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Nintendo, Blizzard, Ubi Montreal top game devs

By Matthew Peters, GameSpotPosted Jun 16, 2009 1:33 pm PT

Japanese, Californian, and Quebecois shops ranked as most powerful studios by Game Developer magazine; Rockstar North, EA Canada, Konami, Valve, Epic, EA Tiburon, and Treyarch round out top 10.

Acclaim often comes to individual games, but the developers of those games often go unnoticed. However, a study published today might give due praise to the game industry's best developers. The industry trade periodical Game Developer released a study titled "Top 50 Developers 2009," a follow-up to its inaugural study in 2008. In the report, the magazine named Nintendo's Kyoto studio, Blizzard Entertainment, and Ubisoft Montreal as this year's best developers.

Blizzard isn't quite the king of the throne, but the regicide of Nintendo might be a possibility in the coming years.

According to Game Developer's online sibling, Gamasutra, Nintendo was named 2009's best developer due to its "incredibly strong sales and high industry reputation." The past year saw the Shigeru Miyamoto-led studio release smash hits like the workout title Wii Fit and the cartoony racer Mario Kart Wii, which have sold 18.2 million and 15.4 million units worldwide, respectively. The site also lauded the company for Wii Play and the puzzle game Brain Age.

Second place went to Blizzard, namely for the commercial and critical success of its latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, which sold 2.8 million copies a day after its release. Last year, its second expansion pack to its World of Warcraft series won GameSpot's 2008 Editors' Choice award. On Game Developer's 2008 top-developer list, Blizzard was ranked third, behind Infinity Ward, the developer of the critically acclaimed shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Since the developer did not release any games in 2008, it was not eligible for ranking this year.

Rounding out the top three is Ubisoft's studio in Quebec's biggest metropolis. Buoyed by critical and commercial hits such as Far Cry 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and the cel-shaded Prince of Persia reboot, the company shot up nine places after finishing 12th last year.

Game Developer's rankings were based on the retail performance of games in the US, UK, and Japan and their average scores on review aggregator Metacritic. (Metacritic is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS.) Gamasutra also released an anonymous survey that asked community members to rate game developers on reputation.

DEVELOPER - TITLES
1) Nintendo Kyoto studio - Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit
2) Blizzard Entertainment - World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3) Ubisoft Montreal - Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia
4) Rockstar North - Grand Theft Auto IV
5) EA Canada - FIFA Soccer 09, NHL 09
6) Konami Tokyo studio - Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
7) Valve - Left 4 Dead
8) Epic Games - Gears of War 2, Unreal Tournament 3 (Xbox 360)
9) Electronic Arts Tiburon - Madden NFL 09, NASCAR 09
10) Treyarch - Call of Duty: World at War
11) HAL Laboratory - Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
12) Capcom Osaka studio - Devil May Cry 4, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
13) Traveller's Tales - Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones
14) Bethesda Game Studios - Fallout 3
15) Insomniac Games - Resistance 2, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
16) Namco Bandai Games Tokyo studio - Soul Calibur IV, We Ski
17) EA Redwood Shores - Dead Space, MySins
18) Koei Yokohama studio - Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, G1 Jockey 4 2008
19) Kojima Productions - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
20) Harmonix Music Systems - Rock Band 2

91 Comments

  • vegan_cannibal

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:07 am PT

    Bethesda is no 14??????

  • biokrysty

    Posted Jun 20, 2009 12:05 am PT

    bulls,,,,,,it

  • Sonicplys

    Posted Jun 18, 2009 3:28 pm PT

    Nintendo is number 1....again. Why im I not suprised. Wii tha BEST!!!!!! listen!!!

  • railroberto2007

    Posted Jun 18, 2009 6:23 am PT

    probably because infinity ward didnt have a new game in 2008 lol. cod4 was 2007 lol

  • titanviper2000

    Posted Jun 18, 2009 6:19 am PT

    How did Treyarch make this list and Infinity Ward got nixed? That makes no sense to me.

  • beny_pimpster

    Posted Jun 18, 2009 12:56 am PT

    yay ea canada bested valve wooooooooooo!

  • drand24

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 7:57 pm PT

    Harmonix should be higher then that.

  • JrSlacker

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 7:27 pm PT

    I don't know about Nintendo being the "kings" anymore. I used to smile with glee every time they came out with some new and epic, but that of course was with the Nintendo 64 and such, even the Gamecube had some games that really shined, such as Pikmen. I just find them really predictable, and the E3 some what proved that.

  • snokdruid

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 7:26 pm PT

    im not suprised to see blizzard up there

  • rikhan_z

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 6:16 pm PT

    SquareEnix? :S

  • liam72

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 6:08 pm PT

    @xXFr34k_0uTXx

    Yes, there is certainly a link between sales, historics and game quality, but it isn't strong enough to point out one specific developper as the leader in all of those spheres. Games made in 1996 have a slight impact on today's sell and bad games can end up being "best sellers" if the marketing is good enough. What I wanted to point out is that debating over which of these companies is the all time best game developper can't end up in a rational debate. It'll inevitably fall in a battle of tastes and opinion over things that can't be objectively analysed. Unless you focus on one specific point (like sales for example)

  • Eazy1891

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 4:50 pm PT

    wow...thats crazy i thought the list would turn out alot more different then that

  • ironman388

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 2:06 pm PT

    how is EA canada above valve? seriously they make some mediocre sports games and now they they are regarded as a good company? valve has made some of the best shooters ever created, how is this possible

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 1:35 pm PT

    The Economy is designed on the basses that products that are the most liked will make the most money. If you think it wrong to bass the quality of a studio on the profits they make because your favorite studio came in too low a place it was simply that not enough people were interested in it to buy it.

  • jemwilli

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 1:24 pm PT

    The study factored in sales figures and community reputation based on "the quality of direct interaction working for or with that developer where possible." (Gamasutra) I think this ranking represents a more investor and game designer view of studios ie. "Was this a profitable studio, and does it have a good work environment?" But if you look at the titles on the list I would say it shows that good games come from good companies.

  • NemesisLives

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 1:01 pm PT

    Umm...is it just me or I'm I the only one that thinks that rating Devs on how much money their game made is the wrong way to rate them. Shouldn't they get rated on you know...how well they develop games.

  • tgrah1827

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 12:59 pm PT

    @ raahsnavj
    Activision is a publisher not a developer

  • raahsnavj

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 12:48 pm PT

    What, no activision? Do they make any games or are they the "EA with a good reputation"? Sure you have the companies they swallowed, but yet they don't produce anything of value?

  • Timbydude

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 12:10 pm PT

    @azureblade89

    Remember, only 2008-2009 games were eligible for this. Mass Effect was released in '07, so the only BioWare game eligible would be Sonic Chronicles, which definitely wasn't award-worthy.

  • azureblade89

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 11:33 am PT

    Granted, most of the devs on the board are quite amazing, I would've slotted HMX up a bit higher and Koei in a ditch, however you can't make a list like this and seriously not add Bioware to it. Honestly that's just not right.

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