Nixxes Software B.V. is a Dutch

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

based in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. It was founded by former

demoscene The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off computer programmi ...

developer Jurjen Katsman in 1999 to

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

the game '' Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'' to the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

. In July 2021, the company was acquired by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

as part of

PlayStation Studios PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worl ...

to help bring its games from

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

platforms to

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s. As of 2020, 40% of Nixxes' work comprises game ports, with the remainder being co-development efforts like the production of art assets.

History

During the mid-1990s, Jurjen Katsman was a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

student, gamer, and

developer in the Netherlands. During one weekend, he was invited to meet Dutch developers working for the British publisher

Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Limited (formerly Domark Limited) was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Among its franchises were '' Championship Manager'', '' Deus Ex'', ''Hitman'', '' Thief'' and ''Tomb Raider''. Domark was founded ...

. Without his knowledge, these developers had arranged a job interview for him. He was hired by Eidos and asked to relocate to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

within three weeks, forcing him to cease his studies. Katsman remained in London for two years before being transferred to

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the ''Tomb Raider'', '' Legacy of Kain'', and '' Gex'' series. Madeline Canepa, Judy Lange, and Dave Morse ...

in the United States, which Eidos had acquired in 1998. After some time of living in hotels, Katsman chose to return to the Netherlands. By this time, Crystal Dynamics was developing '' Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'' and sought a developer capable of

porting In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

it to the

. Believing that Katsman had the right skill set, the company hired him for the conversion. At their behest, Katsman founded Nixxes Software in 1999, deriving the name from "nix", his demoscene nickname. The Dreamcast port of ''Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'' was Nixxes' first project, which Katsman completed on his own. By 2013, when Nixxes was working on ''

Thief Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

'', the company employed seventeen people. In 2018, it moved into Utrecht's

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

. The company faced some hardships during the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

because a lot of hardware had to remain in the office while most employees transitioned to

remote work Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...

, and many workflows required a high-speed connection to the company servers. On 1 July 2021,

announced its acquisition of Nixxes Software to undisclosed terms. In a statement to ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' later that month, Sony Interactive Entertainment's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, Jim Ryan, stated that the acquisition aimed at bringing first-party

games to

s. After initially assisting

Guerrilla Games Guerrilla B.V. (trade name: Guerrilla Games) is a Dutch First-party developer, first-party video game developer based in Amsterdam and part of PlayStation Studios. The company was founded as Lost Boys Games in January 2000 through the merger of ...

in patching the

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

version of '' Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition'' throughout 2020 and 2021, their first standalone project as a PlayStation Studios subsidiary was revealed in June 2022 to be the PC ports of '' Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered'' and '' Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales'', developed in collaboration with sister studio

Insomniac Games Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Burbank, California, and part of PlayStation Studios. It was founded in 1994 by Ted Price as Xtreme Software, and was renamed Insomniac Games a year later. The company is most ...

. In 2023, Nixxes confirmed that it would start working on more remasters while also continuing their work on PC ports.

Games

References

External links

* {{PlayStation Studios 2021 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Utrecht (province) Dutch companies established in 1999 First-party video game developers Organisations based in Utrecht (city) PlayStation Studios Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies of the Netherlands Video game development companies

History

Games

References

Further reading

External links