Tokyo, Jul 14 (IANS): Japanese gaming giant on Thursday announced it has acquired CG production company Dynamo Pictures for an undisclosed sum.

The company will rename Dynamo as "Nintendo Pictures," and the new subsidiary will "focus on development of visual content utilising Nintendo IP and the planning and production of visual content including CG animation."

Nintendo told shareholders that it is acquiring 100 per cent of the outstanding shares of Dynamo Pictures, which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the video game company.

The company expects the acquisition to close on October 3, 2022.

The acquisition comes as Nintendo plans an animated movie based on the Super Mario Bros franchise starring Chris Pratt.

Hit by semiconductor shortage, Nintendo recently announced it was looking at 10 per cent fewer sales in the current fiscal year.

According to Nikkei Times, Nintendo expects to sell only about 20 million Switch game consoles, a 10 per cent decrease from fiscal 2021.

In February, the Nintendo Switch outsold the Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony PlayStation 5 in both unit and dollar sales.

So far in 2022, the Switch has sold the most units, according to reports.

The Switch, a now five-year-old console, has become slightly easier to find in stores and online despite Nintendo cutting its production by 20 per cent through March 2022.