Sony confirms Nixxes acquisition will help port PlayStation games to PC

Sony confirms Nixxes acquisition will help port PlayStation games to PC

29th July 2021
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Images in this article provided by: Sony, Nixxes

Earlier this month, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it was acquiring the industry-leading Dutch company Nixxes.

Previously, Nixxes co-operated with Square Enix. You may recognise their branding on the boot-up splash screen of the publisher’s games, like Marvels: Avengers or Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Nixxes is highly regarded for producing robust, feature-rich PC ports with top-tier optimisation, a multitude of graphical options and support for the latest application programming interfaces like DirectX 12 and Vulkan.

Working with Nixxes

Sony’s unexpected acquisition raised many eyebrows. Why were the owners of fastest selling PlayStation 5 console buying a primarily PC-focused studio?

Speaking to Japanese publication Famitsu, Jim Ryan (currently serving as president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment) confirmed our suspicions:

“We are happy with our efforts to provide our IP to PCs, although it is still in its infancy, and we look forward to working with Nixxes to help with that.” (Google Translation)

Sony’s shambling debut

Nixxes specialist expertise is clearly enticing to Sony. Bringing them in-house, Sony can smartly leverage their technical capabilities and proven track record to broaden their ever-growing presence on PC. This acquisition was desperately needed after Sony’s shambling debut on the PC platform.

Two heavy hitters from PlayStation’s exclusive library have already arrived on PC, most recently the zombie apocalypse survival shooter Day Gone. Built on the industry-standard Unreal Engine 4, it was a generally well-received port.

However, Horizon: Zero Dawn was an unfortunate disaster. Releasing completely underbaked, it took months’ worth of patches to achieve the bare minimum expected from PC gamers.

Ridiculously unoptimised and riddled with insufferable stuttering, it was an abhorrent ‘console port’ – a term no PC gamers wishes hears. Tell-tale signs, like animations locked to 30 frames-per-second, clearly conveyed the developer’s struggle with bringing a game originally designed for consoles to PC.

Nixxes presense was sorely missed. The Horizon: Zero Dawn debacle was substantial enough evidence for Sony to invest in a dedicated studio to handle their ports going forward.

What’s next?

Sony’s set-up their own official PlayStation Studios curator page on Steam, which is a reassuring sign of their continued investment in the PC platform.

The burning question on gamer’s lips is “what’s next?” – and it’s highly unlikely hotly anticipated games will be releasing day one on PC. Flicking through PlayStation’s diverse back catalogue, will Nixxes finally bring From Software’s magnum opus Bloodborne to PC in high refresh rate gloriousness? Perhaps God of War or Ghost of Tsushima?

Speculation isn’t entirely necessary, as Sony not-so subtly divulged their next port in an investor presentation. It was a densely packed document, but on the 26th slide, the logo for Uncharted 4 was listed under ‘more PC release planned’.

Uncharted is one of PlayStation’s best-selling franchises, from the industry renowned Naughty Dog, the creators of other instantly recognisable PlayStation franchises like The Last of Us.

They practically represent PlayStation. Porting their games boldly reinforces Sony’s stance – they’re deadly serious about PC gaming.

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