Next Level Games
Canadian video game developer
title: "Next Level Games" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2002-establishments-in-british-columbia", "2021-mergers-and-acquisitions", "canadian-companies-established-in-2002", "canadian-subsidiaries-of-foreign-companies", "companies-based-in-vancouver", "first-party-video-game-developers", "nintendo-divisions-and-subsidiaries", "video-game-companies-established-in-2002", "video-game-companies-based-in-british-columbia", "video-game-development-companies"] description: "Canadian video game developer" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Level_Games" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian video game developer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Next Level Games, Inc. |
| logo | Next Level Games Logo.svg |
| logo_size | 250px |
| type | Subsidiary |
| founders | Eric Randall |
| Douglas Tronsgard | |
| Jason Carr | |
| David Catlin | |
| foundation | |
| location | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| key_people | Alex MacFarlane (managing director) |
| industry | Video games |
| num_employees | 166 (2025) |
| parent | Nintendo (2021–present) |
| homepage | |
| :: |
| name = Next Level Games, Inc. | logo = Next Level Games Logo.svg | logo_size = 250px | type = Subsidiary | founders = Eric Randall Douglas Tronsgard Jason Carr David Catlin | foundation = | location = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | key_people = Alex MacFarlane (managing director) | industry = Video games | products = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | num_employees = 166 (2025) | parent = Nintendo (2021–present) | homepage =
Next Level Games, Inc. is a Canadian video game developer owned by Nintendo since 2021 and based in Vancouver. Founded in August 2002 by former members of EA Black Box who worked on games such as Sega Soccer Slam and NHL Hitz titles, Next Level Games specializes in creating console video games. The company's first project was NHL Hitz Pro, which was published by Midway Games in 2003 and followed up from EA Black Box's prior entries in the NHL Hitz series. The company is best known for its work with Nintendo, developing titles including the Mario Strikers games and Punch-Out!! for the Wii, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the Nintendo 3DS, and Luigi's Mansion 3 for the Nintendo Switch.
Among other awards, Next Level Games has been named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" and one of BC's Top Employers in 2008, 2009 and 2012. The company has been featured in Maclean's magazine and BC Business magazine.
History
In January 2014, the studio announced that it would work exclusively with Nintendo from then on. In that same interview, co-founder Jason Carr and producer Ken Yeeloy revealed that it was Nintendo who approached Next Level Games in the first place to develop Super Mario Strikers for the GameCube due to much of the team's prior work on Sega Soccer Slam at EA Black Box.
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". According to Nintendo's 2021 annual report, this acquisition took place on March 31st, 2021. Co-founder Tronsgard would later retire from the studio by March 2022.
List of games developed
::data[format=table title="List of games developed by Next Level Games"]
;Notes:
Cancelled
- WWE Titans: Parts Unknown - PS2, Xbox
- Super Mario Spikers – Wii
- Catalyst - PS3, Xbox 360
- Clockwerk – Wii, X360, PS3
References
References
- (January 5, 2021). "Notification of the Acquisition of the Canadian Software Developer, Next Level Games". Nintendo.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-macfarlane-1542/ {{Self-published source. (June 2025)
- (June 12, 2019). "Hands-On With The Secret-Filled Luigi's Mansion 3".
- Phillips, Tom. (July 17, 2019). "Luigi's Mansion 3 gets the spookiest release date possible".
- Phillips, Tom. (January 9, 2014). "Luigi's Mansion 2 dev will now work exclusively with Nintendo". Gamer Network.
- (January 9, 2014). "Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon developer Next Level Games signs second-party deal with Nintendo". ScrewAttack.com.
- Nutt, Christian. (January 8, 2014). "Working with Nintendo, making a studio great for developers". [[Game Developer (website).
- McFerran, Damien. (January 5, 2021). "Nintendo Is Buying Luigi's Mansion Studio Next Level Games".
- (July 19, 2021). "Annual Report 2021 (page 54)".
- Doolan, Liam. (March 4, 2022). "Co-Founder Of Nintendo-Owned Studio Next Level Games Announces Retirement".
- (July 29, 2020). "Tom's guide to Microsoft Solitaire Collection".
- (February 18, 2012). "Next Level Games was working on a WWE game that was cancelled by publisher THQ". Unseen64.net.
- (August 6, 2011). "Super Mario Spikers is a cancelled volleyball/wrestling hybrid game developed by Next Level Games". Unseen64.net.
- (July 12, 2010). "Next Level Games was working on an Action title known as "Catalyst"". Unseen64.net.
- (January 12, 2015). "Next Level Games Was Working on a Puzzle-Platformer Called "Clockwerk"". Gamnesia.com.
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