Who are the most talented developers this gen in your opinion?

• Naughty Dog - very rarely does a developer make a game with a good story, good writing, good gameplay, and at the same time, pushes the medium forward. Naughty Dog is one of those developers!
• Platinum Games - their games are not really known for story or writing, but their gameplay is almost always incredible and innovative. Platinum is the best action game developer in my opinion.
• Hideo Kojima - super talented guy who always tries to change the way we play games and think about them. Only problem is that he needs someone to reign him in a little lol.
• Capcom - when they want to, they can make really great games. When they focus less on monetization, and more on just gameplay, they rock.
• Nintendo - they know how to make fun games. They may not have the most depth, and story isn't really their forte, but they make games that are fun. They always put fun first.
• Sony Santa Monica - God of War was incredible. I hope they don't lose focus and continue with the great work they did. They needed inspiration and the reboot gave them that.
• From Software - they made Bloodborne. 'nuff said.
• Playground Games - definitely Xbox's best developer, and Forza Horizon is the best racing game.

Honorable mention: Square Enix for FF7 Remake. This was the most inspired Square Enix game in a long time. I hope they continue the great work!

Damn, I nearly listed half the industry there lol. What about you, SW? Who are the most talented developers this gen in your opinion?

I want to say Respawn, but I’ve only enjoyed the first Titanfall game they made. Didn’t get into Apex that much and I didn’t like Titanfall 2 at all.

343

Playground Games

Turn 10

The Coalition

Rare

The mooaar things change, the mooaar they stay the same. lol :P

Cd project red

Naughty dog

Playground games

Respawn - Titanfall 1&2, Jedi: Fallen Order

Titanfall is very reminscent of COD, but is better

Jedi: Fallen order reminded me very much of games like Metroid Prime, and it didn't feel into the trap of being an other shitty Dark Souls clone (we have enough of those already, thanks!)

Rockstar - Red Dead Redemption 2

The social interaction in Red Dead Redemption 2 is out of this world. Some people say RDR 2 goes on for too long, I say Arthur Morgan is one of the most realised and fleshed out characters gaming has ever seen

• Valve. If all we get is something as incredible as Alyx every 15 years and the worlds best VR setup, I'm OK with that.
• Arkane. Dishonored series and Prey are my favorite first-person games.
• Respawn. Apex Legends was groundbreaking and came out of nowhere, and Titanfall 2 was a criminally overlooked gem.
• Cloud Imperium Games. Star Citizen is not out yet, but what I have experienced so far is nothing short of brilliant, and even in a buggy alpha state the game is fun as hell.
• Obsidian. RPG king is back this gen!
• Larian. Divinity Original Sin 1/2 is great, as is Dragon Commander. They breathed new life into the "western
• " RPG genre while staying true to the roots.
• Creative Assembly. Every Total War game released in the past few years has been nothing short of a masterpiece.

I'd list a bunch of indie devs, but there'd be too many.

@mrbojangles25: great list, including the nod to the indie devs too. Btw - Gladius is great

xbox has teraflops to play while sony has movie games to play.

sony first party all suck because every game is a movie game.

while xbox is the best because they don't come out with games. you guys will see they will come next gen but better late than never.

you have to many sony first party on your list. you movie game player. they will laugh at you and tell you that only terflops are good games and games can only be good if its full retracing.

Id software. Return of true classic and made Doom and Eternal 2 of best games this gen easily.

Capcom

Dotemu

From Software

Nintendo

Platinum Games

Some of my faves this gen:

Nintendo

id Software

From Software

Team Cherry

Capcom

Lucas Pope. Developer of Papers, Please. This guy somehow managed to make paperwork simulator compelling.

Supergiant Games. Developers of Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades. All too often, story and gameplay in video games seem to live in two separate dimensions - Anthem, which has story and gameplay literally walled off from one another, springs to mind. Supergiant Games are unique in that they understand how to have the two go hand-in-hand. It's not everyday you get to actually care about the characters in a 3-on-3 basketball simulator.

CD Projekt Red. For too long, AAA game publishers tell us that improvement in graphics means that large, expansive open world games have to be as dead and barren as the Namib Desert, with the empty bits filled in with mind-numbing grind and microtransactions. CD Projekt Red rejects this notion, and simply work the living skins off their backs instead.

Frictional Games. Probably one of the last real horror game developers, instead of action games with horror elements, or jumpscare-a-thons for streamers to obnoxiously scream at. These guys still understand atmosphere and pacing, which is something of a lost art.

Edit: I would put PlatinumGames in my list, but aside from Bayonetta, the qualities of which are feeling more like an obligation at this point, I feel like their games have become a bit too restrained and too self-serious lately. What happened to the PlatinumGames that gave us rocket-skates and dedicated "smoke cigarette" button, and a muscle-bound politician power-bombing us while lecturing constantly about how awesome right-wing policies are?

• Platinum
• CDPR
• Capcom
• Nintendo

These are the most talented developers for me personally are:

• Respawn-Titanfall, Titanfall 2, & Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order were really fun games, they have skills to make there games fun gameplay.
• Rockstars-I'm not really a true fan of Rockstars but there skills in development shouldn't go unnoticed. GTA series & Red Dead Redemption 2 are awesome and I actually prefer Red Dead series more so then GTA series.
• Obsidian-Knights of the Old Republic 2, New Vegas, and Outer Worlds is what Obsidian are good for and even though there games are buggy at times, there games are still amazing if you ask me.
• CD Project Red-Witcher series and now Cyberpunk 2077 is what I like about CD Project Red and they're reputations of not rushing their games is what I like about them, they release there games when its done and done right on their terms.
• Nintendo-Do I need to say anything about Nintendo as a whole?
• Platinum Games-Its all about gameplay fun and games like Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta, & Vanquish were butt loads of fun gameplay.
• Guerrilla Games-They sure have come a long way when it comes to the Killzone series and they were a hit or a miss, Horizon: Zero Dawn was a fresh of breath air for the developers and they shown what talented they are.
• Playground Games-They don't get much credit for making Forza Horizon series but I thought Forza Horizon 4 was their best and I personally enjoy it on PC.

Fromsoft

Rockstar (one game lolol)

Naughty Dog

Capcom (a few years back they were a meme, but look how things have turned)

CDPR

Larian studios is a great shout.

@gifford38: Wow. You are even crying in this thread. 🤣

Guerrilla Games did great this time around with Horizon Zero Dawn.

Respawning for having an excellent FPS over others with Titanfall 2 coupled with Jedi Fallen Order.

Arkane Studios for Dishonored and Prey.

Playground Games with the Horizon series.

Larian for still delivering with Divinity.

@gifford38: you seem emotional kid,someone been making fun of your gaming machine?...bless.i remember when I was 10

HaH

Toasters?

Tv’s?

Phones?..any other electrical appliances get you triggered

- Nintendo

- Capcom

- Platinum Games

- From Software

- Arc System Works

CDPR

Team Cherry

Moon Studios

I've been a real fanboy of Masahiro Sakurai and his team this gen, for the level of commitment they still have in bringing the Super Smash Bros. series to godly heights.

Oh Snipperclips.

From Software is furthest away from making movie games.

Nintendo and Playground Games is furthest away from Sony and Capcom is on all platforms. Nintendo has Platinum Games on a leash, and Kojima ain't 1st-party.

That basically leaves you with two Sony dev's, bUt YoU hAvE tOo MaNy SoNy FiRsT pArTy.

Cdpr with out a doubt

Yea, his level of commitment to Smash is insane. I don't think anyone else has been so focused on one IP like that.

I don't think everyone realizes the magnitude of the game either. I'm saying the game is historical. I don't think any other game will come even close to dethroning the biggest crossover in all of gaming. Sakurai has set the bar so high and he continues to set it higher, I don't think we're gonna see a game like this again, not even in future Smash Bros. installments.

No other game dev has had such a privilege of handling so many different IP's for one game.

Valve

Platinum

Arkane

Capcom's Itsuno

Nintendo

CDPR

• From Software (Has made some of my favorite games for the last 2 generations with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloosborne)
• CD Project Red (Witcher 3 is an amazing world. I just wish the combat was better. Cyberpunk looks phenominal)
• Nintendo (Do I really need to explain?)
• Arkane (Dishonored 2 and Prey)
• Capcom (Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7 were all amazing games and RE8 is high up on my list as wanting to play next gen)
• Insomniac (Spiderman, R&C, and Sunset Overdrive were all great games)

These aren't really in order outside of maybe From Software.

Larian, and Atlus. Best devs ever. From Software, too.

Larian.

SSM

ND

CDPR

It does make me sad thinking that we won't get a Smash like this ever again. Definitely the best Smash Bros game.

@SolidGame_basic: Have you played Min Min yet? Impressions?

No, my Switch was stolen recently. But my replacement is coming in this weekend. Did you? Btw, I just ordered the Wario colored Joy Cons. Bad idea? 🙂

Ahh shit, that sucks. I remember someone making a thread about that, forgot it was you. But hey, you'll be back in the gaming soon. I dig the Wario colors!

So Min Min, though. She's honestly one of the most unique fighters I've played in the series in a good while. I mean, getting a hand on her play style is making even the most seasoned players say "wtf, this is strange."

I've been getting a pretty good hang of her but I also know it takes a long time to discover all the nuances of any fighter, but I'm picking up potential strategies. One thing I saw apparent is she's gonna be a fighter good at doing fake-outs and confusing the player.

I had several matches now where where I catch the opponent off-guard. Being able to control both of her arms in both horizontal directions at the same time will result in some pretty serious mind games by the player.

That's one thing I immediately picked up on her that's unique and potential strategy. Now I couldn't say where she ranks on the tier list, but I highly doubt she'll be S-tier. At the end of the day she's a solid and unique addition.

Lol yea it was me..no worries. I got my replacement PS4 last weekend and it felt like life was going back to normal. Once the Switch is back, all will be restored! Best part is my insurance covered it. So I get a new Switch with improved battery life over my previous launch Switch.

I'll admit that I wasn't that hyped for Min Min as I never played Arms. I would say my favorite DLC character has been Hero from DQ11. I hope the next character is someone I'm more familiar with. But I will most likely get the second Fighter pass so I will have a chance to try her out. Thanks for the impressions!

The FF14 team for me. Not only have they turned trash into a masterpiece, but they've constantly supported the game to maintain one of the highest quality storytelling, design, gameplay, music and community.

@SolidGame_basic: To be honest I never played Arms either, but I love the character's design and the music and stage she came with. These games have always been good at introducing players to other franchises. I'm sure anyone that's been playing the Smash series since the N64 days, have been introduced to at least one franchise to Smash's credit.

The truth about Smash Bros., I don't usually play or select characters based on them being from franchises I love.

One of my mains happen to be Mr. Game & Watch. I mostly identify with this character because of Smash, not because I'm some Game & Watch fanboy. Lol

Thing about Banjo-Kazooie, I've been wanting this one in Smash since the Melee days, and what do I do when the duo is finally added? Hardly play as them, that's what. Lol I'm just happy to have them in the game after so many years.

I didn't have significant attachment to Terry Bogard so I wasn't expecting him to turn out to be my favorite part about the DLC.

That's one thing about the Smash series some outsiders kinda miss. A lot of people aren't selecting fighters based on their favorite series but rather we find the ones that feel most right to our own play styles.

Nintendo, Capcom, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, Bethesda

The ones heading Ubisoft's games with the best animations? Didn't they do motion matching first? For Honor looks pretty good for animations.

FF7 animators/captures.

Guerilla, NaughtyDog.

This is basically a "who's your favourite developer" thread in disguise. All of them are talented, and if I were to create a list it would simply be the ones who make games I happen to like.

Lol. So you can't pick one that is the most talented out of your favorites?

Surely that's some form of a sick joke..?

As a publisher they are great.

Doom, Doom Eternal, Prey, Dishonored and soon to be Deathloop.

@ghosts4ever: Thread is about developers.

The most talented or whom have created the best one. Because I say that luck is a factor.

I say it's Naughty Dog and Uncharted 4.

:)

why you no include me in quote, casual4ever? I'm hurt.

Naughty Dog immediately comes to mind. They bleed an absurd amount of performance out of the Playstation platform.

Monolith Soft is another one. Their work lately has left a lot to be desired, but Xenoblade X on Wii U is a technical masterpiece. They somehow got that massive, seamless, beautiful open world game running on such weak hardware. Minus the character models and NLA, I think it looks better than what they’ve made on Switch.

@PernicioEnigma: Definitely not the case here buddy, prior to Original Sin 1/2 only played Divinity 2, and well enjoyable, pretty far from a masterpiece.

And it makes sense, Publishers pushed them into making a specific game as opposed to their internal vision which, public-funding they achieved - resulting in unmitigated success.