Nintendo acquiring the studio that ported Hogwarts Legacy is super interesting

In a move that has surprised literally everyone, Nintendo has made a studio acquisition. In a rare move, the company bought Shiver Entertainment, a Miami-based port specialist, from embattled Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group.

Shiver, notably, is the studio that somehow managed to bring both Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy to Nintendo Switch in 2023. Given the enormous gulf in power between the Switch and the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, this was no easy task, and the results left quite a lot to be desired. But merely getting feature-complete and functional versions of these games up and running on Switch could be considered an achievement in itself.

At any rate, Shiver’s work seems to have impressed Nintendo enough that it took the unusual step (for Nintendo) of dipping into its vast cash reserves and actually buying something. (Nintendo is actually the richest company in Japan, going by money in the bank, perhaps precisely because it never spends on itself. Historically, the company has been quite uninterested in late capitalism’s obsession with growth above all else, preferring good, old-fashioned profit — and Scrooge McDuck-style piles of money.)

Nintendo’s press release makes it clear that Shiver’s port expertise is why it bought the studio. It specifically shouts out Shiver’s work on Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy, notes the studio’s “high-level resources for porting and developing software titles,” and says that after acquisition “Shiver’s focus will remain the same, continuing commissions that port and develop software for multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch.”

Image: Avalanche Software/Shiver Entertainment/WB Games

But why would Nintendo be interested in acquiring a third-party, work-for-hire port specialist in the first place? There are many studios that specialize in this sort of thing, but they’re rarely acquired by platform-holders like Nintendo. When this does happen, it’s more likely to be a studio that makes shiny, enhanced remasters of older games — like Bluepoint Games, which was acquired by Sony in 2021 — than an outfit that specializes in the less glamorous work of wrestling the latest releases onto less powerful hardware.

The most obvious conclusion is that, when it comes to the Switch 2, Nintendo is getting serious about reducing the gap in software libraries between its hybrid handheld and the current generation of home consoles and PCs. It wants AAA games to launch on its next console, and to that end, it has taken the unprecedented step of bringing porting expertise in-house, so it can offer this service to third-party publishers itself. It will probably find a willing market; Square Enix, for one, has recently indicated that it wants to bring its biggest games to as many platforms as it can, including Nintendo’s.

Shiver is particularly experienced with Unreal Engine titles, and Nintendo has reportedly been demonstrating the Switch 2’s ability to run Unreal Engine 5 to its partners. And while the Switch 2 will certainly be less powerful than PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, reports indicate that it will be able to get quite close to them in terms of its visuals, in part thanks to use of Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS upscaling technology.

There’s one last question. Why does Nintendo mention that, “even after it becomes part of the Nintendo group,” Shiver will continue to work porting games to “multiple platforms”? This is most likely a veiled reference to the Switch 2 — which Nintendo has not named, though recently admitted exists. But it may also be that Nintendo is happy to let Shiver continue to work on other systems, partly so it can learn more about them and expand its porting expertise.

Either way, it’s a fascinating development, and an indication that Nintendo is getting ready to step a little further out of its bubble with the Switch 2, and reintegrate with the rest of the game industry.