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[ironichaos]

Probably. I think this nothing more than some gearing up for the next genertaion. I wouldn't jump to conclusions about who is making what yet, though....

Exactly. Nintendo restructures its development teams prior to every new generation of consoles. I'm sure if you guys ask nicely, Shikamaru will post a chronological history of Nintendo's R&D structure (or maybe that topic can still be found in the GAF archives).

 

[jarrod]

Exactly. Nintendo restructures its development teams prior to every new generation of consoles. I'm sure if you guys ask nicely, Shikamaru will post a chronological history of Nintendo's R&D structure (or maybe that topic can still be found in the GAF archives).

Actually the same divisions have been in place since the late 1980s. There's been some small scale movement and renaming since then, but generally this is the first major restructuring since then.

 

[ironichaos]

My guess is that Nintendo Technology & Development is R&D1 while R&D2 has been absorbed into Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development. I don't see anything major about these changes. R&D2 has pretty much been molded into EAD over the past few years, with guys such as Aonuma working on Zelda and what not.

And with Nintendo Integrated Research & Development being the hardware/technology side and Nintendo Software Planning Division being the third-party relationship side (which has become more and more important to the company)...the formalities of the business seem a lot more streamlined to me...yet still essentially the same. Nothing major.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

So does this doom them or undoom them... or doom 3 them?

 

[GDGF]

7.46 BILLION, that's the new # folks

I can remember when it was only 3.5 billion dollars. It's funny, the first thing I remember ever learning about Nintendo was their cash in the bank (thanks to a very informative 20/20 expose' from the late 80's)

I was still a Sega fanboy back then :lol

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Some very good points.

*Nintendo R&D2 has definitely been absorbed into Nintendo EAD. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures was an R&D2 game originally. Eventually Miyamoto and a few extra artists changed the developer name. The Super Mario Advance team was also Nintendo R&D2, and now they are responsible for Yoshi Touch N Go which is labeled as an EAD game. There is one exception...

*The Band Brothers DS team was from R&D2. However, I dont see any mention of EAD on a developer interview with Nintendo. It is very possible this team may be part of one of those restructured teams.

*Nintendo R&D1. Okay, I definitely agree with R&D1 being a part of Nintendo Technology & Development. One big reason is that they coupled a "development group" with "Satoru Okada's hardware development group" under the Nintendo Technology & Development banner. For those Nintenerds who know the history, the two teams together were once the original R&D1 under Yokoi. Still it is weird. I mean the former General Manager of R&D1, Takehiro Izushi, was assigned some executive marketing type of role. Still I think Nintendo knows the importance of R&D1 more than ever know with Wario Ware and Metroid license being hot properties.

*Nintendo EAD is getting big. It looks to me that Nintendo wants to market the EAD name to consumers now. Is there really a reason to expand the Kyoto EAD, and create a new team in Tokyo also bearing the EAD brand.

*With the Nintendo EAD increase, it seems that the development group has been asked to carry more responsibilities. If you look at the Nintendo DS, it is not R&D1 who is leading the development, but instead EAD. EAD is a team that traditionally has stayed away from portables, while the R&D1 team lead the product development.

 

[ge-man]

Those are some interesting thoughts, Ninja. I think you're right about the marketing thing--lately I've noticed that Nintendo has headed in that direction. Groups like Hal and Intelligent Systems have had their own special labels and have been getting seperate credit for awhile, while traditional internal teams like EAD and R&D1 haven't been pushed as seperate identities within the Nintendo family.

This resturcture definately hints at that aspect of Nintendo changing and I think it will be a good thing for branding. I also think it's good move if Nintendo decides to really start pushing variety in their software--EAD can be more readily identified with Mario and Zelda and other more traditional Nintendo style games while over groups like Retro can be indentified with less Nintendoesque styled games like Metriod or whatever else they get to do (I can definately see Retro pumping out a variety action games in the future.) Many have suggested that Nintendo follow Disney and create divisions similar to Touchstone Pictures or Miramax to produce and distrubted non-traditional Disney content--this could work similarily.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

I'm assuming then that Intelligent Systems has been left out of the restructuring since it appears no one has been talking about them.

What's the word on that?

 

[Mama Smurf]

Aren't IS more like HAL?

 

[Dragona Akehi]

No, as far as I know they're considered an internal Nintendo team like R&D1 and EAD were.

Hmm... Well their web site is still up and nothing appears to have changed...

 

[explodet]

When it comes to IS, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[soundwave05]

Seems like a natural transition.

R&D2 probably got swallowed up by EAD since EAD apparently lost at least the Super Mario Sunshine team to EAD Tokyo.

I was under the impression EAD Tokyo would be a completely new kind of team though, but they seem to be just an extension of regular EAD.

I don't see any Disney-type of diversification here though, Miramax and Touchstone were branded from the get go to do live action pictures. EAD Tokyo's first game (DK: JB) might as well have been a regular EAD game.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I thought Sega was one company, and then they split themselves into smaller entities. Isn't this the opposite?

Two things:

1) This is the most common misconception about how Sega organized their R&D studios, back when all the groups with names were created (Smilebit, WOW, Amusement Vision, etc.). Sega did NOT break them into companies. They broke them into STUDIOS, the same as with any other developer, such as Nintendo, Sony (Polyphony) and Microsft (MGS). This was a big deal at Sega because until then there had been a few small teams (AM2 and a few others), and then one big pool of poorly managed developers who swapped teams at will. It was unorganized and ineffecient, and all they did was form the same kind of studios that everyone else had. The were, repeat after me, not seperate entities.

So, yeah, that felt good.

2) Sega since collapsed those groups into a smaller number, from about a dozen to seven, about six months before the Sega-Sammy merger. That was what I was jokingly referring to.

 

[Yamauchi]

Actually Nintendo has considerably more than $6 billion. They have learned that, like the central banks of the leading East Asian economies, you can make huge returns on playing the foreign exchange game.

 

[AniHawk]

Two things:

1) This is the most common misconception about how Sega organized their R&D studios, back when all the groups with names were created (Smilebit, WOW, Amusement Vision, etc.). Sega did NOT break them into companies. They broke them into STUDIOS, the same as with any other developer, such as Nintendo, Sony (Polyphony) and Microsft (MGS). This was a big deal at Sega because until then there had been a few small teams (AM2 and a few others), and then one big pool of poorly managed developers who swapped teams at will. It was unorganized and ineffecient, and all they did was form the same kind of studios that everyone else had. The were, repeat after me, not seperate entities.

So, yeah, that felt good.

2) Sega since collapsed those groups into a smaller number, from about a dozen to seven, about six months before the Sega-Sammy merger. That was what I was jokingly referring to.

Thanks for the schooling.

 

[Alcibiades]

I can remember when it was only 3.5 billion dollars. It's funny, the first thing I remember ever learning about Nintendo was their cash in the bank (thanks to a very informative 20/20 expose' from the late 80's)

I was still a Sega fanboy back then :lol

:lol

 

[God's Hand]

Nintendo is a very smart company. Fan boys are very stupid. Name any other industry, and I guarantee you no one talks about who's number one. Movie industry. Music industry. Retail. Publishers. List goes on. There are no Paramount Studios fanboys. There are no Wal Mart fanboys.

Who. Cares.

 

[lexi]

Nintendo is a very smart company. Fan boys are very stupid. Name any other industry, and I guarantee you no one talks about who's number one. Movie industry. Music industry. Retail. Publishers. List goes on. There are no Paramount Studios fanboys. There are no Wal Mart fanboys.

Who. Cares.

Cars have fanboys. Home Electronics do too, to an extent.

 

[human5892]

Who. Cares.

You do, apparently, since you thought enough of the issue to post about it.

Pot. Kettle.

 

[jarrod]

Two things:

1) This is the most common misconception about how Sega organized their R&D studios, back when all the groups with names were created (Smilebit, WOW, Amusement Vision, etc.). Sega did NOT break them into companies. They broke them into STUDIOS, the same as with any other developer, such as Nintendo, Sony (Polyphony) and Microsft (MGS). This was a big deal at Sega because until then there had been a few small teams (AM2 and a few others), and then one big pool of poorly managed developers who swapped teams at will. It was unorganized and ineffecient, and all they did was form the same kind of studios that everyone else had. The were, repeat after me, not seperate entities.

Not at all. Before the studios were given unique identities, they were still organized into distinct divisions. Sega's always had set divisions actually, going as far back as the late 1980s. To trace back the different identities...

Genesis/Saturn era (amusment & consumer teams seperated)
-AM1
-AM2
-AM3
-AM10 (broke from AM2, new division for Nagoshi)
-AM Annex (broke from AM3, new division for Mizuguchi)
-R&D1 (includes Team Shinobi)
-R&D2 (includes Team Andromeda & CTS Team)
-R&D3/Sonic Team
-STI (American R&D division)

Dreamcast era 1st restructing (amusement & consumer teams integrated)
-AM1
-AM2
-AM3
-AM4 (formerly AM10)
-AM5 (formerly AM Annex)
-AM6 (formerly R&D1)
-AM7 (formerly R&D2)
-AM8 (formerly R&D3/Sonic Team)
-AM9 (new team for Mizuguichi)
-AM10 (music team)

DC era 2nd restructuring (studios given unique identities and made fiscally responsible)
-Wow Entertainment (formerly AM1)
-Sega-AM2 (formerly AM2, absorbs CSK Research Institute)
-Hitmaker! (formerly AM3)
-Amusement Vision (formerly AM4)
-Sega Rosso (formerly AM5)
-Smilebit (formerly AM6)
-Overworks (formerly AM7)
-Sonic Team (formerly AM8)
-United Game Artists (formerly AM9)
-Wavemaster (formerly AM10)

3rd party 1st restructuring (divisions unified under management, profitable sectors absorb loss takers)
-Sega Wow (Wow Entertainment+Overworks merger)
-Sega-AM2
-Hitmaker! (absorbs Sega Rosso)
-Amusement Vision (absorbs Smilebit's Xbox team)
-Smilebit (absorbs AV's sports team)
-Sonic Team (absorbs UGA)
-Digital Rex (broke from Sega-AM2, new division for Suzuki)
-Wavemaster (branches into seperate recording label)

...there's still a lot of unkowns about Genesis/Saturn era consumer R&D, and it's possible the divisions were more fluid with some level of shared staff (Sega also heavily relied on external consumer R&D back then such as Camelot, Nextech, Climax, Ancient, Treasure, Sims, Game Freak, GameArts, Falcom, Micro Cabin, Red, Compile, Travelers Tales, Blue Sky, etc) but Sega's always had distinct divisions in the arcade sector as far back as I can remember. The difference when the studios were named had nothing to do with organization, it was about identity and responsibility.

 

[Folder]

Reeived this quote from NCL when I asked about that piece:

"Some internal organisational changes did take place about one year ago
but as these are purely internal affairs we do not comment on the
details of these."

Nothing, according to them...