Nintendo Buys Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat Port Studio Ahead Of Switch 2 Launch

Nintendo has announced that it is buying Shiver Entertainment, the Miami-based game studio known for the Switch ports of Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1. The studio was previously owned by Embracer.

“Nintendo will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Shiver and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. By welcoming Shiver’s experienced and accomplished development team, Nintendo aims to secure high-level resources for porting and developing software titles,” Nintendo said.

The company added that Shiver’s focus will “remain the same” after joining Nintendo, and that is to continue porting and developing games for multiple platforms, including Switch.

Nintendo did not specify a purchase price for Shiver. The company said the buyout will have “only a minor effect” on Nintendo’s business results for the fiscal year.

Shiver’s CEO is John Schappert, who was the founder of EA Tiburon, the game development giant known for the Madden and NCAA Football franchises. He later rose higher at EA all the way up to SVP of Worldwide Studios at EA before joining Xbox and then returning to EA.

Nintendo rarely acquires companies. The company’s last big buyout before this was the purchase of longtime collaborator SRD in 2022. In 2021, Nintendo purchased another longtime collaborator, Next Level Games.

The move to buy Shiver comes ahead of the expected 2025 release of the Switch 2, or whatever the system ends up being called.

As for Embracer, the Swedish gaming group is selling franchises and studios as part of a cost-cutting and restructuring effort, and it seems Shiver was part of that.