Nintendo plans to buy CG animation company Dynamo Pictures, which will be rebranded as Nintendo Pictures.
Announced by Nintendo on Thursday, the gaming company has agreed to buy 100 percent of outstanding shares of Tokyo-based Dynamo Pictures — so yes, own it entirely. The deal is expected to close on Oct. 3 if all conditions are met.
Dynamo was established in 2011 and has since worked on movies, TV, and games: motion capture for Death Stranding, Persona 5, Monster Hunter: World and CG for Final Fantasy XIII-2; layout and CG production for anime series like the second season of Netflix’s Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 and Yuri on Ice; and animation for movies like Aya and the Witch.
Nintendo said the acquisition would “strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content in the Nintendo group.” The company also said buying Dynamo would “have only a minor effect on Nintendo’s results for this fiscal year.”
It’s not clear what Dynamo’s acquisition means for Nintendo, or whether it means anything like an increase in animated movie and TV output — a “Nintendo Studios” was spotted listed on the U.S. Copyright Office website by Video Games Chronicle in June. Nor does it appear that this has anything to do with Nintendo and Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. animated movie literally nobody asked for — yep, the one Chris Pratt is voicing.
