Edge top 50 greatest developers

richymcdermott

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/01/12/edge-lists-the-worlds-50-greatest-developers/

Dont know why mohjang are so high up , they only made minecraft as far as i know.

Kojima productions should be higher up the list.

Retr0gamer

Seems to be very influenced by current trends. Mojang only have Minecraft, Ninja Theory have made nothing but mediocre titles, 343 might have proved themselves with Halo 4 but it's their only project so far. A lot of japanese developers are missing as well such as Atlus who have been pumping out nothing but quality from their in house projects.

[CrimsonGhost]

If I was to pick one developer which is glaring in it's omission it would be Bullfrog. Plenty of others too, but early Bullfrog has a sweet spot in my heart.

richymcdermott

Retro studios are missing aswell and their list of games is outstanding

juan.kerr

LucasArts (Monkey Island series, Indiana Jones and Fate Of Atlantis to name a few).
Sensible Sortware

KilOit

Mojang at 2? come on! That over opinionated Notch fella can go f**k himself, yeah gratz you made Minecraft now get over yourself!

Burning Eclipse

KilOit wrote: »

Mojang at 2? come on! That over opinionated Notch fella can go f**k himself, yeah gratz you made Minecraft now get over yourself!

Hello hostility... Notch seems like a cool guy from what I've seen of him in the gaming media/reddit.

List is a bit hipster for my liking, but this is Edge we're talking about.

Magill

Thats exactly the order i would have them................. not.

Kinski

juan.kerr wrote: »

LucasArts (Monkey Island series, Indiana Jones and Fate Of Atlantis to name a few).
Sensible Sortware

Seems to be the best developers today, not from 1995...though Codemasters are on there

Nice to see Ireland's Terry Cavanagh getting a slot all to himself (our very own auteur developer.)

Treasure missing. Grasshopper Manufacture too.

SeantheMan

Valve ftw !

ShaneU

Mojang ahead of nintendo, stopped reading :rolleyes:

Reekwind

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Mojang only have Minecraft...

... one of the most significant game landmarks of recent years

But yes, the list is dominated by "current trends", presumably because it's concerned with currently active developers

K.O.Kiki

Poor Clover, forgotten even in death.

degrassinoel

never heard of half of those devs before tbh.

aN.Droid

Valve deserve the #1 spot. All 49 other spots are wrong.

Elmidena

Blizzard 17th, seriously?!

Grumpypants

Is it not their 50 top devs of the year that they do every year? Would explain a lot.

Reekwind

This thread would be a lot more interesting if people actually explained why a developer should be higher, rather than "X at number 27? Absurd!"

richymcdermott

Reekwind wrote: »

This thread would be a lot more interesting if people actually explained why a developer should be higher, rather than "X at number 27? Absurd!"

there games should speak out volumes why they should be higher.

for instance media molecule who have done nothing since littlebigplanet two should never be ahead of kojima productions as metal gear titles have done more innovating things compared to lbp create share and play community which is basically a console version of a mod.

i put fromsoftware ahead of bungie as both dark souls and demons souls have being if i bodly say the best games this generation imho. while halo franchise had being fresh in the past as they changed fps on consoles i feel it does not hold a torch to what the souls series has done with its online interrogation, its depth and its satisfaction.

Elmidena

richymcdermott wrote: »

there games should speak out volumes why they should be higher.

for instance media molecule who have done nothing since littlebigplanet two should never be ahead of kojima productions as metal gear titles have done more innovating things compared to lbp create share and play community which is basically a console version of a mod.

i put fromsoftware ahead of bungie as both dark souls and demons souls have being if i bodly say the best games this generation imho. while halo franchise had being fresh in the past as they changed fps on consoles i feel it does not hold a torch to what the souls series has done with its online interrogation, its depth and its satisfaction.

And it taught me there were extents of agonising cruelty I previously had not known in life. Repeatedly

danthefan

Don't think I could agree with Valve as number 1 if you're talking about games and games only. Steam has revolutionised PC gaming though so if you include it then yeah it's probably fair enough.

I've never played Minecraft so I'm not sure I can really comment on Mojang being number 2.

ahnowbrowncow

No Cd projekt red??? The witcher series is amazing and plus they own gog.com. Their stance against drm and paid dlc is admirable. Any game they release would be a day one purchase for me.

Also, how on earth are creative assembly so low down on the list?

johnny_ultimate

Of course the list consists of current, active developers rather than beloved but long since expired ones - that's the whole point of it. The criteria, notably in the present and future tense:

We're interested in technical and creative ability, and in studios that realise the most involving and stimulating game worlds, whether that's through visual, audio or game design. Imagination to bring new influences and themes to games, experiment with new ways of interacting, ingenuity in creating enthralling experiences, understand and engage with their audiences and have the vision to know where games are going next.

Of course, as is always the way with the inherently foolhardy 'numbered lists', we will all find things we significantly disagree with or omissions that are irritating. But at the same time there is at least some level of logic to the choices. Valve and Mojang for example - not only have they committed to consistently creative, high-quality games, but they've also completely re-interpreted the manner in which their games are developed and distributed. And their influence is impossible to deny - Gabe Newell or Notch are undoubtedly more likely to earn headlines with their comments than any other individual game developer. Their companies - and Nintendo too, with the likes of their Nintendo direct broadcasts - undoubtedly engage with the gamers themselves like few others. With someone like Bungie - who Edge most definitely have a hard-on for - their decision to abandon their reliable cash-cow and go 'independent' with a new franchise is an admirable one, and theoretically one that will benefit their creative ambitions.

Atlus? Well, that's kind of like saying Ubisoft is a good developer - too broad a comment and too many individual teams of developers to be able to analyse their overall creative vision IMO. Yeah, something more specific like 'Persona Team' would be a better call, and of course we can't forget their sheer disinterest in European gamers limits their influence and presence around these parts. Similarly with From - no doubt the Souls games earned their place on the list, but they make loads of other, much less liked games like Armoured Core or (shudder) Steel Battalion Kinect.

It's just one publication's list (with all the accompanying ideological biases that entails) at the end of the day, and TBH numbering lists like this is arguably an exercise in futility. But there is some level of logic to the inclusions and the listing order, even if we're all likely to feel minor outrage that our favourites don't place higher or lower.

In conclusion: Rocksteady > Thatgamecompany?! They **** they are!

Retr0gamer

I think you aren't giving enough credit to Atlus. They aren't just a publisher, they have their own in house development teams which really have been producing nothing but top notch games in the last few years. Also with the Persona 4 anime and the up coming Devil Survivor 2 anime they have themselves set up to become a new Japanese powerhouse if they play their cards right. Also a lot of the developers that are on that list consist of multiple development teams.

As for their disinterest in European gamers, they haven't got a european distributor in place so it's not really their fault. They are quite a small operation so Blame the other publishers that won't bring their games over. Plenty on that list don't have European publishing wings either.

Kinski

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Also with the Persona 4 anime and the up coming Devil Survivor 2 anime they have themselves set up to become a new Japanese powerhouse if they play their cards right.r.

Is that Persona one supposed to be any good? Haven't watched anime in years; been meaning to look for a new series to check out.

mystic86

I find it weird that they have Naughty Dog at 5th, not cause I disagree with them, but just based on their own review scores of Naughty Dog games:

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - 90
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 90
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 80
Jak 3 - 60
Jak II - 70

johnny_ultimate

Kinski wrote: »

Is that Persona one supposed to be any good? Haven't watched anime in years; been meaning to look for a new series to check out.

Its basically the same as the game (albeit with a speaking protagonist), for better and worse. It's certainly watchable with plenty of enjoyable moments for game fans (music cues new and old are awesome), and its fun seeing the creative ways the animators handle the structural quirks. But the game is the better experience overall.

gizmo

Awful list imo, Valve and Mojang's position exemplifies this perfectly.

Steam makes Valve a fantastic publisher, not developer. In terms of actual games, DOTA hasn't actually been released yet and CS:GO is simply an update to an older franchise whose primary objective was to bring the PC-orientated series to a consoles so again, no dice.

Based on EDGE's own criteria Mojang also shouldn't feature as highly as they did. Sure they should be commended for their continued support of Minecraft but its continued creativity comes from it's userbase, not the company behind it.

Compare these two companies with the likes of thatgamecompany; a tiny studio who delivered one of the most fantasticly innovative and beautiful games this generation on a small budget for a large platform holder who, following it's success still decided to walk away from Sony and seek independent funding; and the list looks more like something IGN would produce than a decent publication.

Also, what the **** are Playdead doing there? Limbo was released in 2010 for christs sake.

Retr0gamer

gizmo wrote: »

Also, what the **** are Playdead doing there? Limbo was released in 2010 for christs sake.

And wasn't all that great tbh.

Dave_The_Sheep

It's Edge, I don't know why people are surprised at how off the rankings are, or that some are so low down.

K.O.Kiki

People still buy EDGE?