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Gamasutra: The Top 30 Developers of All Time

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Z

Zajora

Member
zoukka said:
ND makes high quality games but they aren't exactly innovators.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It seems like people are interpreting this list as "The Best Developers" but I think it's more more like "The Most Influential Developers" or "Developers who have changed the industry"

..which is probably why developers like Riot and Mojang deserve a spot.
 
L

LeBoef

Member
Yawnier said:
How the fuck does Naughty Dog not make it on this list?
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what impact did they have on the industry. companys like id software or nintendo forged whole eras.

edit
btw is ridiculous that bullfrog or origin didnt make it.
or westwood with bladerunner and cnc/ dune

edit2
oh origin is on the list. yay
 
G

Gadirok

Member
Camjo-Z said:
It's almost as if Rare wasn't always a shovelware Kinect developer and made some all-time classics like Banjo-Kazooie, the DKC trilogy, and Goldeneye 007!
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Judging from the criteria of that list, its kinect sports that put them up there rather than their actual hits with Nintendo.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
zoukka said:
What controversy. They listed the 30 most influential game developers. ND does not belong to that list by any means.




ND makes high quality games but they aren't exactly innovators.
Click to expand...

Okay, then how is Rockstar not on there? Few games in recent memory have completely changed the industry in the way that Grand Theft Auto 3 did. They've certainly done far more than thatgamecompany.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Mojang doesn't belong on the list IMO and that's coming from a huge Minecraft fan.

I'm not terribly broken up that ND isn't on the list either

But what the hell at the lack of Rockstar! I don't even like the GTA games particularly much and even I acknowledge both their quality and their importance
 
C

Chû Totoro

Member
Mojang may be the only one I'm not agree to include on an "of All Time" list.
I understand while their explanation is valuable but still they should be in the Honorable Mentions list instead of Rockstar Games because they made a game now clearly a part of popular video game culture. GTA defined a new genre on its own.

Very good list btw.
 
B

Binabik15

Member
By the logic this list uses I could be the greatest marksman of all time because I hit a target 100% dead center and never shot again.
 
dugdug

dugdug

Banned
zoukka said:
What controversy. They listed the 30 most influential game developers. ND does not belong to that list by any means.

ND makes high quality games but they aren't exactly innovators.
Click to expand...

Really? Have you seen any third person shooter that came out after Uncharted 2?

While ND might not have "invented" set pieces, almost every third-person game that came out after U2 had them in there.
 
I

imBask

Banned
speedpop said:
I understand and agree with your comment, but technically you could say the exact same thing for Blizzard. The most innovative thing they ever developed was Lost Vikings.
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they also made some game called WoW, which might not be the biggest innovation in the world, but it's still the undefeated champion after 10 long years of other devs trying to take their spot
 
Z

zoukka

Member
speedpop said:
I understand and agree with your comment, but technically you could say the exact same thing for Blizzard. The most innovative thing they ever developed was Lost Vikings.
Click to expand...

Well I can't imagine innovation being the only metric. Just one that is highly valued. Blizzards business models and complete dominance in some genres is pretty extraordinary. (and they did make some of the best games ever made back in the day)

Xer0 said:
While ND might not have "invented" set pieces, almost every third-person game that came out after U2 had them in there.
Click to expand...

Is there an argument here?

SolidSnakex said:
Okay, then how is Rockstar not on there? Few games in recent memory have completely changed the industry in the way that Grand Theft Auto 3 did. They've certainly done far more than thatgamecompany.
Click to expand...

I have no idea.
 
W

WolfForager

Member
imbask said:
Naughty Dogs fanboys are like that, just ignore them

also i'm a big fan of Rockstar, they could've made the list but then again, I can't really disagree with any of the devs on this list
Click to expand...

Interesting statement.

Not sure how ND nor Rockstar did not make it onto the list.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
since there are other companies with only 1 franchise or even 1 game, ion storm would have deserved at least an honorable mention. Deus Ex is always listed among the best games ever made.
 
R

RamzaIsCool

The Amiga Brotherhood
That's a shitty list imo, the funny thing is that most of the honourable mentions are better then 90% of the devs listed there.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Xer0 said:
Really? Have you seen any third person shooter that came out after Uncharted 2?

While ND might not have "invented" set pieces, almost every third-person game that came out after U2 had them in there.
Click to expand...

...yes, but adding set pieces to a genre does not strike me as a contribution of particularly staggering significance. If there's going to be an argument for ND I think it has to be on sheer quality, not on innovation.

Meh, I could see ND on there but the lack of them doesn't stand out to me as a huge omission quite honestly. There are better and more influential developers.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Xer0 said:
Really? Have you seen any third person shooter that came out after Uncharted 2?

While ND might not have "invented" set pieces, almost every third-person game that came out after U2 had them in there.
Click to expand...

How did Uncharted 2 use them so well? All I saw was a game leaning on them to take away from the blandness of Uncharted's second-tier stop and pop gameplay that Gears of War got right.
 
Y

Yawnier

Banned
jmls1121 said:
Naughty Dog does not belong on the list. This is a list of the best game developers, not a list of the best makers of cinematic setpieces with boring gameplay.

Oh God, what have I done?
Click to expand...

Not sure if you're serious here, but if you are; you clearly never played the Crash series or the first Jak & Daxter then.
 
K

Kenshin001

Member
zoukka said:
What controversy. They listed the 30 most influential game developers. ND does not belong to that list by any means.

ND makes high quality games but they aren't exactly innovators.
Click to expand...

For better or worse, given the recent games that seem to ape many features of ND games I'd argue otherwise. In terms of mature storytelling in games TLoU blows pretty much everything out of the water and will push the medium forward.

I'm surprised Infinity Ward isn't on the list either, since they had a huge influence on the FPS genre.
 
G

Gadirok

Member
Diablo Rosso said:
Infinity Ward aren't mentioned at all. They had the most influential game this gen with Call of Duty 4.
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Given how influential they were with Modern Warfare, the fact that almost every developer tried to go for the same audience and make there games more CoD like, and the fact that millions of people bought the game, I'm surprised when someone like Riot and Mojang can make the list when they omit Infinity Ward. Even if they (like Rare) are only a shadow of their former selves.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
It's top developers of All Time. So I can see ND not being on that list. Crash was fun but not OMG awesome or influential, same with Jax/Daxter. Uncharted 1 was alright, and Uncharted 2 was great. Uncharted 3 same ole same ole. Haven't played Last of Us, but it's still a relatively new release. No enough for All Time consideration yet.
 
Boss Man

Boss Man

Member
Always going to be a lot of things to disagree with on a big list like this, but overall I think it's very good.

There are some questionable exclusions and some questionable inclusions. I get that Minecraft is great, but would Mojang be on this list five years from now? I don't think one title should get you on a "All-Time" list. Also, where is Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog? When you're judging developers like this, the strongest metric should be consistent high quality output. Naughty Dog is mentioned, but they're mentioned in the same spot as Bethesda... Even if you prefer The Elder Scrolls to Crash, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us you have to acknowledge how much better Naughty Dog is at actual development.

But any time you make an "all-time" list with 30 entries in it, there's going to be huge room for debate. This thread could hit a hundred pages if people really wanted to talk about it. Overall, I think the list is solid. My favorite part is Nintendo being first (even if I'm not their biggest fan right now, there is a special element to their games) and the bit at the end giving shout outs to people like Lovelace and Turing.
 
G

Gadirok

Member
Fancy Corndog said:
Always going to be a lot of things to disagree with on a big list like this, but overall I think it's very good.

There are some questionable exclusions and some questionable inclusions. I get that Minecraft is great, but would Mojang be on this list five years from now? I don't think one title should get you on a "All-Time" list. Also, where is Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog? When you're judging developers like this, the strongest metric should be consistent high quality output. Naughty Dog is mentioned, but they're mentioned in the same spot as Bethesda... Even if you prefer The Elder Scrolls to Crash, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us you have to acknowledge how much better Naughty Dog is at actual development.

But any time you make an "all-time" list with 30 entries in it, there's going to be huge room for debate. This thread could hit a hundred pages if people really wanted to talk about it. Overall, I think the list is solid. My favorite part is Nintendo being first (even if I'm not their biggest fan right now, there is a special element to their games) and the bit at the end giving shout outs to people like Lovelace and Turing.
Click to expand...

Its an unranked list.
 
R

Raist

Banned
Mojang? MAME team? Riot games?

Welp. Might as well kick Square, Nintendo and such out of the list and put Zynga games and Rovio and stuff.
 
Z

zoukka

Member
Kenshin001 said:
In terms of mature storytelling in games TLoU blows pretty much everything out of the water and will push the medium forward.
Click to expand...

We'll see if it has any noticeable impact on the medium. I doubt it. Everything TloU did has been done a million times over in games, TloU just had more polish than what we are used to.
 
S

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
imbask said:
they also made some game called WoW, which might not be the biggest innovation in the world, but it's still the undefeated champion after 10 long years of other devs trying to take their spot
Click to expand...

It's the Blizzard magic of spit and polish. They took the EQ formula and turned the dial to 10. It took the game a while to become the monster that is - anyone who played the first 12 months of WoW's calender year can acknowledge that easily.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
Kyoufu said:
Yet Rare made it!
KuGsj.gif
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How many games have naughty dog made?They've yet to surpass the amount rare did right?
 
A

AppleSmack

Banned
Zajora said:
Yeah. It seems like people are interpreting this list as "The Best Developers" but I think it's more more like "The Most Influential Developers" or "Developers who have changed the industry"

..which is probably why developers like Riot and Mojang deserve a spot.
Click to expand...

How is Riot innovative? They made a free to play Dota clone.
 
R

revolverjgw

Member
entrement said:
It's top developers of All Time. So I can see ND not being on that list. Crash was fun but not OMG awesome or influential, same with Jax/Daxter. Uncharted 1 was alright, and Uncharted 2 was great. Uncharted 3 same ole same ole. Haven't played Last of Us, but it's still a relatively new release. No enough for All Time consideration yet.
Click to expand...

3 very different trilogies, all highly rated and diverse in style (and historically significant, it's easy to forget now how popular and unique Crash was at the time, it beat Mario 64 to the NA market and helped kickstart Sony's dominance), plus the best kart racer of all time, plus TLOU, plus motherfucking WAY OF THE WARRIOR is more than enough to put them above some of the crap on this list

TLDR: Way of the Warrior
 
P

Pristine_Condition

Member
Riot and Mojang who are basically one-hit wonders--on the list.

Rockstar and Naughty Dog, who have made critically and fan-acclaimed games for many, many years, with awards and huge sales accumulated through multiple IPs--not on the list.

MAME team, who I'm sure are great, but have never made a single game--on the list.

Atari, who made some of the greatest arcade games of all time--not listed.

...

This, friends, is a crap list.
 
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