I have been thinking about this topic quite a bit lately, the Wii and DS continue to pull in the cash, and with the recent E309 under its belt, Nintendo has succeeded in fully supporting each branch (core and casual) of gamers.
With that covered, and profits still souring, who would you want Nintendo to buy up and consume into a first party studio?
Recent Purchases/Funded Studios:
Monolith Soft. (Baten Kaitos, Disaster: Day of Crisis)
Project Sora (Founded by the creator of Super Smash Bros, and his team)
Retro Studios (Metroid Prime series)
Other development studios are likely owned by Nintendo (such as Grezzo Games), but those are the official ones that have been announced via press release.
Here are the 5 studios I would hope Nintendo adds to their ranks.
5. Cing & Town Factory
I imagine these two can be had for a fairly small sum, and they have already had strong relations with Nintendo in their short life span. Nintendo will be publishing their newest Wii game (Another Code R) in all territories (as of this writing). They have also worked together on the Hotel Dusk games for the DS and the previous Trace Memory game.
That was all Cing, Town Factory is the developer who was pulled in to help out with the development of Little Kings Story (the other Wii game they have produced). Little King's Story has received amazing reviews so far, and I would love to see what these two could do together (with Nintendo's funding as an added bonus).
4. Sega
Now Sega is a different animal when it comes to money and how much it may cost to grab them, as it would likely cost a very large chunk of profit to carry over and incorporate someone as big as Sega. This would be a financial risk that I fear Nintendo would never take, but if they did the payoffs could be huge.
The payoffs would come in multiple fashions, Nintendo could inject some of its own developers into Sega and push them more towards a Nintendo quality development studio. Then Nintendo gets to happily relinquish many games from the competitors (no Virtua Fighter, Sonic, Golden Axe, Valkyria Chronicles for anyone), those titles being exclusive to Nintendo would be huge, and with the rights of something like Sonic placed in Nintendo's hands you have a large quantity of potential.
Overworks(Valkyria Chronicles), Prope (Lets Tap), Smilebit (Panzer Dragoon), would all be included in the deal, and Nintendo would also grab a large share of the arcade game business.
3. Treasure
Not an unlikely choice, as Nintendo has bought out Monolith Soft. shortly after announcing that they were creating a game together. Treasure would work in the same style as that purchase, with Sin and Punishment 2 being developed by Treasure and Nintendo as we speak.
Treasure's cost? Likely nothing near that of Sega, but a large enough sum to warrant a slight concern, but I believe that Treasure could be put to work on some core games, filling in a need that Nintendo does not necessarily "need", but could improve on.
Nintendo would also relinquish full control over the Sin and Punishment franchise, along with stakes in Gunstar Heroes and Mischief Makers, and the rights to Ikaruga.
Out of this list I would place Treasure as one of the more likely studios to be bought out by Nintendo in some form.
2. Factor 5
You could probably find the employees of Factor 5 in court these days, after claiming that the studio did not pay them for 2 months and then laid them off unfairly.
Still, Factor 5 is Factor 5, and they have an uncanny knack for making the best out of nothing in the graphics department. Factor 5 could likely be had for extremely cheap (as it would only be the name, and then rehiring of the employees), and I'm sure most of them would be happy to get on with life after Factor 5's sudden close, so working for Nintendo is probably a step in the right direction for many of them.
Grabbing Factor 5 also means grabbing the Turrican series, a welcome addition to a genre Nintendo is lacking in (as of now, at least). Factor 5 could also be the perfect developer for Star Fox, perhaps handing the rains to them for a long period of time and allowing them to create something like Rogue Squadron with it would be a good thing for that franchise.
Factor 5 has also worked with Nintendo before, and were once considered a second party studio until their departure to create Lair for the PS3. Still, the relationships should hold true on most levels, and I'm sure Factor 5 would be forgiven and accepted, if the right price and opportunity came along.
1. Whoever Nintendo Decides They Want
Might sound like a lame answer, but it is the best one available to us as Nintendo fans. Perhaps they have looked at the 4 I mentioned above and have already decided that they are not worth the trouble, or maybe they are not willing to work for Nintendo and would not be a good choice in keeping the company nice and together. Perhaps Nintendo has already found a slate of developers they want to buy, and they are signing the papers right now, or maybe they are completely content with what they have (and lets face it, they have quite a bit). Whichever way it turns we will have to trust that Nintendo can continue to produce quality games for the DSi and Wii, and whatever comes after those, it's the best we can hope for and the most we can say in the matter.
What studios would you want Nintendo to buy? Comment below.
