How to pitch a video game to Nintendo

In its own words

“While we receive tons of fantastic suggestions each month from our fans, due to the volume of requests we receive and the resources it would take to process them, we do not accept unsolicited game or product ideas.”

“You can register even if you are an individual and do not represent a company.”

“Once your game is complete, you can self-publish it on the Nintendo eShop with the price and release date entirely up to you.”

What it has bought from outside

1. 2002

   Retro Studios (Metroid Prime) from Spangenberg $1 million worth of Retro Studios stock

   “On May 2, 2002, Nintendo secured $1 million worth of Retro Studios stock from Spangenberg, and reclassified the company as a first party developer and division of Nintendo. [ 11 ] Steve Barcia, the founder of Simtex, replaced Spangenberg as president of the company. [ 2 ]” en.wikipedia.org

2. 2007

   Monolith Soft (Xenoblade) from Namco Bandai

   “Originally founded in 1999 by Square alumnus Tetsuya Takahashi as a studio under Namco (later Namco Bandai Games), it was bought out by Nintendo in 2007.” en.wikipedia.org

3. 2021

   Next Level Games from its owner-directors

   “In January 2021, Nintendo announced that it had purchased Next Level Games after "A number of owner-directors recently determined that the time is right for them to sell their shares, and NLG therefore began exploring potential sale transactions".…” en.wikipedia.org

Other companies that take a video game

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  Microsoft XboxHas a submission portalXbox publishes independent developers’ games through ID@Xbox, with support and resources to launch them.

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  Sony Interactive (PlayStation)Has a submission portalPlayStation invites game developers and publishers to register at partners.playstation.net.

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  ValveHas a submission portalValve does not accept or consider game or character ideas it did not request, and anything sent anyway becomes its property.
• Devolver DigitalHas a submission portalDevolver takes game pitches at pitch.devolverdigital.com, now for games releasing in 2028 or later.

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  Activision BlizzardDoes not take outside ideasBlizzard refuses to accept or look at any submissions or ideas it did not ask for, including expansions, novels and screenplays.

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  Electronic ArtsDoes not take outside ideasElectronic Arts does not accept product ideas, game concepts or music it did not ask for, and returns or deletes any it receives.

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  Square EnixDoes not take outside ideasSquare Enix and its employees do not accept creative works or ideas they did not ask for, and it may use anything sent without pay.

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  UbisoftDoes not take outside ideasUbisoft’s policy bars the company and its staff from accepting or considering ideas it did not ask for.

All of them, open doors first