TGO Daily | January 6, 2021 | Nintendo Goes Next Level
January 6, 2021
Hey, why didn’t anyone tell me I was using the wrong year in the title for the past few days? We’ve all got growing pains with new calendar years. There’s my first one, and I’m sure there’s more to come.
To the new subscribers of the newsletter, welcome! I hope I’m able to bring you some value :)
Until tomorrow,
Adrian
In The News
Nintendo Goes Next Level
Nintendo has announced that they will be acquiring Vancouver-based development studio Next Level Games (NLG). The two parties have a deep history, with NLG developing Super Mario Strikers for the GameC ube in 2005, and most recently Luigi’s Mansion 3.
The sum of the transaction is undisclosed, and the deal is expected to close on March 1st.
Fully acquiring a games studio is rare for Nintendo, who tend to prefer long-lasting relationships. NLG joins studios like Monolith Soft (Xenoblade Chronicles) and Retro Studios (Metroid, Donkey Kong Country). The reason why Nintendo sprung on them was because its owners were looking to sell their shares, and Nintendo didn’t want to lose the investments they had already made in it.
So it seems like this is an exception in Nintendo’s business strategy, but I’m sure it’s welcome nonetheless. Luigi’s Mansion 3 made a lot of people happy, and I look forward to seeing what else they can do.
Minecraft Earth Shutting Down
The AR mobile game Minecraft Earth is officially shutting down in June. Today they launched its final update, adding some content, removing microtransactions, and reducing time/currency costs.
Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play – two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation.
Interestingly, anyone who has ever spent money on the game will be given a free copy of the mobile Bedrock edition of Minecraft proper.
It’s sad to see this one go — it had a neat concept of players creating things in the real world alongside everyone else who had the app. It only lasted a year and a half, originally launching in November 2019.
The Sinking City Un-sinks
Last summer, an indie game called The Sinking City was pulled from stores by its developer, Frogwares. They claimed to do it because their publisher, Nacon Entertainment, was withholding payments from them — as much as €1 million in royalties. Frogwares also claimed that Nacon was attempting to outright steal their IP, rather than just licensing it.
Today, The Sinking City returns to digital storefronts, but the issues remain. Paris courts have ruled that Frogwares “had terminated its contract in a ‘manifestly unlawful’ manner” (Thanks, gi.biz). Essentially, Frogwares illegally terminated their contract before the courts could decide whether Nacon did it first.
Good news for players who wanted to get their hands on the game (it’s pretty good, feel free to check it out), but bad news for Frogwares. Hopefully it all gets sorted in the months to come.
Slay The Spire Goes Physical!!!!
This is a selfish inclusion, but I HAVE to talk about it.
Deckbuilding rogue-like Slay The Spire is officially getting a physical board game release! What!
There are very few details available right now, but I’m super excited to see how they translate it. The most interesting part is that it’ll be playable from 1-4 players, which means it won’t be a direct translation of the game. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.
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