Nintendo’s visual content company, Nintendo Pictures, worked on Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the PS5 game’s credits reveal.
NintendoPictures is a CG animation and motion capture company located in Tokyo, Japan.Nintendo acquired the company, then known as Dynamo Pictures,in 2022 and renamed it to “focus on development of visual content utilising Nintendo IP”.
In its previous incarnation as Dynamo Pictures, Nintendo Pictures produced CG for a number of movies and TV shows. The company also worked on the CG in games such as Final Fantasy XIII-2, and provided motion capture forNier Replicant, Monster Hunter World andPersona 5.
Other thanDeath Stranding2, Nintendo Pictures has only worked on Nintendo games since the 2022 takeover, includingThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,Pikmin 4,Super Mario Bros. Wonder,Super Mario RPG, andAnother Code: Recollection.
While the appearance of a Nintendo-owned company in thePS5game’s credits may seem surprising, the company (as Dynamo Pictures) also worked on the original Death Stranding, so its possible that its work for Death Stranding 2 either took place before Nintendo’s takeover, or was the result of an agreement signed before the takeover was completed.
Under the list of business areas onits website, the company lists “motion capture recording services” separately from video production using Nintendo IP, so its possible it could continue to work on non-Nintendo game projects.
It has worked on several non-Nintendo animation projects since 2022, including motion capture and CG production assistance for Toei Animation’s Pretty Cure anime.
Following the completion of the Nintendo Pictures acquisition, the company said it would aim “to make Nintendo characters known to customers around the world and create one-of-a-kind videos that will remain in their memories forever”.
It added: “To this end, each and every one of our employees will work hard to create an organisation that can continue to grow, by always considering what could be interesting to customers around the world, and engaging in production work that they enjoy themselves.”
As Dynamo, Nintendo Pictures previously helped with the CG cutscenes in Metroid: Other M, and produced a series of Pikmin ‘short movies’ in collaboration withShigeru Miyamotofor display onWii Uand 3DS.
