nStigate Games (formerly Nihilistic Software) was an American

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

Novato, California Novato (Spanish language, Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

History

Nihilistic was founded in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze. Gresko and Huebner had formerly worked at

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

, and Tietze had worked at

Rogue Entertainment Rogue Entertainment was an American computer game developer based in Dallas, Texas, which was active in the late 1990s. It was founded by Rich Fleider, Steve Maines, and Jim Molinets in 1994. Rogue Entertainment's office was in the same buildin ...

. Many of Nihilistic's employees were drawn from LucasArts, working on games such as '' Jedi Knight''. The first game produced by Nihilistic was '' Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption'', set in a role-playing world created by

White Wolf The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf, polar wolf, and the Arctic grey wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesme ...

. Released in 2000, ''Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption'' was published by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

for

Microsoft 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 ...

and

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

computers. For their next project, Nihilistic began to develop '' StarCraft: Ghost'', supervised by ''StarCraft'' creator

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

. In mid-2004, Nihilistic ceased working on'' StarCraft: Ghost'', amid delays caused by poor coordination between Blizzard executives and Nihilistic developers. The project was taken up by Swingin' Ape Studios, which was later bought by Blizzard. Finally in March 2006, Blizzard Entertainment announced that ''StarCraft: Ghost'' was placed on indefinite hold. Meanwhile, in 2005, Nihilistic completed development on '' Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects'', a fighting game based on

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

' various superheroes. ''Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects'' was published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

, for the

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 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

and

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

. Nihilistic released their first 'next-gen' title, ''

Conan Conan may refer to: People * Saint Conan (died 684), bishop of the Isle of Man * Conan of Cornwall (c. 930 – c. 950), bishop of Cornwall * Conan I of Rennes (died 992), duke of Brythonic Brittany * Conan II, Duke of Brittany (died 1066), duke ...

'' for both the

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 ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

game consoles. According to a preview article in the March 2007 issue of ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'', ''Conan'' is an action/adventure game based on

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp magazine, pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sor ...

's famous

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of Romance (love), romance, Magic (fantasy), magic, and the supernatural are also ...

hero,

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero created by American author Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) and who debuted in 1932 and went on to appear in a series of fantasy stories published in ''We ...

. This title was released by the publisher

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

on October 23, 2007. In the fall of 2009,

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

published Nihilistic Software's first downloadable game, ''

Zombie Apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Usually, only a few individuals or small bands of human survivors are left living. There are many d ...

'' on

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

for the Xbox 360 and on the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

for the PlayStation 3. ''Zombie Apocalypse'' is multiplayer, arcade-style dual stick shooter with zombies as the opponent. They developed ''

PlayStation Move Heroes ''PlayStation Move Heroes'' is a 2011 action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It utilizes the PlayStation Move controller. It is a cros ...

'' for the

(for the

PlayStation Move is a Motion controller, motion game controller developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Initially released in 2010 for use with the PlayStation 3 home video game console, its compatibility was later expanded to its successor, the PlayStation ...

) which was released in March 2011. On May 29, 2012, Nihilistic released '' Resistance: Burning Skies'' for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

. On October 17, 2012, Nihilistic reorganized their business to focus on mobile gaming, changing their name to nStigate. On November 13, 2012, nStigate released '' Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified'' for the Vita. The game was widely panned critically for poor design and crippling technical problems. The company announced that they'd began to restructure the studio once more and announced that they’d be focusing on developing digital and mobile titles, yet due to the failure of ''Declassified'' the company was unable to reach any agreements with major companies and would be forced to close the following month.

Games

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Marin County, California Video game companies established in 1998 Video game companies disestablished in 2012 1998 establishments in California 2012 disestablishments in California Novato, California Video game companies based in California Defunct computer companies based in California