Next Level Games Becomes Nintendo Second-Party Developer

Next Level Games, developer of last year's ghost-sucking hit 3DS game, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, is now developing exclusively for Nintendo, according to a Gamasutra interview with company co-founder Jason Carr and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon producer Ken Yeeloy.

"We are doing only Nintendo products now," Carr stated in the interview. The Vancouver-based studio had previously worked with Nintendo on Punch-Out!! for Wii and Super Mario Strikers for Nintendo Gamecube. They also worked on third-party releases such as Spider Man: Friend or Foe and Captain America: Super Soldier.

Carr also explained why Nintendo was attractive to their company:

All the stuff that we really focused on was very gameplay-centric; it wasn't massive RPG storytelling and all that. It was really what feels good in your hand, you know what I mean? Nintendo has a very similar approach. So definitely, we like to make the same sort of games, so that's a good fit.

And yeah, the stability as well. I'd be lying if I said, "Oh, no. We want to throw ourselves out there [on our own]!" There are a lot of benefits to working with a first party. Nintendo's great. They give you the time to make the games good. They've done really well -- the Wii's done really well, the DS has done really well, the Wii U is not the strongest start but we trust that they'll come up with something to get it going, and the 3DS was a blast to work on.

The full interview delves into the inner workings of Next Level Games and tells a story of their past. It's worth a read.