Nintendo has announced plans to acquire Canadian developer Next Level Games, a studio that has worked on some of the company’s largest franchises. Next Level is already a second-party partner, meaning it only makes games for Nintendo platforms, but Nintendo says the acquisition will help secure internal development resources and foster collaboration.
Next Level is based in Vancouver and is probably best known for developing the second and third Luigi’s Mansion games. Luigi’s Mansion 3 in particular, it’s one of the more technically advanced games available on the Switch, with impressive animation and physics. Other Nintendo projects developed at the next level include both Super Mario Strikers titles on the GameCube and the Wii, Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the 3DS, and the Wii reload of Punch-Out !!.
Financial details of the acquisition have not been released, but Nintendo expects it to be done on March 1. Nintendo will buy out 100 percent of Next Level’s shares, saying it should have only a slight effect on its earnings in the financial year.