Game Developer Research lists 'Top 50 Developers' of 2009
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Jun 17th 2009 at 1:15PM } 
The results are utterly shocking -- for the second year in a row, Nintendo took top honors, with fellow money-printing organization Blizzard taking second place. Ubisoft Montreal skyrocketed from 12th place in the '08 report to third place in the most recent rankings. Regardless of your fanboyism for a certain developer, we think we can all agree -- in such a financially (and employmentmentally) challenging time, we're just glad to hear there's at least 50 game developers that haven't been forced to shut down.
The full list is posted after the jump.
[Thanks, Braz!]
1. Nintendo
2. Blizzard Entertainment
3. Ubisoft Montreal
4. Rockstar North
5. EA Canada
6. Konami
7. Valve Software
8. Epic Games
9. EA Tiburon
10. Treyarch
11. Hal Laboratory
12. Capcom
13. Traveller's Tales
14. Bethesda Game Studios
15. Insomniac Games
16. Namco Bandai Games
17. Ea Redwood Shores
18. Koei
19. Kojima Productions
20. Harmonix Music Systems
21. Media Molecule
22. Lionhead Studios
23. Vicarious Visions
24. Maxis
26. Neversoft Entertainment
26. Game Freak
27. Square Enix
28. Digital Illusions CE (Dice)
29. Success
30. Ready At Dawn
31. Atlus
32. Criterion Games
33. TOSE
34. Mythic Entertainment
35. Firaxis Games
36. Volition
37. Sega
38. SCE Japan Studio
39. Ironclad Games
40. Marvelous Interactive
41. Yuke's Future Media Creators
42. SCE London Studio
43. Visual Concepts
44. Intelligent Systems
45. Omega Force
46. Monolith Productions
47. Funcom
48. SCE Studios San Diego
49. Rare
50. Treasure
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rentaro @ Jun 17th 2009 1:19PM
Interesting. Treasure at spot 50
Russ W. @ Jun 17th 2009 1:45PM
I love treasure, but have they ever had a financially successful game past WarioWorld? Or is my head up my butt?
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:58PM
Bleach: the blade of fate was their most successful one.
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 3:44PM
We all know it isn't going to be Sin & Punishment 2, that's for sure.
frozengod @ Jun 18th 2009 8:18AM
Iz it shmup tiem now pleez?
joeybeast @ Jun 17th 2009 1:19PM
When are we gonna see Ready At Dawn's new project?
GiggMan @ Jun 17th 2009 1:25PM
I figured Guerilla would be there. Or are the one of the SCE devs.
AAA list though
GiggMan @ Jun 17th 2009 1:26PM
I also might not know what the hell I'm talking about......
Sly [PSN SniperChameleon] @ Jun 17th 2009 1:53PM
guerilla is under SCEE, but not the SCE studios listed.
Noshino @ Jun 17th 2009 1:29PM
What the hell, Naughty Dog was 27th last year, and this year they aren't even mentioned?....
Storm Eagle @ Jun 17th 2009 1:32PM
It's only because they don't spew out games every 3 months like most of the other developers on this list. Nevermind the fact the Uncharted is an amazing game. There's a lot of mistakes on this list.
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:40PM
Uncharted didn't came on 09.
Noshino @ Jun 17th 2009 2:21PM
uh,
"This is a detailed supplement to this month's Top 50 Developers countdown in Game Developer magazine, which saw over 600 industry professionals from Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com surveyed regarding their opinions on more than 150 developers, as well as allowing them to rate any relevant experiences with working with the companies in question"
As you can see, games release do influence the results, but they are not solemnly based on them, hence why I find it shocking for Naughty Dog to not even be mentioned.
Vidikron @ Jun 17th 2009 2:46PM
"This data was used along with sales chart data for the calendar year 2008, number of SKUs from January through December 2008, and average review scores from Metacritic (with the exception of those titles not covered by Metacritic), to determine company rankings. "
The data must be weighted heavily toward recent activity. I mean, if the number of SKUs and sales, as well as Metacritic rating for those SKUs, are part of the calculation it would be tough to make the list if you released 0 SKUs during that year. IMO, Naughty Dog is better than most on that list, but they are certainly not very prolific so it's easy to understand why they wouldn't be there this time.
Yi @ Jun 17th 2009 2:46PM
lets just assume the list is compiled based on the games released for the past 12 months or so (since it's an annual list). If you dont release anything new, then you're not on the list. That doesn't mean Naughty Dog is not good though, coz uncharted was awesome! :D
sam @ Jun 18th 2009 7:11AM
so is it ironic that the Uncharted developer is uncharted?
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:29PM
37. SEGA
Everything is right in the world.
tmmoore_nc @ Jun 17th 2009 1:33PM
So why is Konami at 6 while Kojima is 37th? Pretty sure those should at least be switched. And Sega's only 37th because Sonic Unleashed was bad. If they didn't release it, they would've been higher with just Valkyria Chronicles.
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:35PM
37 is good enough they are a lot higher than last year and enjoy Sonic Unleashed but they have released some great games not only Valkiria but Empire: Total war too, some crap like Storrise but SEGA loves to have new IPs.
Noshino @ Jun 17th 2009 2:23PM
Castlevania and Winning Eleven?...
Yi @ Jun 17th 2009 2:48PM
maybe because kojima prod. didnt release games as frequently as konami itself? just my opinion though.
Storm Eagle @ Jun 17th 2009 1:35PM
33. TOSE wiki their resume and explain to me how they're even on this list much less beating anyone behind them?
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:38PM
Those are the Dead Rising wii guys right?
Storm Eagle @ Jun 17th 2009 1:39PM
Yeah. I seriously doubt the game sold THAT well.
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:42PM
mmm so those guys beat SEGA,Rare and Treasure? ......I don't give a crap about Rare but Treasure? >=(
Chad Vanderbilt (Moptimus in Disguise) @ Jun 17th 2009 2:04PM
Starfy motherfuckers, get familiar
samfish @ Jun 17th 2009 3:38PM
TOSE does like everything for everybody, if I'm not mistaken. They're basically coders, but they've done a lot of games.
It probably sucks ass to work there, though, seeing as they apparently have such a merc like mentality when it comes to business.
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 3:48PM
Yeah, TOSE are basically the unsung heroes of the gaming world. Only recently have they started to get credit for their work.
GregOfTheDead @ Jun 17th 2009 7:50PM
KOEI 4 LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Professor Lario @ Jun 17th 2009 1:39PM
I approve of Atlus, but where is my Team ICO?
cuteSAVAGE @ Jun 17th 2009 1:45PM
They haven't had a game published since 2005 (this covers 2008). Also, I'm guessing they'd be covered under SCE Japan Studio and not get their own spot.
Russ W. @ Jun 17th 2009 1:50PM
Has Team Ico had a successful game? ICO did awful, and Shadow of The Collosus was a sleeper hit at best. Hopefully, Sony can Market The Last Guardian well.
WINterfang @ Jun 17th 2009 1:57PM
Last Guardian looks boring, Shadow of the Colossus was the more interesting looking one.
Mike @ Jun 17th 2009 1:48PM
5th Cell?
Einhanderkiller @ Jun 17th 2009 3:50PM
Why would they be on this list?
snarfoogle @ Jun 17th 2009 1:51PM
You can be a top 10 developer for ruining COD?
Who knew.
Sly [PSN SniperChameleon] @ Jun 17th 2009 1:51PM
treyarch before bethesda, insomniac, and kojima? i guess that's where sales come in, right? don't get me wrong, i love me some nazi zombies with friends, but damn that's a high position.
JXCgunrunna @ Jun 17th 2009 2:09PM
especially for changing almost NOTHING
Sly [PSN SniperChameleon] @ Jun 17th 2009 2:31PM
guns, time period, settings, characters, stories, gun effects (explosions, shotguns and MGs rip apart body parts), nazi zombies, a new multiplayer mode...
seems like a good number of changes to me. just because they used the same engine doesn't mean "they barely changed anything". yeah, the WWII era is tired, yeah COD4 is better, but no, world at war is not a mediocre game.
JXCgunrunna @ Jun 17th 2009 2:54PM
didnt say it was mediocre. said they didnt change almost anything.
Guns: same classes, same attachments, same type of leveling, same
Story was nothing ground breaking and CoD4 had better story telling
characters were no better than CoD4(which werent awesome either. good but nothing too special)
the gun effects in CoD1 were as good as the ones in W@W
the gore was an improvement as was the zombies
game modes were a nice change
Vidikron @ Jun 17th 2009 2:57PM
Co-op too.
sony boy @ Jun 17th 2009 1:51PM
how the hell did koei beat konami.
Chad Vanderbilt (Moptimus in Disguise) @ Jun 17th 2009 1:54PM
giant robots
Chad Vanderbilt (Moptimus in Disguise) @ Jun 17th 2009 1:57PM
When I saw this article I was all like
http://media.ign.com/games/image/article/738/738102/gaijin4koma_peersblog_1200684654.jpg
then I read the list and was all like
http://media.ign.com/games/image/article/738/738102/gaijin4koma2_peersblog_1200684608.jpg
Pedro Guilherme @ Jun 17th 2009 1:58PM
Sempre visito o blog daqui do Brasil, sempre que possível levo as notícias até o povo "Brazuka" e seria uma honra ter um dia a visita em meu blog de jogos de algum dos escritores deste brilhante blog, muito sucesso!
______________________________________________
http://www.tecnojogos.com.br
Chad Vanderbilt (Moptimus in Disguise) @ Jun 17th 2009 2:08PM
começ da OU dos inglês do fale o um foda para para o também do A., blogue do seu do sobre dos cuidados do ninguém
Petebot330 @ Jun 17th 2009 2:08PM
I told you I don't speak Spanish! English please.
Yi @ Jun 17th 2009 2:49PM
fail. lol
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 3:49PM
But that's portuguese, not spanish.
WREturns @ Jun 17th 2009 4:13PM
Ah Portuguese, the old South American language of love...