Nival is a Russian

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for 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 ...

and publisher founded by

Sergey Orlovskiy Sergey Orlovskiy (Russian: Сергей Орловский) is the founder and CEO of Nival, one of the oldest game development companies in Eastern Europe. In addition to heading Nival, Orlovskiy is a member of the board of directors of Alawar ...

in 1996. It is headquartered in

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, with development offices in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia.

History

The company was founded by

on November 18, 1996 as Nival Interactive, and became famous as the developer of several successful role-playing and strategy series, including ''

Rage of Mages ''Rage of Mages'' is a PC game that combines role-playing and real-time strategy. Produced by Nival Interactive it was first released in Russia under the name of ''Allods: The Seal of Mystery'' (''Аллоды. Печать тайны''). The game ...

'' (known as ''Allods'' in Russia), ''

Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...

'', and '' Etherlords'', all of which would receive sequels. Nival also created the

Silent Storm engine Nival Interactive developed a proprietary game engine for its turn-based tactics video game ''Silent Storm''. The engine was reused for '' Silent Storm: Sentinels'', '' Night Watch'', '' Hammer & Sickle'' and '' Day Watch''. A modified version of t ...

and developed several games using it, beginning with the eponymous ''

Silent Storm ''Silent Storm'' is a 2003 turn-based tactics video game developed by Nival Interactive and published by JoWood. The game is set in a fictionalized World War II Europe with science fiction elements. An advanced game engine, the Silent Storm engi ...

'' series in 2003. Among these was ''

Heroes of Might and Magic V ''Heroes of Might and Magic V'' is the fifth installment of the ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' fantasy turn-based strategy video game series. The game was released by Ubisoft in Europe on May 16, and then in the United States and Canada on May 2 ...

'' and two add-ons, published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

. Nival began to self-publish its own games in 2005. Nival financed and published external developers including KranX Productions, creators of '' King's Bounty: Legions'' and Bytex, developers of ''Berserk Online''. In early 2005, the part of Nival operating under the name Nival Interactive was bought by

Ener1 Ener1 is a company developing energy storage technology building compact lithium-ion-powered batteries for the transportation, utility grid and industrial electronics markets. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, the company has manufacturing ...

Group, a Florida-based holdings company, for around $10 million. On November 30, 2007, Sergey Orlovskiy regained full control of Nival Interactive. In early 2010, another part of Nival, Astrum Nival, was bought by the largest Russian portal

Mail.Ru VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. VK operates an e-mail s ...

for more than $100 million, becoming a part of

Astrum Online Entertainment Astrum Online Entertainment is a Russian holding company which operates in the online entertainment market of Eastern Europe. Founded in the beginning of December 2007, it incorporated four companies, which specialize in development, publishing a ...

. Nival's internal development studios became focused on PC and mobile projects. In 2011, Nival Interactive was merged with Nival Network into a new company, called just Nival. Nival has developed and launched ''Prime World'', '' King's Bounty: Legions'' and has several projects in development. In December 2013, Nival raised $6 million in its Series A funding round led by Almaz Capital. The funds were to be used for global expansion. In February 2017, Nival announced the world's first

Neural Network A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...

AI for its game '' Blitzkrieg 3''.

Games

*''

'' (1998) **'' Rage of Mages II: Necromancer'' (1999) *'' Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul'' (2001) *'' Etherlords'' (2001) **''

Etherlords II ''Etherlords'' (russian: Демиурги) is a series of fantasy turn-based strategy and card-dueling video games for the PC, by Russian developer Nival Interactive. The first game was published November 15, 2001 by Ravensburger Interactive Medi ...

'' (2003) **'' Etherlords'' (2014) *''

'' (2003) **''

Blitzkrieg 2 ''Blitzkrieg 2'' (russian: Блицкриг II, italic=yes) is a real-time tactics computer game based on the events of World War II, the game is an evolution of its predecessor ''Blitzkrieg'' and is the second title in the Blitzkrieg (video game ...

'' (2005) **'' Blitzkrieg 3'' (2017) *''

'' (2003) **'' Silent Storm: Sentinels'' (2004) **''

Hammer & Sickle ''Hammer & Sickle'' () is a tactical role-playing game for the PC, co-developed by the Russia-based companies Novik&Co and Nival Interactive and published by CDV in 2005. The game is set in the same universe (and runs on the same game engine) ...

'' (2005) *''

Hard Truck Apocalypse ''Hard Truck: Apocalypse'', known in Europe as ''Ex Machina'', is a vehicular combat post-apocalyptic science fiction video game developed by Russian game developer Targem Games. It is part of the ''Hard Truck'' series. It is a Privateer-like gam ...

'' (2005) *'' Night Watch'' (2005) *''

'' (2006) **'' Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate'' (2006) **'' Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East'' (2007) *''

Allods Online ''Allods Online'' is a free-to-play 3D fantasy MMORPG developed by Allods Team, formerly Astrum Nival, and published by Mail.Ru Group globally, with the international version operated by their subsidiary My.com. The game was originally released in ...

'' (2010) *'' King's Bounty: Legions'' (2011) *''

Emaki or is an illustrated horizontal narration system of painted handscrolls that dates back to Nara-period (710–794 CE) Japan. Initially copying their much older Chinese counterparts in style, during the succeeding Heian (794–1185) and Kamak ...

'' (2012) *'' Prime World'' (2012) **'' Prime World: Alchemy'' (December 2012) **'' Prime World: Defenders'' (2013) **'' Prime World: Defenders 2'' (2015)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Companies based in Saint Petersburg Russian companies established in 1996 Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies of Russia Video game development companies Video game publishers Privately held companies of Russia