Nintendo keeps missing opportunities to buy talented Western developers

This week, EA bought Respawn Entertainment, the developer of Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Apparently Nexon put in a bid for the company as well, but EA had the right of first refusal and could match Nexon's offer; EA eventually outbid Nexon. I believe that Nintendo should have been in the talks. They also missed out on the chance to buy Crytek UK in 2014. Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical Design, are experts in crafting first-person shooters, a genre that Nintendo-systems are sorely lacking in.

In recent years, Nintendo has had good working relationships with other companies in Japan. Bandai Namco developed Smash 4, Game Arts developed Smash Brawl, Nintendo has worked with Koei Tecmo on Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors; Sega's Amusement Vision developed F-Zero GX and AX; Namco developed Star Fox Assault, among many other examples. They are reaching out, people are responding, and they are making money together. It's a win-win situation.

I understand the difficulty in having the language-barrier between Japanese and English, but I feel that Nintendo needs an excellent Western developer to make excellent exclusive games. The Western developer they bring into the fold must also be given a lot of creative autonomy. Retro Studios seems like they have little to no creative freedom and are under the stiff arm of Nintendo of Japan. Nintendo needs to loosen up and foster the growth of a Western studio, kind of like how very slowly, Naughty Dog went from an average developer creating the digitized fighting-game: Way of the Warrior, to very well-respected developer creating hit after hit today like The Last of Us and the Uncharted-series.

Nintendo has long-lacked a powerful Western presence in their library. Even if Nintendo purchases a high-quality Western developer, it won't be easy. The budgets will be high, the risks will be high, and the first few games may bomb; but gamers will notice the effort. Eventually, the developer will create a masterpiece and bring an Eastern-Western balance to Nintendo.

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