Nixxes Software B.V. is a Dutch

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 ...

based at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. 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 programming, visual ...

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 Ham ...

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

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

. In July 2021, the company was acquired by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

to help bring its games from

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

platforms to

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

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, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

student, gamer, and

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

Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...

. 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 and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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 and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...

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 desi ...

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 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 shorthand term for some ...

'', the company employed seventeen people. The company faced some hardships during the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

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

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

, 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 ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' later that month, Sony Interactive Entertainment's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

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

games to

s. After initially assisting Guerilla Games in patching the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

version of '' Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition'' throughout 2020 and 2021, their first standalone project as a PlayStation Studios subsidary was revealed in June 2022 to be the PC ports of ''

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered ''Marvel's Spider-Man'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, it tells an original narrative that is inspired by the long-ru ...

'' 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 a studio 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 mo ...

List of games

References

External links

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