Nintendo Finally Comments on This Week’s ‘Closer to You’ Pikmin Videos, Reveals They’re the First Short Films From Nintendo Pictures

Nintendo has at last offered something of an explanation for its mysterious short film project ‘Close to You’, which debuted this week and was later revealed as featuring Pikmin.

Writing on X, Nintendo stated that the two videos were the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures, the company’s motion capture and animation studio that previously worked on a range of video games and CGI movies.

Today’s statement seems to suggest that the films are not viral marketing for anything else — this is not our first look at Pikmin 5, as far as we’re aware — though the door is left open for more short films in future.

https://twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1975547989910560961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

“We hope you enjoyed the two ‘Close to You’ videos released on October 7 and 8,” Nintendo wrote. “The second video is available on Nintendo Today!, a free app available on your smart device. These are the first short films created by Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd.

“Nintendo Pictures will continue to explore new creative possibilities through video content.”

Nintendo Pictures is a veteran CGI and motion capture company that previously existed under the name of Dynamo Pictures. The studio was formally acquired by Nintendo and rebranded in 2022. One of the company’s former projects was Death Stranding 2, something which led to the odd situation of Nintendo’s name appearing in the PlayStation title’s credits.

Nintendo Pictures is not to be confused with Nintendo Stars, the company’s wider division that is now dedicated to developing feature films, including the company’s already-announced upcoming projects such as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and the untitled live-action Zelda film.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social