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[Zia]

(Surprisingly) didn't see this posted. It originally appeared in the final issue of Game Developer Magazine, and Gamasutra published it on the website yesterday. You can click the link to see the entire, unordered list.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/194855/top_30_developers_of_all_time.php?page=1

Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development

Kyoto, Japan

Odds are that most people reading this article owe their fascination with video games in some part to Nintendo EAD (Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda), so including it on this list is a no-brainer. However, we feel compelled to point out that it’s not just their work from almost 30 years ago that earned Nintendo EAD a spot; we’re impressed by the way they consistently manage to push video games as a whole in new directions. Plus, as people who grew up with video games, we think there’s something to be said for knowing there is someone out there keeping Nintendo’s genuinely friendly blue-skies aesthetic alive.

Looking Glass Studios

Cambridge, Massachusetts

You’d think that it’d take more than two notable game franchises to get yourself on Game Developer’s list of the Top 30 Devs of All Time, but Looking Glass Studios earned this just by the strength of Thief and System Shock alone. (We know they did other games, but every time someone suggested including Looking Glass, it was just for those two.) Naturally, we can’t bring up Looking Glass without mentioning that Ken Levine started his career there on Thief before eventually going on to found Irrational Games and later creating BioShock.

Mojang

Stockholm, Sweden

Mojang makes Minecraft, Mojang sells Minecraft, Mojang makes millions and millions of dollars. Practically overnight, Mojang became a fairy tale to tell starving indies: Work hard on ideas you believe in, do right by your players, and the money will come. So Mojang is on this list because what they’ve done with Minecraft alone is an amazing accomplishment -- and also because we, too, want to believe.

Platinum Games/Clover Studios

Osaka, Japan

We’re going to cheat and cover two studios in one entry, since Platinum Games’s core trio of Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya previously worked together as Capcom subsidiary Clover Studios. Between the two studios, this dream team is responsible for Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand, Bayonetta, and MadWorld. We like that Platinum Games is unafraid to unleash their creative energies and take risks; we love that they do this and make games that just feel solid, satisfying, and lovingly crafted.

thatgamecompany

Los Angeles, California

Even after Flow and Flower, naysayers and traditionalists had no problem dismissing thatgamecompany’s work. After Journey’s runaway success in 2012, though, we don’t think anyone can ignore thatgamecompany anymore. To us, the fact that thatgamecompany’s emotion-directed development approach can thrive and flourish indicates that our industry and our medium are gradually maturing in their capacity for creative expression -- which we think was a long time in coming.

 

[w1gglyjones]

Treasure on that list <3

thatgamecompany? really? wow...

 

[Doran902]

naughty dog as an honorable mention makes me sad, definitely one of my top 10 been playing their games since i got crash bandicoot when i was 6

 

[Diddy Kong]

Mojang goes down as a top 30 developer of all time for one game?..

 

[Cade]

Riot games a top 30 developer? They made one game. One game.

Naughty Dog an honorable mention and Riot in.

This list is bonkers.

 

[sunnz]

DIdn't see Naughty Dog or Rockstar.

Made by people who's opinion I disagree with.

 

[Aureon]

I think they took 30 at random or something.

 

[w1gglyjones]

DIdn't see Naughty Dog or Rockstar.

Stupid list made by stupid people.

chill yo...

 

[Pie and Beans]

Alright list in places, too weird and random in others. Taking a chance to praise the MAME team and Riot while knocking Naughty Dog or From off the list is kinda screwed.

Oh and Rare nostalgia. They weren't even near the top back then, let alone now.

 

[szaromir]

Joke lists are joke lists.

 

[EvilKatarn]

Riot games a top 30 developer? They made one game. One game.

Well, Riot's game did add immensely to the e-sports culture.

Mojang on the other hand made one stupid sandbox that some facecamming morons play on YouTube.

Cool that Treasure is on there.

 

[granabanana]

Great to see EAD on there. For me the best developers in the world espec after galaxy. What a masterpiece.

 

[WinFonda]

lol their honorable mentions list has better dev houses than their actual list. wack.

 

[Into]

Its a decent list, one has to remember that they are accounting for all time. Naughty Dog right now are absolutely one of the best developers in the entire world, their work speaks for itself.

Odd that they put in MAME:

MAME Team

N/A

As we work our way through this list of legendary game dev studios, it’s worth taking a moment to honor the all-volunteer team behind MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). Fact is, we’re really glad there are people working behind the scenes to preserve a playable, accurate version of our arcade game history, especially when that kind of preservation work entails breaking old proprietary encryption schemes and reverse-engineering undocumented system architecture. Keep doing what you’re doing, folks.

I appreciate MAME as it allows us to preserve arcade games that would be lost forever, but i would not put them on that list, no disrespect.

 

[dreamghost]

Where Silicon Knights? ....

Said nobody ever.

 

[speedpop]

naughty dog as an honorable mention makes me sad, definitely one of my top 10

I'm a little perplexed as well despite not enjoying any of their games. Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and now The Last of Us. Surely that would grant you some reserved space on a top 30 list.

Mojang goes down as a top 30 developer of all time for one game?..

I suppose it's not for what they made (i.e. a glorified LEGO castles w/ zombies), but for how Notch did it.

 

[Yawnier]

How the fuck does Naughty Dog not make it on this list?

 

[imBask]

chill yo...

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

 

[iNvid02]

nope

 

[hamchan]

Riot games a top 30 developer? They made one game. One game.

Naughty Dog an honorable mention and Riot in.

This list is bonkers.

And it's the biggest game ever.

 

[sunnz]

chill yo...

I was just kidding/ being grumpy.


I pretty much knew they weren't going to get mentioned, easy choices.

 

[Kyoufu]

How the fuck does Naughty Dog not make it on this list?

Yet Rare made it!

 

[SolidSnakex]

And it's the biggest game ever.

It's still one game. Do you put Rovio on a list like this just because Angry Birds is absurdly popular?

 

[Zia]

Alright list in places, too weird and random in others. Taking a chance to praise the MAME team and Riot while knocking Naughty Dog or From off the list is kinda screwed.

From Software has put out a lot of crap, and Naughty Dog certainly would have made the list post-The Last of Us. I'm sure this piece was polished off prior to its release.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

Joke lists are joke lists.

Yup

 

[Dracarys]

Hahaha. no.

Platinum so low, just a mention for nd.

 

[zoukka]

Prepare to face the ND fan brigade.

Nintendo EAD and Platinum feed my soul.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I assume it's not ranked...?

Prepare to face the ND brigade.

Right now I'm just facing the guy who's always warning people about the onslaught of the ND brigade.

 

[Cade]

Well, Riot's game did add immensely to the e-sports culture.
Mojang on the other hand made one stupid sandbox that some facecamming morons play on YouTube.

Cool that Treasure is on there.

Well yeah, but I mean, it was "inspired" by DOTA heavily and then DOTA2 is set to outdo it relatively soon, anyway.

And it's the biggest game ever.

Right, I'm just saying they've had one hit. Much like Mojang doesn't need to be on this list for only one proven title.

 

[JDSN]

Weird how developers means publishers at times for gamasutra.

 

[w1gglyjones]

Prepare to face the ND brigade.

Controversy for manufactured hits? Is this a stealth Kotaku article? That's already producing...

Where Silicon Knights? ....

Said nobody ever.

Great jokes??!?!!

 

[Zia]

Hahaha. no.

Platinum so low, just a mention for nd.

It's an unordered list.

 

[andymcc]

Treasure doesn't even make that good of STGs outside of Sin & Punishment...

 

[KillerTravis]

Yet Rare made it!

Of course it made the list, they were the best developers on the 90's. They made some really ground-breaking games.

 

[WinFonda]

I'm a little perplexed as well despite not enjoying any of their games. Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and now The Last of Us. Surely that would grant you some reserved space on a top 30 list.

Yep, Naughty Dog has been playstation's premiere developer for what, almost 20 years now? They don't make bad games. Even if one only sees them as being incredibly dominant or relevant during the current generation, that's still a whole freaking generation. It's a snub.

 

[Pie and Beans]

From Software has put out a lot of crap, and Naughty Dog certainly would have made the list post-The Last of Us. I'm sure this piece was polished off prior to its release.

I loved FROM before it was cool! OTOGI DEFENCE FORCE UNITE! But really, ND would be on before Last of Us anyway. They're industry leaders.

 

[batman2million]

I'm getting tired of the "of all time" or "...ever" in the title of these lists.

b/c clearly, time itself is coming to an end we're so inclined to judge whats best or not.

 

[LiK]

Wow, no Naughty Gods? How did that happen?

They're only in Honorable mentions.

 

[imBask]

It's still one game. Do you put Rovio on a list like this just because Angry Birds is absurdly popular?

I don't play LoL anymore but it doesn't change the fact that I know how big LoL is. Leagues single handedly destroyed every other eSports (I do like sc2, but it's not as popular anymore.) and skyrocketed the popularity of twitch

added to the fact that pretty much every company in the world right now is trying to copy their F2P model

 

[Don'tBeWeird]

Kojima Productions?

 

[speedpop]

I'm more pissed that SNK got an honourable mention to tell the truth.

Fatal Fury (made by the guy who created Street Fighter in the first place)
Art of Fighting
Samurai Shodown
King of Fighters
Metal Slug
Last Blade
Garou

Where you at

 

[Camjo-Z]

Yet Rare made it!

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!

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Naughty Dog's not on the list?

Oh man, can't wait - this will complete the trifecta.

 

[zoukka]

Controversy for manufactured hits? Is this a stealth Kotaku article? That's already producing...

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

Note that whenever possible we&#8217;ve gone out of our way to avoid recognizing developers solely for being the first to do something in video games -- our medium&#8217;s pioneers are important, but we wouldn&#8217;t have room left in the list for anyone else. So we&#8217;ve generally tried to stick to the last 30 years of game development or so, and focus on the studios that we think have shaped the current era.

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

 

[ComputerMKII]

What criteria are being used?

 

[speedpop]

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

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.

 

[jmls1121]

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.

Spoiler

Oh God, what have I done?

 

[loganclaws]

No CD Projekt RED?

 

[ChimpanzeeThat]

lol @ Mojang and Riot being there, one game each and apparently they belong in the pantheon of the Gods.

The "honourable mentions" list makes it even worse:

Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto is more or less a cultural icon.

Thank God for articles like that though, how else would we know what websites to avoid like the plague?

 

[sibarraz]

Glad that Sega AM2 was included