The head of PlayStation, Hermen Hulst, has announced the company’s newest purchase, Nixxies Software. The studio is known for establishing various ports for other games, most notably being the port for Square Enix’s Tomb Raider. In addition, the Dutch company is responsible for the PC port of Deus: Ex: Mankind and is currently working on the port for Marvel’s Avengers. Nixxies Software’s established resume caught the attention of PlayStation as their intention behind the acquisition, according to Business Wire, is that PlayStation wanted Nixxies Software to help them create high-quality in-house technical and developmental capabilities for their studio. Here’s what Hulst had to say to Business Wire about the Dutch porting studio:
I highly respect Nixxies and am excited for this very experienced team to become part of the world-class development community at SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment.) They have a passion for improving games and for delievering the best possible experience for gamers.
Nixxies Software has over 20 years of experience in the game development and optimization field. They’ve worked alongside global partners since 1999 specializing in game design, development, and porting. Today, Herman Hulst Tweeted out that the collaboration between the two companies isn’t the first. In 2013, Nixxies Software teamed up with PlayStation to help develop Killzone Shadow Fall for the PS4 launch.
The purchase of Nixxies Software by PlayStation marks the second acquisition of a company for the studio in just a single week. Two days prior, PlayStation purchased Housemarque, the Finland-based game developer that specializes in console and PC games. Their most notable development being the third-person shooter game, Returnal.
Historically, Playstation hasn’t done well when it comes to porting games to a PC platform, this could mean that the purchase of Nixxies Software could potentially be the studio’s ticket to improving their porting skills.