PlayStation Head Announces Purchase Of PC Port Studio Nixxes Software
The head of PlayStation has announced the company's purchase of Nixxes Software. This news marks the second such acquisition this week for PlayStation; two days ago PlayStation purchased Housemarque, developers of Returnal.
For those unfamiliar with Nixxes Software, it is not a studio known for developing its own games. Instead, the studio has established itself by working on ports for other games. Most notably, Nixxes Software has been responsible for porting the Square Enix Tomb Raider games to PC for steam. The studio also developed a PC port for 2016's Deus Ex: Mankind, and is currently working on a port for Marvel's Avengers.
Nixxes Software's resume apparently impressed the head of PlayStation studios, Hermen Hulst, as Business Wire is reporting that PlayStation has acquired the studio. Business Wire writes that " effective immediately, Nixxes will join PlayStation Studios Technology, Creative & Services Group to provide high quality in-house technical and development capabilities for PlayStation Studios." Hulst adds that Nixxes Software has, "a passion for improving games and for delivering the best possible experience for gamers," and says that the studio will be a strong asset for PlayStation.
Business Wire writes that the exact terms and details of the deal are confidential, so it is next to impossible to guess how much this deal cost PlayStation. Since at least last month, it has been no secret that PlayStation is trying to acquire more studios, so the acquisition itself does not come off as a surprise.
The surprise here is that PlayStation went after a studio that only has a history of porting games, usually to PC (a platform that PlayStation has historically not played nice with). This move could (most likely) mean that PlayStation is looking into porting several of its titles to the PlayStation 5, namely PlayStation 4 titles. However, a more interesting twist would be PlayStation looking into porting games from the slowly dying PS Vita to the PS5.
That is entirely speculation, of course, but PlayStation already tried to shutter the PS Vita store and received a significant amount of pushback from fans for it. Maybe PlayStation recognizes some untapped potential for certain PS Vita games, and could possibly bring them to the PlayStation 5. Again, this is nothing more than speculation; it is far more likely that PlayStation is thinking of porting older, main console games to the current generation.
Sources: Business Wire, Herman Hulst/Twitter