nStigate Games (formerly Nihilistic Software) was an American

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 larg ...

based in Novato, California.

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 licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

, and Tietze had worked at Rogue Entertainment. 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. 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 ...

for Microsoft Windows and

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software ...

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. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, ...

. In mid-2004, Nihilistic ceased working on'' StarCraft: Ghost'', although the circumstances behind this are not entirely clear. 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 an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

' 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 Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

, for the PlayStation 2,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

and

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...

. Nihilistic released their first 'next-gen' title, '' Conan'' for both the

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

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

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

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 ...

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

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...

's famous

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the ...

hero,

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

. This title was released by the publisher THQ on October 23, 2007. In the fall of 2009,

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casi ...

published Nihilistic Software's first downloadable game, '' Zombie Apocalypse'' on

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An u ...

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 smar ...

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

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

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...

. 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 digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

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