
 
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Yokaze said:
Employee update

MONOLITH SOFTWARE INC.
273 as of December 2021 (down from 275)

Good Feel
138 as of January 2022 (down from 142)

Nintendo of Korea
36 as of March 2021

Pokemon Center Co., Ltd.
180 as of August 2020
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Contractors leave when a project wraps up. Maybe Good-Feel have finished a Wario Land game...

cries internally
 
MrGab said:
Any chance of Mario Odyssey 2 become the new 3D Donkey Kong? That could explain the strange absence of MO 2.
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That would be bad planning which would be unprecedented for EPD Tokyo. We should be seeing their game soon so not long until we find out.

I have a hard time imagining anything other 3D Mario because they've always been working on a new one since their inception. I also don't believe the DK rumour has any credibility.
 
MagiCarbo said:
That's Square Enix tho.
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Square Enix is only publishing it in Japan, outside Nintendo is the publisher and its included on Nintendo's first party release schedule. Its the same situation as Daemon Ex Machina and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
 
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Out of curiosity, but when Nintendo says they’re going to invest a $1B into internal game development, what does that actually mean? I get they’re expanding their facilities to allow for more staff, but how many heads are we talking about exactly? I believe EPD has around 900 development heads, so kind of interested in knowing the size of the prize here.
 
Captain Falcon said:
Out of curiosity, but when Nintendo says they’re going to invest a $1B into internal game development, what does that actually mean? I get they’re expanding their facilities to allow for more staff, but how many heads are we talking about exactly? I believe EPD has around 900 development heads, so kind of interested in knowing the size of the prize here.
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The expansion would allow for Nintendo to get more internally developed projects going rather than farm them out to a development partner when most of its staff are busy on a massive project like BotW. It can also have the bonus benefit of allowing for more groups, as well as additional groups dedicated to working with new up and coming development partners.
 
Captain Falcon said:
Out of curiosity, but when Nintendo says they’re going to invest a $1B into internal game development, what does that actually mean? I get they’re expanding their facilities to allow for more staff, but how many heads are we talking about exactly? I believe EPD has around 900 development heads, so kind of interested in knowing the size of the prize here.
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They never specified a number, but Nikkei said it is "expected to be in the hundreds"
 
MagiCarbo said:
The expansion would allow for Nintendo to get more internally developed projects going rather than farm them out to a development partner when most of its staff are busy on a massive project like BotW. It can also have the bonus benefit of allowing for more groups, as well as additional groups dedicated to working with new up and coming development partners.
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I got the impression that it was more about coping with the increasing costs of (U)HD development, not necessarily more internal projects

Our software development costs, which include outsourcing, are increasing as we work to maintain a continuous stream of new titles for Nintendo Switch as it enters the middle of its lifecycle. Because per-title development costs are higher now than they were on past platforms, we anticipate that R&D expenses will continue to rise as we work to maintain a sizeable lineup of titles. We are also conducting a variety of studies, which include investigating ways to enhance our digital business, and future services that will help maintain long-term relationships with our consumers, as was touched on in the Corporate Management Policy Briefing last September. In addition, the development of the next generation of hardware needs to begin years before launch, so R&D expenses for that are gradually rising. We are aiming to grow by continuing our integrated hardware-software entertainment business, and that means conducting all sorts of research and development in various areas including both hardware and software.
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source: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/210507e.pdf
 
karmitt said:
I got the impression that it was more about coping with the increasing costs of (U)HD development, not necessarily more internal projects


source: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/210507e.pdf
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It's more so the costs to maintain a consistent stream of releases is increasing as the Switch gets older. Nintendo is prepping so that it can continue to prevent the massive software droughts that some of their consoles suffered from before.
 
sanstea said:
That would be bad planning which would be unprecedented for EPD Tokyo. We should be seeing their game soon so not long until we find out.

I have a hard time imagining anything other 3D Mario because they've always been working on a new one since their inception. I also don't believe the DK rumour has any credibility.
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The Mario 3D team made DK Jungle Beat, so it's not unprecedent for them.
 
karmitt said:
I got the impression that it was more about coping with the increasing costs of (U)HD development, not necessarily more internal projects


source: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/210507e.pdf
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The part you're quoting is about ordinary R&D budgets increasing and is from a conference call earlier in 2021. The ~$900 million figure is outside of the regular budget, and the information relating to that comes from the November 2021 briefing. The logic from the former doesn't necessarily apply to the latter, extra investment.

I wouldn't expect the number of games to grow drastically, but Nintendo will need more resources to maintain steady software output and the biggest limit on EPD's output is the number of staff available for full productions.
 
I've noticed that Katsuya Eguchi has been involved with most of EPD's external productions lately. He was Producer for titles such as The Stretchers and Good Job!. He worked on Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition as producer, and was Project manager for Luigi's Mansion 3 and Paper Mario and the Origami King. You think he's been put in charge of external productions?
 
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Has ique worked on any games? It’s been over 2 years since they began recruiting to be a support stupid for EPD and yet I don’t think they have worked on anything yet.
 
MasterGold said:
Has ique worked on any games? It’s been over 2 years since they began recruiting to be a support stupid for EPD and yet I don’t think they have worked on anything yet.
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They apparently worked on 3D All-Stars, but I don’t know if there was ever any confirmation on that.
 
MasterGold said:
Has ique worked on any games? It’s been over 2 years since they began recruiting to be a support stupid for EPD and yet I don’t think they have worked on anything yet.
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I don't think they've turned up in a development assistance capacity, no, but they've continued to localise games for the Chinese market. Whatever they're assisting with could be in production still.
 
MasterGold said:
Has ique worked on any games? It’s been over 2 years since they began recruiting to be a support stupid for EPD and yet I don’t think they have worked on anything yet.
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N75 said:
They apparently worked on 3D All-Stars, but I don’t know if there was ever any confirmation on that.
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They worked on the N64 emulation for 3D All-Stars, yes. We know this with certainty.
 
MasterGold said:
We’re did we find that out I can’t find anything about their involvement online
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Datamining. People familiar with the intricacies of Nintendo's official emulation have identified it as being iQue's work; distinct enough from the branch of the N64 emulator used for the NSO app (iQue's emulator modified by NERD).
 
I can certify that iQue worked on the emulation program of Super Mario 64. Tokyo/1-Up did a couple of small visual updates to SM64 and Sunshine (some of the bitmaps, textures, UI).
 
EAD Ninja said:
I can certify that iQue worked on the emulation program of Super Mario 64. Tokyo/1-Up did a couple of small visual updates to SM64 and Sunshine (some of the bitmaps, textures, UI).
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Now do we know if those higher-res textures were all-new, AI upscaled, or remade using the source models from their original development? Nintendo's unmatched in internal preservation, so I'd bet they've got the source files/assets of virtually everything they've ever made.
 
MagiCarbo said:
I've noticed that Katsuya Eguchi has been involved with most of EPD's external productions lately. He was Producer for titles such as The Stretchers and Good Job!. He worked on Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition as producer, and was Project manager for Luigi's Mansion 3 and Paper Mario and the Origami King. You think he's been put in charge of external productions?
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He's the most senior deputy general manager of EPD along with Koizumi and was in that role for EAD. Miyamoto and Tezuka were priming him to take over EAD eventually since the Wii days (if they retained the structure and the Wii U hadn't underperformed, I think he would probably be in the role). Given he's not involved with Pokemon or most of the Mario spinoffs, I don't think he's in charge of external productions though.
 
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