In a rather random bit of news tonight, Nintendo has announced that it has acquired Shiver Entertainment from Embracer Group for an undisclosed amount of money. While most people will not be familiar with the name, Shiver is responsible for the recent Switch ports of both Mortal Kombat 11 and Hogwarts Legacy, two games that should reasonably not even function on Nintendo’s hybrid console.
The news came about from a press release by Nintendo of Japan which was posted by Wario64 on Twitter. As the statement says, “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.” That’s some great news for not only the current Switch but the as-of-yet-unannounced Switch 2.
What’s interesting to note is that Shiver was acquired by Saber Interactive (which is under Embracer’s control) in 2021. Either Embracer was trying to cut costs or Nintendo seized an opportunity that no one was looking at. Either way, the company has a history of porting games to Nintendo’s consoles, including Scribblenauts Showdown and even Mortal Kombat 1, so it’s intimately familiar with the Switch platform. Only time will tell what Shiver will be put on when it comes to both first and third-party games.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
