Nicalis, Inc. is an American company that creates and sells video games. It is located in Santa Ana, California. The company mainly focuses on making and publishing independent games, which are games made by smaller teams. Nicalis has created both new games and versions of games that already exist. The company was started in 2007 by Tyrone Rodriguez, who is a game designer and former writer for video game magazines. In 2017, Nicalis announced that it had bought two other companies: SuperVillain Studios and Cowboy Color.

Games

The company has created and released many games since it was founded. Its first games were Dance Dance Revolution: Mobius in 2008 and Cave Story in 2010. In October 2011, Nicalis said it would publish a version of VVVVVV for the Nintendo 3DS through the Nintendo eShop. In December 2011, Nicalis made NightSky and Cave Story+ available for sale as part of Humble Indie Bundle 4. In April 2012, Nicalis announced that its plans to release the WiiWare version of La-Mulana in the United States and Europe were canceled because of a large drop in the number of WiiWare users. In January 2017, it was quietly announced that Nicalis would make several of its games available on the Nintendo Switch.

Awards

Cave Story was nominated for Game of the Year at the 2010 Nintendo Power Awards and for WiiWare Game of the Year. The 3DS version of Cave Story was nominated for Best Adventure Game at the 2011 Nintendo Power Awards. At the 2011 Independent Games Festival, Cave Story was a finalist in the "Excellence In Visual Art" category. Both Cave Story and NightSky received honorable mentions in the "Excellence In Audio" category.

Controversy over management

In September 2019, Kotaku editor Jason Schreier wrote a long article based on interviews with employees who did not want to be named and external developers who worked with Nicalis. The article focused on how the company was managed, especially by its CEO, Tyrone Rodriguez. Players had noticed conflicts between Nicalis and its developers on social media in the years before the article was written. The report claimed Rodriguez treated employees unfairly and created a workplace where racism was present. External developers also said Nicalis failed to respond to their communications after signing agreements to help publish their games, which caused delays and lost sales. These developers had to find other publishers instead. In response, Nicalis said, "We do not allow abusive workplaces or discrimination and have people from many different backgrounds." Rodriguez apologized on Twitter, calling his reported comments to employees "indefensible and unacceptable."

After learning about the accusations, Edmund McMillen, a game developer who had worked with Nicalis, said he would no longer create games for the company. However, his game The Binding of Isaac: Repentance would still be released as planned because of a contract he had to follow.