14 DAY TRIAL // The Game Developer magazine, published by Think Services, and the Game Developer Research Division have named, for the second year in a row, the best 50 videogame developers, painting quite an interesting picture of the industry in itself.
Nintendo, with its Kyoto-based studio, responsible for titles such as Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit, is the best developer in the industry at the moment, while Blizzard is being named second. The main difference between the two has been the incredible volume of sales that the games created by Nintendo’s studio generated, even if it has released less titles this year than during the last.
Ubisoft Montreal, which has pushed out titles like Prince of Persia and Far Cry 2, is third in the top 50. Ubisoft might not be as big as a publisher as Electronic Arts or as Activision but the quality of the games that it released seems to have been noticed by the industry.
To create the chart, Game Developer decided to use both market data and a survey taking into account the opinions of professionals from the gaming industry. While Nintendo scores better in sales data, Blizzard has gotten the better marks from other developers. Second spot last year went to Infinity Ward, which did not feature in the chart as it did not release any titles during last year.
Rockstar North has managed to take fourth spot, while EA Canada, which produced FIFA 09 and NHL 09, is at number five. The top ten is complemented by the Tokyo studio of Konami, the maker of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Valve, Epic Games, Electronic Arts Tiburon and Treyarch.
Other notable presences in the top twenty are HAL Laboratory, the maker of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Capcom's Osaka studio, which made Devil May Cry 4 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Bethesda Game Studios, creators of Fallout 3, and Kojima Productions, which made Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.