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

[EAD Ninja]

Looking ahead, you definitely have all the big teams with their projects ahead of them. The big question is how many will land on Switch, Switch Pro?, or even Switch 2.

Nintendo's Kyoto R&D has several "AAA" projects announced. It looks like Tokyo R&D may have 2 big projects as well. Add Retro Studios, Next Level Games, and NST who are all working on projects. Finally, you have the usual Japan projects like XenoBlade and hopefully a non-Koei developed FE (sorry).

 

[Hidden04]

Does anyone have any where the team behind ARMS is? They have not released a game since then. I wondering if they really are working on the fabled Mario Kart 9.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Does anyone have any where the team behind ARMS is? They have not released a game since then. I wondering if they really are working on the fabled Mario Kart 9.

the MK team has been working on MK Tour

 

[nakuto]

One of the things that I find most interesting is to know the number of employees that Nintendo currently has working on games for them, both in their own developments groups as well as supervising third parties.

This is the information I have as of April 2022:

Type	Name	Employees	Reference
0​	Nintendo Global	6737​	https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html
0​	NCL (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)	2621​	https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html
1​	Nintendo EPD (minus EPD #8)	700​
	∟EPD #1	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #2	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #3	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #4	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #5	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #6	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #7	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #8	34​	Estimated data from 2011
	∟EPD #9	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #10	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
	∟EPD #11 (Smart Devices)	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
2​	Nintendo Software Technology (NST)	50​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Software_Technology
2​	Nintendo European Research & Development (N.E.R.D.)	63​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_European_Research_&_Development
2​	1-Up Studio	75​	https://1-up-studio.jp/company/outline.html
2​	Monolith Soft	273​	http://www.monolithsoft.co.jp/recruit/environment/
2​	Retro Studios	147​	https://www.linkedin.com/company/retro-studios
2​	NDcube	122​	https://www.ndcube.co.jp/company
2​	iQue	2​	https://www.ique.com/index.html
2​	Next Level Games	115​	https://ca.linkedin.com/company/nextlevelgames
3​	HAL Laboratory	205​	https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/profile/
3​	Intelligent Systems	187​	https://intsys.co.jp/company/outline/
3​	Game Freak	167​	https://www.gamefreak.co.jp/company/about/
	∟R&D High-End Graphics Division	51​	https://famiboards.com/threads/nint...d-st-nintendo-party-superstars.114/post-64524
3​	Grezzo	80​	https://www.grezzo.co.jp/jp/company/
3​	Genious Sonority	22​	https://www.geniussonority.co.jp/about/
4​	Arika	50​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arika
4​	Arzest	80​	https://www.arzest.jp/
4​	Camelot Software Planning	45​	https://www.camelot.co.jp/public-wpFIu30X/?page_id=201
4​	Creatures Inc	207​	https://www.creatures.co.jp/company/
4​	Eighting	216​	https://www.8ing.co.jp/company/
4​	Good-Feel	138​	https://www.good-feel.co.jp/company/about/
4​	ILCA	288​	https://www.ilca.co.jp/company/
4​	indieszero	45​	https://indieszero.co.jp/profile
4​	MercurySteam	160​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MercurySteam
4​	PlatinumGames	291​	https://www.platinumgames.com/company/overview/
4​	Spike Chunsoft	200​	https://www.spike-chunsoft.co.jp/company/information/
4​	Syn Sophia	58​	http://www.syn-sophia.co.jp/corporate/
4​	Tantalus Media	0​	Unknown
4​	Vanpool	50​	Estimated data

For reference, the values for "Type" column are:

Type	Description
0​	Main division
1​	Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development
2​	Nintendo Subsidiaries
3​	Nintendo Affiliates
4​	Frequent Collaboration Studios

Please take with caution employee figures from Wikipedia or LinkedIn

I will update as new information becomes available. Feel free to comment or point out any errors in the data presented.

 

[ILikeFeet]

EPD's teams are a few number of people. they pull from a pool that can work on anything

 

[nakuto]

EPD's teams are a few number of people. they pull from a pool that can work on anything

thank you, I have updated the table to reflect that.

 

[MetalLord]

Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

First guy from SIE japan to join nintendo after the studio closed,i expect more to come

 

[MisterSpo]

One of the things that I find most interesting is to know the number of employees that Nintendo currently has working on games for them, both in their own developments groups as well as supervising third parties.

This is the information I have as of November 2021:

Type	Name	Employees	Reference
	Nintendo Global	6737​	https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html
	NCL (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)	2621​	https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html
1​	Nintendo EPD (minus EPD #8)	700​
1​	∟EPD #1	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #2	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #3	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #4	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #5	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #6	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #7	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #8	200​	Estimated data
1​	∟EPD #9	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #10	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	∟EPD #11 (Smart Devices)	0​	Pool for EPD Kyoto Projects
1​	NST (Nintendo Software Technology)	50​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Software_Technology
1​	NTD (Nintendo Technology Development)	0​	Unknow data
1​	N.E.R.D.	63​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_European_Research_&_Development
1​	NSD (Nintendo Network Service Database)	30​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_System_Development
2​	1-up Studio	67​	https://1-up-studio.jp/company/outline.html
2​	Monolith	275​	http://www.monolithsoft.co.jp/company/?to=about
2​	Retro	147​	https://www.linkedin.com/company/retro-studios
2​	ND Cube	122​	https://www.ndcube.co.jp/company
2​	NST	40​	Estimated data
2​	Mario Club	330​	http://www.marioclub.co.jp/company/index.html
2​	Next Level Games	115​	https://ca.linkedin.com/company/nextlevelgames
2​	Sora Ltd.	2​	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sora_Ltd.
3​	HAL	205​	https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/profile/
3​	Intelligent Systems	178​	https://intsys.co.jp/company/outline/
3​	Game Freak	167​	https://www.gamefreak.co.jp/company/about/
3​	Good-Feel	142​	https://www.good-feel.co.jp/company/about/
3​	Arzest	80​	https://www.arzest.jp/
3​	Grezzo	80​	https://www.grezzo.co.jp/jp/company/
3​	Camelot	83​	https://www.camelot.co.jp/public-wpFIu30X/?page_id=201
3​	Indies Zero	45​	https://indieszero.co.jp/profile
3​	Genius Sonority	22​	https://www.geniussonority.co.jp/about/
		3143​

For reference, the values for "Type" column are:

Type	Description
	Main division
1​	Internal division of development and production
2​	Subsidiaries owned by Nintendo (>51% shares)
3​	Third party partners

Please take with caution employee figures from Wikipedia or LinkedIn

Nintendo has currently more than 3.000 people working on games for Nintendo Switch (not accounting NCL or Global).

I will update as new information becomes available. Feel free to comment or point out any errors in the data presented.

Thank you for posting - the EPD numbers for me feel low, because I'm sure I saw an estimated headcount of 800 or so for EAD before EAD and SPD combined. Given the team sizes for some individual games (aren't we at teams of 300 plus for Breath of the Wild and New Horizons? Not all from EPD, but the bulk would be), and given the amount of hiring at Nintendo since the Switch launched, I'd have thought EPD would be larger now.

But I understand it's likely difficult to get an accurate headcount given Nintendo don't reveal any official figures for that division. 700 is David Gibson's estimated, of course, and he's presumably well connected. @EAD Ninja - have you heard anything on numbers for EPD?

Edit - re-reading the tweet, I'm guessing T stands for transcript, so he is possibly referring to official numbers from a briefing? Or perhaps T refers to a Nintendo executive? (Shinya Takahashi?)

 

[MetalLord]

EPD 8 have around 65-70 not 200

 

[MisterSpo]

EPD 8 have around 65-70 not 200

What's this based on? That seems small, given that EPD 8 make 3D Mario and have been moved into a larger facility.

 

[MetalLord]

What's this based on? That seems small, given that EPD 8 make 3D Mario and have been moved into a larger facility.

Based on their last game,66 credited plus some news hires that worked on Captain Toad/Bowsers Fury,EPD 8 is not really separated they had a lot of help on Odyssey and helped on Ring Fit/Animal Crossing

Spoiler: Credits Breakdown

Director
Kenta Motokura

Planning Director
Futoshi Shirai

Level Design Lead
Shinya Hiratake

Level Design
Satoshi Harayama
Hiroaki Hishinuma
Yuichi Iwasa (1-UP)
Haruka Kakinuma
Yuka Kitahara
Yusuke Nodama
Toshihiko Okamoto
Eisaku Sato (1-UP)
Seiichi Takahashi

Level Design Support
Kazuki Ishikawa
Shuta Murakami
Shuya Suzuki

Script
Hiroaki Hishinuma

Script Support
Emiko Yanai (Mario Club)

Action Guide Editing
Aki Sakurai (KYOTO)
Yuri Yamane (KYOTO)

Art Director
Rikuto Yoshida

Character Art Lead
Sho Murata

Character Art
Yotaro Doi (1-UP)
Akiko Hirono
Sosuke Honda (1-UP)
Daisuke Ito
Masayuki Kawakita (1-UP)
Kyoko Kawasaki (1-UP)
Takafumi Moro (1-UP)
Misaki Nasu
Mika Nobemoto (1-UP)
Ikki Oikawa (1-UP)
Koki Sasaki (1-UP)
Haruka Seko (1-UP)
Mizuki Tatsuno
Jumpei Yamashita
Akane Yoshida

Field Art Lead
Naoki Mineta

Field Art
Takashi Abe (1-UP)
Koji Aoyama (1-UP)
Kazuyuki Endo (KYOTO)
Yoshikazu Hara (KYOTO)
Kazunori Hashimoto
Hanako Hisada (KYOTO)
Takeshi Hosono
Asami Inoue (1-UP)
Jun Ishioka (1-UP)
Mio Kikuchi (1-UP)
Youngseok Kong
Yoko Maruta (KYOTO)
Seiga Mizutamari
Naoya Nihei (1-UP)
Atsushi Nishibori (KYOTO)
Mayako Sugimoto
Risa Sugimoto (1-UP)
Midori Takaya (1-UP)
Jun Tanaka
Takayuki Yaeno (1-UP)
Makoto Yonezu

VFX Art Lead
Junki Ikeuchi (KYOTO)
Hirotaka Tanikawa

VFX Art
Junya Hiramatsu (KYOTO)
Keijiro Inoue (KYOTO)
Keisuke Nishikawa (KYOTO)
Sayaka Nishimura (KYOTO)
Kazumi Yamaguchi

Concept Art
Asami Inoue (1-UP)
Akane Yoshida

Technical Art
Naoki Mineta

Cutscene Art
Mizuki Tatsuno

Art Support
Hiroki Sano
Chiaki Uchida

Art Management
Daisuke Watanabe

Art Management Support
Takayuki Yaeno (1-UP)

Character Modeling
Masahiro Arimitsu
Shuhei Ishii
Mayumi Ito
Takumi Tominaga
Ataru Yamada

Field Modeling
Kaoru Furukawa
Haruki Haramaki
Yoko Homma
Daiki Ito
Futoshi Kimura
Yasuo Kumakura
Nobuaki Kuroda
Naoki Kuroshima
Takuro Nakamaru
Yusuke Narikiyo
Shunpei Sakaguchi
Satoshi Takahashi
Mizuho Wada

Modeling Support
Daisuke Ito

UI Design Lead
Yuki Nakamura

Senior UI Designer
Yasuhiko Matsuzaki

UI Design
Mei Ide

Character Animation
Noboru Hayashi
Keiichi Nagao
Wataru Neoi

Programming Director
Norihiro Aoyagi

Programming Lead
Wataru Tanaka

Character Programming Lead
Katsuyasu Ando

Character Programming
Hayato Ichino
Yusuke Kitazono
Tatsuya Kurihara
Kazuhiro Musa

UI Programming Lead
Hideyuki Sugawara

Camera Programming
Yusuke Kitazono

Graphics Programming Lead
Yosuke Mori

Senior Graphics Programmer
Hirokazu Matsuda

Graphics Programming
Tatsuya Kurihara

Graphics Tool Development Lead
Wataru Mikami(1-UP)

Graphics Tool Development
Tomonori Hiraishi(1-UP)
Yuichi Kurata (1-UP)
Shota Shimada (1-UP)
Tohru Yoshio (1-UP)

Graphics Tool Adviser
Yoshiyuki Sawada (KYOTO)

Environment Programming
Ryo Kawasaki
Takahiro Miyagawa
Kento Sakai
Tiago Sonobe

VFX Programming
Satoshi Miyama

Cutscene Programming
Masakaze Sato

Game Sequence Programming
Yotaro Kiriyama

Game Tool Development
Hitoshi Kanetani (KYOTO)
Toyoki Kataoka (KYOTO)
Ryota Maruko (KYOTO)
Yoji Okudera (KYOTO)
Yoshihiko Sakuraba (KYOTO)

Network Programming Lead
Tatsuro Ota

Network Programming
Yuta Yamashita

Network Support
Keichi Asa (KYOTO)
Noritaka Otsuka (KYOTO)
Kimihiko Shimomura (KYOTO)

Programming Management
Takeshi Hayakawa
Kiyoshi Takeuchi

Technical Support
Toru Inage (KYOTO)
Shotaro Iwanaga (KYOTO)
Yuta Ogawa (KYOTO)

Technical Adviser
Takuhiro Dohta (KYOTO)
Shigetoshi Kitayama (KYOTO)
Naoki Koga

Audio Director
Shigetoshi Gohara

Music Lead
Naoto Kubo

Music
Shiho Fujii (KYOTO)
Koji Kondo (KYOTO)


Lyrics
Nobuyoshi Suzuki
Rob Tunstall (NOA)

Player Sound Design
Yuki Tsuji (KYOTO)

Character Sound Design
Nobuyoshi Suzuki

Field Sound Design
Hiroki Araya (1-UP)

UI Sound Design
Yuki Tsuji (KYOTO)

Cutscene Sound Design
Shunsuke Hongo
Hiroki Taniguchi

Sound Programming
Wataru Tanimura


Sound Management
Mahito Yokota

Coordinator
Daisuke Tsujimura


Production Management
Atsushi Yamaguchi

Producer
Koichi Hayashida
Yoshiaki Koizumi

General Producer
Shinya Takahashi (KYOTO)

Executive Producers
Tatsumi Kimishima (KYOTO)
Shigeru Miyamoto (KYOTO)

 

[MisterSpo]

Based on their last game,66 credited plus some news hires that worked on Captain Toad/Bowsers Fury,EPD 8 is not really separated they had a lot of help on Odyssey and helped on Ring Fit/Animal Crossing

Spoiler: Credits Breakdown

Director
Kenta Motokura

Planning Director
Futoshi Shirai

Level Design Lead
Shinya Hiratake

Level Design
Satoshi Harayama
Hiroaki Hishinuma
Yuichi Iwasa (1-UP)
Haruka Kakinuma
Yuka Kitahara
Yusuke Nodama
Toshihiko Okamoto
Eisaku Sato (1-UP)
Seiichi Takahashi

Level Design Support
Kazuki Ishikawa
Shuta Murakami
Shuya Suzuki

Script
Hiroaki Hishinuma

Script Support
Emiko Yanai (Mario Club)

Action Guide Editing
Aki Sakurai (KYOTO)
Yuri Yamane (KYOTO)

Art Director
Rikuto Yoshida

Character Art Lead
Sho Murata

Character Art
Yotaro Doi (1-UP)
Akiko Hirono
Sosuke Honda (1-UP)
Daisuke Ito
Masayuki Kawakita (1-UP)
Kyoko Kawasaki (1-UP)
Takafumi Moro (1-UP)
Misaki Nasu
Mika Nobemoto (1-UP)
Ikki Oikawa (1-UP)
Koki Sasaki (1-UP)
Haruka Seko (1-UP)
Mizuki Tatsuno
Jumpei Yamashita
Akane Yoshida

Field Art Lead
Naoki Mineta

Field Art
Takashi Abe (1-UP)
Koji Aoyama (1-UP)
Kazuyuki Endo (KYOTO)
Yoshikazu Hara (KYOTO)
Kazunori Hashimoto
Hanako Hisada (KYOTO)
Takeshi Hosono
Asami Inoue (1-UP)
Jun Ishioka (1-UP)
Mio Kikuchi (1-UP)
Youngseok Kong
Yoko Maruta (KYOTO)
Seiga Mizutamari
Naoya Nihei (1-UP)
Atsushi Nishibori (KYOTO)
Mayako Sugimoto
Risa Sugimoto (1-UP)
Midori Takaya (1-UP)
Jun Tanaka
Takayuki Yaeno (1-UP)
Makoto Yonezu

VFX Art Lead
Junki Ikeuchi (KYOTO)
Hirotaka Tanikawa

VFX Art
Junya Hiramatsu (KYOTO)
Keijiro Inoue (KYOTO)
Keisuke Nishikawa (KYOTO)
Sayaka Nishimura (KYOTO)
Kazumi Yamaguchi

Concept Art
Asami Inoue (1-UP)
Akane Yoshida

Technical Art
Naoki Mineta

Cutscene Art
Mizuki Tatsuno

Art Support
Hiroki Sano
Chiaki Uchida

Art Management
Daisuke Watanabe

Art Management Support
Takayuki Yaeno (1-UP)

Character Modeling
Masahiro Arimitsu
Shuhei Ishii
Mayumi Ito
Takumi Tominaga
Ataru Yamada

Field Modeling
Kaoru Furukawa
Haruki Haramaki
Yoko Homma
Daiki Ito
Futoshi Kimura
Yasuo Kumakura
Nobuaki Kuroda
Naoki Kuroshima
Takuro Nakamaru
Yusuke Narikiyo
Shunpei Sakaguchi
Satoshi Takahashi
Mizuho Wada

Modeling Support
Daisuke Ito

UI Design Lead
Yuki Nakamura

Senior UI Designer
Yasuhiko Matsuzaki

UI Design
Mei Ide

Character Animation
Noboru Hayashi
Keiichi Nagao
Wataru Neoi

Programming Director
Norihiro Aoyagi

Programming Lead
Wataru Tanaka

Character Programming Lead
Katsuyasu Ando

Character Programming
Hayato Ichino
Yusuke Kitazono
Tatsuya Kurihara
Kazuhiro Musa

UI Programming Lead
Hideyuki Sugawara

Camera Programming
Yusuke Kitazono

Graphics Programming Lead
Yosuke Mori

Senior Graphics Programmer
Hirokazu Matsuda

Graphics Programming
Tatsuya Kurihara

Graphics Tool Development Lead
Wataru Mikami(1-UP)

Graphics Tool Development
Tomonori Hiraishi(1-UP)
Yuichi Kurata (1-UP)
Shota Shimada (1-UP)
Tohru Yoshio (1-UP)

Graphics Tool Adviser
Yoshiyuki Sawada (KYOTO)

Environment Programming
Ryo Kawasaki
Takahiro Miyagawa
Kento Sakai
Tiago Sonobe

VFX Programming
Satoshi Miyama

Cutscene Programming
Masakaze Sato

Game Sequence Programming
Yotaro Kiriyama

Game Tool Development
Hitoshi Kanetani (KYOTO)
Toyoki Kataoka (KYOTO)
Ryota Maruko (KYOTO)
Yoji Okudera (KYOTO)
Yoshihiko Sakuraba (KYOTO)

Network Programming Lead
Tatsuro Ota

Network Programming
Yuta Yamashita

Network Support
Keichi Asa (KYOTO)
Noritaka Otsuka (KYOTO)
Kimihiko Shimomura (KYOTO)

Programming Management
Takeshi Hayakawa
Kiyoshi Takeuchi

Technical Support
Toru Inage (KYOTO)
Shotaro Iwanaga (KYOTO)
Yuta Ogawa (KYOTO)

Technical Adviser
Takuhiro Dohta (KYOTO)
Shigetoshi Kitayama (KYOTO)
Naoki Koga

Audio Director
Shigetoshi Gohara

Music Lead
Naoto Kubo

Music
Shiho Fujii (KYOTO)
Koji Kondo (KYOTO)


Lyrics
Nobuyoshi Suzuki
Rob Tunstall (NOA)

Player Sound Design
Yuki Tsuji (KYOTO)

Character Sound Design
Nobuyoshi Suzuki

Field Sound Design
Hiroki Araya (1-UP)

UI Sound Design
Yuki Tsuji (KYOTO)

Cutscene Sound Design
Shunsuke Hongo
Hiroki Taniguchi

Sound Programming
Wataru Tanimura


Sound Management
Mahito Yokota

Coordinator
Daisuke Tsujimura


Production Management
Atsushi Yamaguchi

Producer
Koichi Hayashida
Yoshiaki Koizumi

General Producer
Shinya Takahashi (KYOTO)

Executive Producers
Tatsumi Kimishima (KYOTO)
Shigeru Miyamoto (KYOTO)

I see - thank you!

Tokyo really ripe for a chunk of investment, which does seem to be happening even before the investor briefing.

 

[MetalLord]

I see - thank you!

Tokyo really ripe for a chunk of investment, which does seem to be happening even before the investor briefing.

They are apparently paired with NST now and the 3 studios are growing ,1-UP more than doubled it size since Odyssey and moved to nintendo building last year,i expect pretty soon EP8 family to be 300 even without the Kyoto help they always get

 

[MisterSpo]

They are apparently paired with NST now and the 3 studios are growing ,1-UP more than doubled it size since Odyssey and moved to nintendo building last year,i expect pretty soon EP8 family to be 300 even without the Kyoto help they always get

Yes that's fair - and if it's true that Nintendo want EPD8 to make a DK game, then presumably there is expansion happening there. But development co-operation with 1Up and NST certainly boosts the available resources.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

First guy from SIE japan to join nintendo after the studio closed,i expect more to come

Interesting. Which team and game did Ryoko work on at Nintendo?

 

[MetalLord]

Interesting. Which team and game did Ryoko work on at Nintendo?

Animal Crossing DLC

 

[EAD Ninja]

Thank you for posting - the EPD numbers for me feel low, because I'm sure I saw an estimated headcount of 800 or so for EAD before EAD and SPD combined. Given the team sizes for some individual games (aren't we at teams of 300 plus for Breath of the Wild and New Horizons? Not all from EPD, but the bulk would be), and given the amount of hiring at Nintendo since the Switch launched, I'd have thought EPD would be larger now.

But I understand it's likely difficult to get an accurate headcount given Nintendo don't reveal any official figures for that division. 700 is David Gibson's estimated, of course, and he's presumably well connected. @EAD Ninja - have you heard anything on numbers for EPD?

Edit - re-reading the tweet, I'm guessing T stands for transcript, so he is possibly referring to official numbers from a briefing? Or perhaps T refers to a Nintendo executive? (Shinya Takahashi?)

The numbers could vary depending if you are referencing only the game developers in Kyoto, as opposed to the tech/service/network/middleware/hardware developers (PTD) and game developers (EPD) in Kyoto. It's hard to say how many developers specifically EPD has in Kyoto, let alone how many overall developers are occupying the development center in Kyoto which was supposed to house over 1500 personnel.

What's this based on? That seems small, given that EPD 8 make 3D Mario and have been moved into a larger facility.

While we are not sure exactly what the updated number or growth plan is for the Tokyo R&D unit, keep in mind that before the move it was the EPD development group and a big network/service team (PTD) (reabsorbed back from Nintendo Network Services) that occupied the R&D side of the Tokyo office. The Tokyo office was also hiring a lot for mobile. Finally, it's important to keep in mind that one of the reasons Nintendo wanted to have a base in Tokyo is because of all the art/asset freelancers and agencies that developers can easily contract to fill out their production teams.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Animal Crossing DLC

Ooh, neat, what's the credit under?

 

[MisterSpo]

The numbers could vary depending if you are referencing only the game developers in Kyoto, as opposed to the tech/service/network/middleware/hardware developers (PTD) and game developers (EPD) in Kyoto. It's hard to say how many developers specifically EPD has in Kyoto, let alone how many overall developers are occupying the development center in Kyoto which was supposed to house over 1500 personnel.



While we are not sure exactly what the updated number or growth plan is for the Tokyo R&D unit, keep in mind that before the move it was the EPD development group and a big network/service team (PTD) (reabsorbed back from Nintendo Network Services) that occupied the R&D side of the Tokyo office. The Tokyo office was also hiring a lot for mobile. Finally, it's important to keep in mind that one of the reasons Nintendo wanted to have a base in Tokyo is because of all the art/asset freelancers and agencies that developers can easily contract to fill out their production teams.

Thank you kindly for the information.

 

[Raccoon]

Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Ryoko Morita - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

First guy from SIE japan to join nintendo after the studio closed,i expect more to come

holy shit if we get SIE I'll die laughing

 

[MetalLord]

Ooh, neat, what's the credit under?

Additional Development Staff for Updates (2.0) like everyone else

Found new info

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryoko-morita-2222981b7/

Sony Interactive Entertainment
2D,UI designer
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Dates Employed Apr 1999 – Feb 2021
Employment Duration 21 yrs 11 mos


Also Lead artist from this obscure psp game :

 

[Dunban]

Interesting to see SIE Japan Studio staff making the jump. I wonder if Nintendo will work with any of the offshoot companies made by former employees as well.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Additional Development Staff for Updates (2.0) like everyone else

Found new info

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryoko-morita-2222981b7/

Sony Interactive Entertainment
2D,UI designer
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Dates Employed Apr 1999 – Feb 2021
Employment Duration 21 yrs 11 mos


Also Lead artist from this obscure psp game :

Yeah I found the page too (I'm not super hot on posting them for privacy reasons...), but Ryoko is a great pick-up if they were key in the 2D art in Japan Studio's games. The pic above, Piyotama, legit fits snuggly with Nintendo in visual style.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Interesting to see SIE Japan Studio staff making the jump. I wonder if Nintendo will work with any of the offshoot companies made by former employees as well.

The only ones I know of is Bokeh where the main biggies went and Gen Design by Fumito Ueda.

 

[MetalLord]

The only ones I know of is Bokeh where the main biggies went and Gen Design by Fumito Ueda.

Famitsu did a post mortem on SIE and what happened with some of the leads and some of the new studios

SIE JAPANスタジオを卒業したクリエイターの今後の動向。11名の新天地での活動を追う | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

2020年の後半から2021年にかけて、SIEから多くの著名クリエイターが退職を発表した。SIEの再編に合わせた動きだが、退職した彼らはどこへ行き、何をするのか。新天地での動きを追った。

www.famitsu.com

 

[nakuto]

EPD 8 have around 65-70 not 200

EPD's teams are a few number of people. they pull from a pool that can work on anything

I have been doing a little more research on the number given to EPD #8.

According to this article from Nintendo-online.de in 2014, at the same time that the Nintendo launched Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, the number of employees was estimated to be around 100 people.

As EAD Ninja stated, "one of the reasons Nintendo wanted to have a base in Tokyo is because of all the art/asset freelancers and agencies that developers can easily contract to fill out their production teams.". This is reflected in Koizumi's statements in the related Iwata Asks.

Going back to the figures in the table, the +200 employees are collected from the credits of Super Mario Odyssey, the latest AAA EPD #8 game, where 215 developers are collected. This figure may be high, but until Nintendo publishes figures it is the closest approximation I can think of.

 

[evilmonkey]

2​

Sora Ltd.

2​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sora_Ltd.

You have Sora listed as a subsidiary but in fact it's independent. The subsidiary was Project Sora which was dissolved soon after development finished on their one project.

 

[MetalLord]

I have been doing a little more research on the number given to EPD #8.

According to this article from Nintendo-online.de in 2014, at the same time that the Nintendo launched Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, the number of employees was estimated to be around 100 people.

As EAD Ninja stated, "one of the reasons Nintendo wanted to have a base in Tokyo is because of all the art/asset freelancers and agencies that developers can easily contract to fill out their production teams.". This is reflected in Koizumi's statements in the related Iwata Asks.

Going back to the figures in the table, the +200 employees are collected from the credits of Super Mario Odyssey, the latest AAA EPD #8 game, where 215 developers are collected. This figure may be high, but until Nintendo publishes figures it is the closest approximation I can think of.

215 from a lot of companies,100 from a lot of companies,they talking about the whole team,not only the nintendo tokyo in-house staff, the credits have contractors from studios like digitalscape,freelancers and help from kyoto credited among epd tokyo staff, without any distinction,all those articles just count the names without further research. they always been much smaller than what you see in the credits
This was the whole studio in 2011

 

[nakuto]

You have Sora listed as a subsidiary but in fact it's independent. The subsidiary was Project Sora which was dissolved soon after development finished on their one project.

Fixed

215 from a lot of companies,100 from a lot of companies,they talking about the whole team,not only the nintendo tokyo in-house staff, the credits have contractors from studios like digitalscape,freelancers and help from kyoto credited among epd tokyo staff, without any distinction,all those articles just count the names without further research. they always been much smaller than what you see in the credits
This was the whole studio in 2011

Thanks for sharing the picture. After a simple faces account, in 2011 were 34 people working as core EPD #8 group. I will assume this figure as best estimation for now.

 

[N75]

Did Happy Home Paradise have a credits section?

 

[TheMoon]

Did Happy Home Paradise have a credits section?

dunno but the main game credits have been updated to reflect DLC staff (Daan Koopman aka NintenDaan is in there, who had a brief stint as an NOE contractor this year) or so I've been told, I spaced out during the K.K. show as I always do

 

[MetalLord]

Did Happy Home Paradise have a credits section?

Theres a credits sequence but with no names,the main credits changed and nintendowikia marked the differences https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_Crossing:_New_Horizons/credits

 

[LoneRanger]

Aside from easiest predictions, I predict that:

• epd#4 is working on ring sports adventure, like ring fit, spiritual sequel to wii sports/resort. It may use another name. Maybe 2023?
• epd#7 has full hands on a new tomadochi. 2023?
• epd#8 are working on next mario 3D and whatever end being DK with full help from 1UP and NST. Whom will release first is difficult to predict.
• epd#9 are working on nintendogs and mario kart 9. Both for 2022/23.

monolith is with xenoblade 3 and assisting epd#3 and #5 with their projects.
next level games is likely a 2023/24 project, maybe they have various things in development. Very difficult to predict.
intelligent systems is possible working on the rumoured fe4 remake, assisting K-T on next mainline FE and on a pre-production state of next Paper Mario.
camelot is co-developing a new mario sports (baseball?) with bandai-namco
good-feel is with a new 2d game, maybe wario land?

 

[MetalLord]

Some Data

New Graduates
2014 : 57
2015 : 51
2016 : 51
2017 : 56
2018 : 59
2019 : 81
2020 : 84
2021: 105

April 2018-March 2019 Fiscal Year Hires : 129 (59 Graduates + 70 Mid Career)
April 2019-March 2020 Fisca Year Hires : 153 (81 Graduates + 72 Mid Career)
Last Fiscal Year (April 2020-March 2021) Hires : 167 (84 Graduates + 83 Mid Career)
Last 6 Months (March 2021- September 2021) Hires : 123 (105 Graduates + 18 Mid Career)

Staff at start of switch generation (2016 Fiscal Year) : 2,066
Current Staff : 2,621
Growth : 555 (26.86 Percent)

1% turnover rate is absolutely insane

 

[Nabbit]

A 97K average salary seems pretty darn good. If the starting salary is monthly, about $28K is not amazing. But with that turnover rate they must be making people happy. Maybe starting salaries are less competitive in Japan.

 

[N75]

BDSP credits (thanks MondoMega since I assume that’s you)

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl - Kyoto Report

kyoto-report.wikidot.com

Nothing too interesting. We knew that ILCA was handling development with Masuda. I don’t even think Creatures/CG Studio helped with the models like they usually do.

Jun Taniguchi, who left Vanpool last year(?), was the Planning Lead. Masuda surprisingly worked on some of the music along with Shota Kageyama. He only did the battle tracks in the original games.

 

[Chaotic Neutral]

I don’t even think Creatures/CG Studio helped with the models like they usually do.

That is very interesting. Combined with the ILCA outsourcing, I think we might be seeing the beginning of a trend of GF being a little more lax with the IP.

 

[N75]

That is very interesting. Combined with the ILCA outsourcing, I think we might be seeing the beginning of a trend of GF being a little more lax with the IP.

Well I assume that BDSP exists in the first place because GF and Creatures were busy with other projects. SwSh DLC, Arceus, Detective Pikachu 2, and likely Gen 9 (if we go by what happened with SwSh, pre-production probably started in mid/late 2019, with full production starting after the DLC last year).

ILCA worked on Home, so the working relationship was already there.

 

[Zalman]

Are we assuming Hitoshi Yamagami has left Nintendo? It's been a while since he was credited in a game. I see Kinashi has taken over as Pokémon producer.

 

[MetalLord]

Alpha Dream

 

[ILikeFeet]

Alpha Dream

why try to revive a carcass?

 

[evilmonkey]

Are we assuming Hitoshi Yamagami has left Nintendo? It's been a while since he was credited in a game. I see Kinashi has taken over as Pokémon producer.

Getting the feeling he quietly left EPD for another division and that one day out of the blue his name will show up on NCL's board of directors list.

 

[Hidden04]

Speaking of Game Freak being busy with other projects, do we have any idea when they started working on Arceus and why they are developing the game in the first place? I hope we get a interview soon. It will also be quite interesting to see how many employees are working on Arceus and which ones are working on something else.

 

[Supreme Overlord]

Sony Interactive Entertainment
2D,UI designer
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Dates Employed Apr 1999 – Feb 2021
Employment Duration 21 yrs 11 mos


Also Lead artist from this obscure psp game :

That is some nice art. I look forward to seeing some good stuff from this.
Concerns about Good Feel possibly not working on a new Yoshi title must be overblown, because obviously this guy is giving it some cool art.

holy shit if we get SIE I'll die laughing

That would be quite the turn of events.
Give them a studio with that same acronym.

Interesting to see SIE Japan Studio staff making the jump. I wonder if Nintendo will work with any of the offshoot companies made by former employees as well.

I wondered that, too, when they started splitting off. It seems like it would be a good opportunity for Nintendo if these developers were interested.

 

[Marce-chan]

Aside from easiest predictions, I predict that:

• epd#4 is working on ring sports adventure, like ring fit, spiritual sequel to wii sports/resort. It may use another name. Maybe 2023?
• epd#7 has full hands on a new tomadochi. 2023?
• epd#8 are working on next mario 3D and whatever end being DK with full help from 1UP and NST. Whom will release first is difficult to predict.
• epd#9 are working on nintendogs and mario kart 9. Both for 2022/23.

monolith is with xenoblade 3 and assisting epd#3 and #5 with their projects.
next level games is likely a 2023/24 project, maybe they have various things in development. Very difficult to predict.
intelligent systems is possible working on the rumoured fe4 remake, assisting K-T on next mainline FE and on a pre-production state of next Paper Mario.
camelot is co-developing a new mario sports (baseball?) with bandai-namco
good-feel is with a new 2d game, maybe wario land?

If I had to guess:
Ring Fit Adventure 2 (the brand is just so big now, I don't think they'll go with anything rather than a full sequel). I think 2023 as 2022 sounds stacked already. And Ring Fit keeps selling.
I don't think we should rule out Tomodachi Life 2 for 2022 yet.
I think DK by EPD Tokyo will release before the next main 3D Mario. 2022. I think Super Mario Odyssey 2 or Super Mario Next will be early 2023, just after the film.
I think Nintendogs is a great fit for a December 2022 title. Mario Kart Next can be as well, just before the film. But I think it can be 2023 too.
Xenoblade 3 for spring/summer 2022 is my bet.
For Next Level I'm expecting Luigi's Mansion 4 by late 2023. Maybe they surprised us with an IP revival in a new genre(Kid Icarus? F-Zero?).
I think IS developed reimagined FE game, 2022.
Camelot supervising Golden Sun remakes, while making a new Mario sports spin off in the veins of Ring Fit.
Good Feel is hard to guess but maybe Wario Land yeah.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Speaking of Game Freak being busy with other projects, do we have any idea when they started working on Arceus and why they are developing the game in the first place? I hope we get a interview soon. It will also be quite interesting to see how many employees are working on Arceus and which ones are working on something else.

GF starts planning for their next game right before they hit the final stretch of their upcoming game. so Arceus probably started pre-production in 2018 and proper production in 2019. as for the why, who knows. I expect the split between Arceus and something else to be similar to Sword and Shield but more lopsided towards Arceus. it's a much bigger game in scope

 

[Hidden04]

Honestly, I could see the next Nintendo Direct to be a big deal for first and third-parties, partly because of COVID, and because of development cycles beginning to wrap up. All we really need now is Mario Odyssey 2 and Xenoblade 3. I do hope we get Mario Kart 9 though, not only because it would probably break the internet, but it would probably be quite different from 8, simply because of the gap between entries. I think MK9 will happen, despite what people think. I'm very excited.

 

[MetalLord]

Japan had no COVID-19 deaths 1st time in 15 months

Japan reported no daily deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday for the first time in 15 months, as infections decline rapidly in the country. Health officials on Monday said there were no deaths the previous day, giving Japan a total of 18,310 fatalities since the pandemic began. Japan on Monday also...

autos.yahoo.com

 

[TheMoon]

Honestly, I could see the next Nintendo Direct to be a big deal for first and third-parties, partly because of COVID, and because of development cycles beginning to wrap up. All we really need now is Mario Odyssey 2 and Xenoblade 3. I do hope we get Mario Kart 9 though, not only because it would probably break the internet, but it would probably be quite different from 8, simply because of the gap between entries. I think MK9 will happen, despite what people think. I'm very excited.

as much as I dislike it, we can't forget MK Tour (and to a lesser degree Live) exists as some sort of experimental playground for them.

 

[MetalLord]

Dont forget Mario Kart creator is in charge of the Mobile Games department at nintendo,thats why Tour got special treatment,it was directed by yabuki who only produced ARMS and Deluxe and all the leads from 8 were involved,teorically, its even more mainline than 9 will be