Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Nintendo buys its own animation studio

Nintendo has acquired its own computer generated animation studio, Dynamo Pictures.

The company has made an official announcement over on the official Nintendo of Japan website, revealing that it had “entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares… of Dynamo Pictures, Inc… and to make it a a wholly owned subsidiary.”

Once acquired, Dynamo Pictures will change its name to Nintendo Pictures, and will “focus on development of visual content utilizing Nintendo IP” as the in-house Nintendo animation studio.

Dynamo Pictures is a Japanese CG production company that has provided animation for numerous video games and anime. Some of the most notable video games that the company has worked on include Death Stranding, Metroid: Other M, Persona 5, Ninja Gaiden II, and several Dead or Alive titles.

Heading to the Dynamo Pictures official website appears to return a 404 error message.

Nintendo is clearly making major moves in the animation space. Back in 2018, it announced that it was working on a CGI Mario move with Illumination Entertainment, the company behind the Despicable Me films.

It’s since been confirmed that Chris Pratt will be voicing the Italian plumber. No, we still haven’t figured that one out either. The Mario movie is set to launch next year.

This follows on from the release of Detective Pikachu in 2019. Nintendo owns a major share in The Pokemon Company, which co-produced the film.

It forms part of what seems to be a new wave of video-game movies, with Sony’s Uncharted and Sega’s Sonic The Hedgehog both getting the Hollywood treatment in recent years. The question is, will Nintendo be bringing future Nintendo movies in-house now that it has its own animation studio?

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

author icon

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

author icon

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Trusted Reviews Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

This is a test error message with some extra words