Nintendo has announced plans to fully acquire Bandai Namco Studios Singapore, a developer it has previously used to bolster its work on key franchises such as Splatoon and Pokémon.
In a statement to investors, released this morning, Nintendo said it had entered into a share transfer agreement with Bandai Namco for the studio — which it will now rename as Nintendo Studios Singapore.
Initially, Nintendo will purchase 80% of Bandai Namco Sinapore Studio shares on April 1, 2026. It then plans to gobble up the remaining 20% of shares “after a certain period,” Nintendo said, “once the subsidiary’s operations have stabilized.”
Nintendo does not typically trumpet the external development studios it partners with to work on its own franchises, but video game credits have shown that the Singapore-based outfit has contributed to 2022’s Splatoon 3, and was the lead developer behind 2021’s New Pokémon Snap.
Reportedly, the studio was also briefly tasked with working on Metroid Prime 4, before Nintendo restarted development at Retro Studios. And more generally, Bandai Namco overall has enjoyed a close relationship with Nintendo in recent years, with other teams within the company working on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Pokkén Tournament.
It’s relatively unusual for Nintendo to acquire other developers, though recent years have seen the company acquire a steady stream of external teams it has built a history of collaboration with.
At the start of 2021, Nintendo reached into its wallet for Vancouver-based Luigi’s Mansion 3 maker Next Level Games. In February 2022, Nintendo bought long-time development partner SRD. And in late 2024, Nintendo upped its stake in Xenoblade and Zelda co-developer Monolith Soft, to now 100% own the company.
Then there’s mo-cap and CGI specialist studio Dynamo Pictures, now re-named Nintendo Pictures, which Nintendo acquired in 2022. The company is now focused on making “visual content utilizing Nintendo IP” — our first glimpse of which arrived last month in the shape of a surprise Pikmin short film.
As for Bandai Namco Studios Singapore — or rather, Nintendo Studios Singapore — it’s unknown what the company is working on now. But it’s a fair bet its team may be assisting development on Splatoon once again, with the upcoming mysterious Splatoon: Raiders now announced for Switch 2.
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Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
