Nintendo has made a rare studio acquisition

Nintendo rarely makes acquisitions and when it does, it tends to pick up smaller studios that have previously worked on its own franchises. The case is no different here, with Nintendo announcing that it is acquiring Bandai Namco Studios Singapore. 

No, Nintendo isn't acquiring all of Bandai Namco, but it is buying the company's Singapore-based studio. Previously, Nintendo has contracted this studio for work on games like Splatoon 3, Pokémon Snap (2021) and they even worked on early versions of Metroid Prime 4 before development moved over to Nintendo's own Retro Studios.

The acquisition will take place in two phases, with Nintendo buying 80% of shares in April 2026, followed by the remaining 20% some months later. The studio will also be renamed as Nintendo Studios Singapore.

In recent years, Nintendo has made a handful of acquisitions, although not nearly as many as the likes of Microsoft and Sony. Since 2020, the company has bought Next Level Games, who worked on Luigi's Mansion 3, as well as another long-time partner studio, SRD. It also now wholly owns Monolith Soft, the company behind the Xenoblade RPGs, and it picked up Dynamo Pictures, rebranded as Nintendo Pictures, although that company is more focused on Nintendo's movie ambitions rather than games.

KitGuru Says: Nintendo has had a close working relationship with Bandai Namco over the course of the Switch generation. That no doubt played a role in getting this acquisition over the line. 

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