Game Developer magazine (and its brainy Game Developer Research division) recently published its second annual enumerated accolades for the fine folks who make the games that you crudely jam into your home entertainment consoles -- or, in layman's terms, the "Top 50 Developers 2009" report. The rankings are based on how many games a studio created, the sales for those games, and their metacritic ratings. Quality of box art and amount of 'tude possessed by the games' protagonists, however, were not taken into consideration.
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
Reader Comments (65)
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 3:30PM Tephlon said
Die by the Sword (oldschool. excellent game)
Spider-Man (hard, but good. I loved that it tried something 'different')
Spiderman 2 (wonderful fun)
Call of Duty 3 (single player was crap, but they brought alot to the table for multiplayer. Before they came along, multiplayer in COD's was a joke)
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (screw you, I enjoyed it)
Call of Duty: World at War (good game, quit your bitchin)
Reply
Spider-Man (hard, but good. I loved that it tried something 'different')
Spiderman 2 (wonderful fun)
Call of Duty 3 (single player was crap, but they brought alot to the table for multiplayer. Before they came along, multiplayer in COD's was a joke)
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (screw you, I enjoyed it)
Call of Duty: World at War (good game, quit your bitchin)
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 2:41PM Bagels said
Media Molecule not in top 10 or even 20 = Unrelevant list,
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 2:53PM rockies123 said
*sigh*
media molecule had only released one game so far in its lifetime (which is in 2008) and that explains why it's in midtable. They're not bad, they're just not as intensive as other giant developers, which is perfectly fine because they gave birth to a gem in LBP.
Reply
media molecule had only released one game so far in its lifetime (which is in 2008) and that explains why it's in midtable. They're not bad, they're just not as intensive as other giant developers, which is perfectly fine because they gave birth to a gem in LBP.
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 2:43PM (Unverified) said
Why isn't Bioware anywhere?
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 5:10PM Chilly P slapperonlyblogspotcom said
No, they're not. EAC makes sports games. I don't think had any games released last year.
Reply
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 2:45PM bongoes said
Treasure LAST? After RARE?
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 3:36PM (Unverified) said
"employmentmentally"
What?
Also, I'm surprised Ready at Dawn is so high on the list. Or even on the list.
What?
Also, I'm surprised Ready at Dawn is so high on the list. Or even on the list.
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 3:36PM Pureshooter said
Did anyone notice this at the end:
"The 'Top 50 Developers 2009' report is now available for paid digital download for a price of US $2,995."
LOL......I'll take two...
"The 'Top 50 Developers 2009' report is now available for paid digital download for a price of US $2,995."
LOL......I'll take two...
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 3:46PM Mr Khan said
Team ICO would fall under the umbrella of SCE Japan, right?
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 3:48PM Ballistic3188 said
wait is bioware EA canada?
Posted: Jun 17th 2009 5:08PM Chilly P slapperonlyblogspotcom said
You're welcome, Griffin!
Posted: Jun 18th 2009 3:15PM isotrex said
Great info! Great list!
Would love to see some new upcoming devs. Hopefully, they will probably reinvent the gaming industry... that or be hired by the top brass. :D
Would love to see some new upcoming devs. Hopefully, they will probably reinvent the gaming industry... that or be hired by the top brass. :D
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