Indie Games have become a major part of the industry in recent years and in many ways they are affecting the entire direction of the industry. All of the big three console makers have worked directly with indie devs such as Microsoft buying Mojang, Sony publishing games like Journey and Nintendo buying the rights to and then publishing Snipperclips.
As a result of this, I began thinking about what potentially may occur in the future. I think that in the future, companies like Nintendo should expand themselves by acquiring indie studios and/or indie games. This isn’t an insane idea like some may think, given that its already happening, such as with the above examples. These studios can often bring something to the table that companies like Nintendo themselves are lacking.
Let’s look at Foxbat. the company developing Unholy Night: The Darkness Hunter. This is a retro fighting game being made as a new Super Famicom game and is being localized as a SNES game by Retroism. Foxbat is made up of ex SNK developers who worked on King of Fighters and more. Were Nintendo to work with them, they could help give Nintendo an edge into fighting games which Nintendo is currently lacking in. Yes they have Arms and Smash but those are not traditional fighting games.
We could also consider Yacht Club Games, who have made one of the best retraux games in recent memory with Shovel Knight. This critically acclaimed gem wowed critics and gamers alike, and if the developer were part of Nintendo, then they could help to make revivals of older IP in that same style. Of course there is also the fact that by that same logic, Inti Creates should also be looked at. After all, they created Azure Striker Gunvolt, an amazing Mega Man successor, and made the excellent Blaster Master Zero. Having them would be a way to experiment with older IP done in new ways.
However, these are just some examples.. The truth is, many indie companies would actually love to form partnerships with big companies and this could be a way for them to expand them and for companies Nintendo to get some new blood working on new ideas. This is especially true for expanding outside of their talent in Japan. The fact is, the Big 3 and other big companies are going to try and make moves to acquire indie developers soon. The industry is not what it once was and maybe this is actually going to turn out to be for the better.
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The above was the opinion solely of the author and does not necessarily reflect those of ROG or its staff.