Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has acquired Dutch development studio Nixxes Software.
Founded in 1999, the Utrecht, Netherlands-based studio is a PC port specialist which has worked on multipleSquare Enixproperties including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, Thief, and Legacy of Kain.
Most recently, the studio supportedCrystal DynamicsonMarvel’s Avengers.
According to a press release,Nixxes“will joinPlayStationStudios Technology, Creative & Services Group to provide high quality in-house technical and development capabilities for PlayStation Studios”.
PlayStation Studios bossHermen Hulstsaid: “I highly respect Nixxes and am excited for this very experienced team to become part of the world-class development community at SIE. They have a passion for improving games and for delivering the best possible experience for gamers.
“Nixxes will be a strong asset for everyone across PlayStation Studios, helping our teams focus on their most important goal, which is to create unique PlayStation content at the best possible quality.”
Jurjen Katsman, Nixxes founder and senior director of development, also commented: “We can’t wait to get to work and are so excited to bring our technical and development expertise to an IP powerhouse like PlayStation Studios. We’re looking forward to working with some of the most talented teams in the industry to deliver the highest-quality gameplay experiences for PlayStation fans.”
Earlier this week, SIE announced theacquisition of Returnal developer Housemarque, and PlayStation’s Japanese Twitter account also seemingly leaked news that it hasacquired Demon’s Souls developer Bluepoint Games, although this has yet to be confirmed.
SIE CEO Jim Ryan said in Maythat the company intends to bring some of its “iconic IP” to mobile during its current business year ending in March 2022, following its “very successful” first steps into the PC market.
“We are beginning our journey to take PlayStation first-party IP off console,” he said. “We started last year by publishing two of our games on PC,Horizon Zero Dawnand Predator, and both were profitable, and really had a very successful publishing debut. We will continue that in FY21 and we will continue that beyond.”
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Speaking in June, Hulst saidthe platform holder was “still early on in our planning for PC” but that its PlayStation consoles would always be the priority for new releases.
“Horizon Zero Dawn has been very successful [on PC],” he said. “I think it shows there’s an appetite from gamers outside the PlayStation ecosystem to experience the amazing portfolio of games that PlayStation fans have enjoyed for years.
“But I want to emphasize that PlayStation will remain the best place to play our PlayStation Studios titles at launch. But we do valuePC gamers, and we’ll continue to look at the right times to launch each game.Bend Studiojust released thePC version of Days Gone on May 18. So that’s about two years after thePS4release.
“And I hope that a new set of fans can and will enjoy that title. And that’s the goal — we want to reach new gamers who haven’t yet experienced the great stories, characters, and worlds that we’ve built. Releasing games on PC will not come ever at the expense of building an exciting lineup of great console games.”
