NStigate Games

nStigate Games

Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Predecessor	Nihilistic Software
Founded	March 1, 1998 (1998-03-01) in Novato, California, United States
Founder	Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, Steve Tietze
Defunct	December 2012 (2012-12)
Fate	Ceased operations
Headquarters	Novato , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, Steve Tietze
Products	Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, Conan, Zombie Apocalypse, PlayStation Move Heroes, Resistance: Burning Skies, Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified

nStigate Games, previously known as Nihilistic Software, was a video game development company located in Novato, California, United States.

History

Established in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze, Nihilistic Software drew much of its initial talent from LucasArts, where Gresko and Huebner had been employed, while Tietze came from Rogue Entertainment. A significant portion of the team had experience working on titles such as Jedi Knight at LucasArts.

The studio's debut project was Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption (2000), a role-playing game set within White Wolf's universe, which was published by Activision for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms.

Following this, Nihilistic took on the development of StarCraft: Ghost under Blizzard Entertainment's oversight. However, in 2004, development was halted due to collaboration difficulties between Blizzard and Nihilistic. The project was subsequently handed over to Swingin' Ape Studios, which Blizzard later acquired. Ultimately, the game entered indefinite suspension in 2006.

In 2005, they released Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, a fighting game featuring characters from Marvel Comics, published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube consoles.

Their first venture into next-generation consoles came with Conan, an action-adventure title based on Robert E. Howard’s iconic character. This game launched in October 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with publishing handled by THQ.

In 2009, Nihilistic debuted their inaugural downloadable title, Zombie Apocalypse, a multiplayer arcade shooter released through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and published by Konami.

The company developed PlayStation Move Heroes for the PlayStation 3, which became available in March 2011.

On May 29, 2012, Nihilistic introduced Resistance: Burning Skies for the handheld PlayStation Vita platform.

By October 2012, Nihilistic shifted its strategic focus towards mobile gaming and accordingly rebranded itself as nStigate Games.

Shortly thereafter, on November 13, 2012, nStigate launched Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified for the Vita. The game was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews due to flawed design choices and technical shortcomings.

In response to this setback, the company announced intentions to restructure once more with an emphasis on digital and mobile offerings. Nevertheless, unable to secure significant partnerships following the poor reception of Declassified, nStigate ceased operations the following month.

Games

Title	Year	Platforms	Metacritic Scores	Remarks
Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption	2000	Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh	74/100
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects	2005	PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube	53/100 (PS2), 58/100 (Xbox), 54/100 (GameCube)
Conan	2007	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	69/100
Zombie Apocalypse	2009	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	61/100 (PS3), 66/100 (Xbox 360)
PlayStation Move Heroes	2011	PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Move)	53/100
Resistance: Burning Skies	2012	PlayStation Vita	60/100
Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified	2012	PlayStation Vita	33/100

External links

• Archived official site through Internet Archive