Top Ten Development Studios Right Now

Gaming Union writes: "We decided to compile a list of the top development studios at the present moment - studios that generate a great deal of anticipation behind their endeavors, and are an influential force in the industry. This list is specifically directed towards individual teams, not publishers (i.e. Nintendo) or multiple teams that produce games under a common label (i.e. Ubisoft Montreal).

[Coramoor_]

Wouldn't have been my choices but definitely a lot of top tier devs on that list

[JDouglasGU]

who would you choose instead?

[Coramoor_]

i think i would've favoured the unknowns by top tier former studio heads, as quite frankly studios like bungie and insomniac and naughty dog, while they all make great games, they have become sequel factories and i'm just not seeing that hot new thing from a lot of these devs

Danger Close would've been an addition of mine

[JDouglasGU]

naughty dog a sequel factory? come on... also, both bungie and insomniac are working on new IPs, we don't know how inventive they'll be, but at least they're working on something.

[Foliage]

This list is terrible.

These are the clear big hitters, those that push the envelope and actually broaden the industry rather than making more of the same:

Ubisoft Montreal
Bioware Edmonton
Blizzard Entertainment
Guerilla Games
Naughty Dog
Sony Santa Monica
Polyphony Digital
Zipper Interactive
Capcom
Konami

[blitz0623]

After The Last Guardian comes out Team Ico will not be honorable mention anymore. It's gonna skyrocket near the top.

[EvilTwin]

"Who would you choose instead?"
----------------------------- -------------------------

Eh, in these types of lists, there are always going to be omissions.

Rockstar North didn't even get an honorable mention. No Retro Studios? Team Ninja (Other M looks fantastic)? Kojima Productions? Mistwalker? EAD-SPD3 (the Zelda team)? SCE/Santa Monica? Irraional/2K Boston? Bethesda Softworks? Heck, I'd toss EA Tiburon in over Harmonix.

[writersblock]

They havent even made anything yet, how would you put them in a top 10?

[0mega4]

few though are left deveopling exclusive for xbox

as i think microsoft needs to shift focus off of kinect and back on

to securing exclusives
and not wasting money on timed exclusives

[number47]

Rocksteady..

or list fail.

[HyperBear]

yea i agree. that list has loads of talent being hard at work on current or next-gen games, but I would have liked to have known about some studios we haven't seen or heard anything from in a while.

Examples: Incognito (Warhawk), Silicon Knights (Too Human), Sony London Studio (The Getaway) Or a ton of other studios who havent been showcasing anything. Even what Respawn Entertainment is up to or even whats going on with Rare (although I can probably easy sum that one up myself)

[aceofspades]

bioware, naughty dog, media molecule, sucker punch, guirella games, bungie, insomniac, rockstar, poliphony digital, kojima, and the motorstorm guys.

[iamnsuperman]

Finally someone has mentioned media molecule. They are a great studio

[gamerzBEreal17]

Top4
Naughty Dog Uncharted 2...need i say more?

Sucker Punch: infamous2 looks so fun and is a huge contender for best super hero game without even being released yet
plus they listend to all of us about new cole

EPIC Games: Gears of war is argueably the best new IP of this gen with part 3 comeing out and a new IP (bulletstorm) there one of my best

insomniac: R&C future great game this year one of my favorites there makeing a 360 game that i cant wait to hear about resistance 3 teaser looks sick

[Oldsnake007]

I love Fallout 3 and Oblivion. spent nearly 200 hrs on each .

[lastdual]

Bethesda is probably the most ambitious studio out there, with games that are both sucessful sales-wise and in building huge, loyal fanbases. Heck, even the modding community for Morrowind is still going strong.

[NYC_Gamer]

i agree with the list

[Hardedge]

Good list, definitely looking forward to what Insomniac does with Resistance 3.

[Sanrin]

I may have to actually buy a Resistance game if this one turns out as cool as it looks.

[rumplstilts]

What the? I don't even! Nintendo EAD has churned out far more AAA titles than Quantic Dreams!

[rumplstilts]

For dis-agreers. Almost all of the EAD studios have 3 or more. Quantic has 2. The Zelda team has like 14 and The mario team has like 8.

[iammason]

EPIC. Seeing what they've done this gen is impressive. Gears of War series, Unreal 3 on PS3 is awesome, and Bulletstorm look like a tasty FPS.

[tony6767]

omg i dont see 2k games where is it ?

[jaixvx]

2K have some pretty cool games just lazy ps3 ports on every single one of them, thats why i think they are not on the list, just my opinion.

[TheLastGuardian]

Damnit I meant to hit the disagree button. So you think Bioshock was a bad port?

[PS360PCROCKS]

Quantic dream? Harmonix?! What the? Hello Guerrilla games, polyphony digital, Turn 10, Epic, lots of better choices. Epic definitely deserves that spot. UT3, Gears 1-2-3 and Bulletstorm! Gears 1-2 are some of the top selling games in history

[TheLastGuardian]

The only reason you should not like harmonix is if you don't like rock music. Rock Band is just a break from the ordinary and the funnest way to listen to music and feel like a rockstar without having any musical abilities. Plus they are extremely innovative. To me as long as they keep releasing new songs to play Rock Band will never get old.

[TheLig32]

uhhh.... Bethesda, Epic, 2K?????

[IHateYouFanboys]

whenever you see an article like this you know its just going to be filled with comments suggesting the following are the best developers in the world:

Naughty Dog
Sony Santa Monica
Guerilla Games
Polyphony Digital
Insomniac
Media Molecule

and pretty much every other sony owned company or exclusive third party company.

the list in the article seems pretty decent and hard to argue with, apart from IMO Quantic Dream and Insomniac. Heavy Rain is nothing new, its just Fahrenheit for a new console. its one giant quicktime laden cutscene, hardly showing the prowess of a great developer. as for insomniac, well ratchet and clank and resistance just dont really do anything great that noone else has done before. resistance 1 only received as much attention as it did because it was the best of a bad bunch of launch titles and games released in the next 6 months for the PS3. it was a decent game, but apart from the good storyline it wasnt anything special. the second one was just rubbish.

epic should be there, and its good to see harmonix get the recognition they deserve. Rock Band 3 shows that Harmonix have balls the size of bowling balls, and if/when they pull it off it will cement them as one of the best developers around.

oh and as an aside - Epic games arent actually making Bulletstorm, it annoys me that so many people think they are. People Can Fly are making it, with Epic basically just overlooking and helping with design.

[Lich120]

The same thing happened with shadow complex. Since that was actually Chair.

[IHateYouFanboys]

yeah same deal there. i dont really know why the developers let Epic appear like theyre making the game, always doing all the press stuff for the games. probably just because people know Epic and Cliffy B, so it gets their game out there.

but it leads to the actual developer not getting enough credit.

same with Perfect Dark HD for Xbox Live Arcade. everyone just assumes Rare made it since they made the original, even though they had nothing to do with it.

[pr0digyZA]

I agree but I must say that epic is helping out more than you know. Which I think is great it shows they want to help out smaller studios.(yes I know they did painkiller before) but epic really seems to be helping out with gameplay designs and how to get the most out of the engine.

[yamzilla]

*Blizzard

*Crytek

*Bioware (kinda sick of them, mass effect 2 was a letdown for me, space high school popularity contest sim, I am at the end, can't seem to motivate myself to finish it and honestly the only reason I want to is so I can take that MASSIVE 15gb file off my comp. Dragon age 1 was ok, a watered down noob neverwinter nights, but 2 looks to be trash honestly and I'll buy it from the bargin bin)

*cdprojeckt (the freaking witcher)

*bethesda ( bring on the elder scrolls 5 for pc and next gen consoles, fuck fallout, the last good one was fallout tactics)

*relic (dawn of war 2 is NASTY fun)

*Epic (only because of what might come from Unreal 4...I am starting to HATE unreal 3....looks like poo on console and ok on pc)

*Id ( doom 4 and maybe rage plus Enemy Territory Quake Wars on PC is still going strong (strogg) about 40-50 full servers everynight and no other online shooter besides crysis wars comes close to the graphics and versatility....for real)

*Naughty dog- heres hoping uncharted 3 is more fleshed out in multiplayer

* Guerilla- killzone 3 looks boss

* Bungie- whatever next gen game they are working on has me excited and Reach is day one, most likely midnight pickup

thats all I can think of...it moight have been 11....me so sleepy btw.....2k is a publisher....i do believe with several devs under them kinda like ea.....or activision....they have 2k marin, 2k china, irrational and even firaxis

[pr0digyZA]

I agree with yours,except your opinions on Bioware and bethesda but to each their own very good list IMO well done

[spektical]

good list... i would expand it to add GG, Santa Monica Studios, Sucker Punch, and DICE

[Letros]

Notice how every developer on that list actually cares about their products, in turn, they all make excellent games.

[Venoxn4g]

Platinum games/Clover studio, they didn't release any bad game... Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, God hand, Okami, Madworld - all of those games are ones of the best that I've played.. :)

[ShawnCollier]

Pretty good list. :)

[Dr-Zoidberg]

It is a shame Guerilla Games but I guess they have not been around as long as the others. I admire their commitment nevertheless and what they are doing with Killzone 3 looks fantastic not just in graphics, gameplay but above all what the fans are looking for to be improved on.

Other than that I mainly agree with the list.