SN Systems was a provider of Windows based development tools for games consoles and virtual reality headsets, including the PlayStation VR2, PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR, PlayStation 4,

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, PlayStation, PlayStation Vita, and PSP. The company had provided tools for the

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, Amiga,

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.

History

The company was founded in 1990 by Martin Day and Andy Beveridge. Both directors have backgrounds of developing game console software development tools, such as SNASM and Psy-Q, at Cross Products and later Psygnosis. SN Systems' long association with the PlayStation line of consoles began in 1993, when PlayStation manufacturer Sony acquired Psygnosis, who were publishing SN Systems' tools at the time. While Sony had provided MIPS R4000-based Sony NEWS workstations for PlayStation development, Psygnosis disliked the thought of developing on these expensive workstations and asked SN Systems to create a PC-based development system. At the 1994 Winter

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

, Psygnosis arranged an audience for SN Systems with Sony's Japanese executives, and Sony were impressed enough with their development tools that they decided to abandon their plans for a workstation-based development system in favor of using SN Systems' development system exclusively. In 1999, SN Systems won a ''Game Developer Magazine'' "Front Line Award" in the Programming Environment category for its Nintendo 64 development product called SN64. The company won again in 2005, this time for the ProDG for PSP suite. SN Systems was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2005, to provide tools for the PlayStation 3, and future consoles. Based in Bristol, England, the company had satellite offices in San Mateo, California and

Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. On 5 February 2025, it was announced that SN Systems was to be fully integrated into Sony Interactive Entertainment on 1 April 2025.

Products

Central to the SN Systems product line was the ProDG suite, comprising a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

and integration with Microsoft Visual Studio, together with a debugger and additional build tools.

References

{{Sony Interactive Entertainment Windows games Programming tools for Windows Sony Interactive Entertainment British companies established in 1990 Companies based in Bristol Software companies established in 1990 Software companies of England Video game development companies 2005 mergers and acquisitions British companies disestablished in 2025 Software companies disestablished in 2025