Edge Magazine: The World's 50 Greatest Video Game Developers

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Cod

Gawd
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Just got the new issue in the mail and the main story is the top developers in the eyes of Edge. The list is not online yet, or I can't find it, so here's the top 10:

10) Riot Games
9) Arkane Studios
8) FromSoftware
7) Bungie
6) Rockstar North
5) Naughty Dog
4) Platinum Games
3) Nintendo CAD
2) Mojang

And #1...

Valve!

So what does everyone think?

There are 40 more, but I'm too lazy to type them; however, if you ask about a specific developer, I can tell you if they made the list.. There's a full page picture of a bearded Game Newell too. Of note, only one EA developer is in the top 25...DICE. My favorite developer, Rocksteady, came in at #18.
 
Just out of curiosity, since Bungie got rid of Halo, where's 343 on the list (if they're even on the list)?
 
I can't really argue with Valve being #1. Works for me I suppose. I would put Bioware on that list somewhere just because I dearly love Mass Effect so much. But I'm sure I'd be in the minority on that one.
 
crazjayz said:
Just out of curiosity, since Bungie got rid of Halo, where's 343 on the list (if they're even on the list)?
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#25

MacLeod said:
I can't really argue with Valve being #1. Works for me I suppose. I would put Bioware on that list somewhere just because I dearly love Mass Effect so much. But I'm sure I'd be in the minority on that one.
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#28
 
Wonder what their criteria was? Where are developers like Bethesda, Obsidian, Ubisoft Montreal, Firaxis, Crytek?

They had the iPad edition on sale so I went ahead and bought the digital copy. We'll see what that list looks like :)
 
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Mojang kind of had a dead spot with all these unmet goals when Notch handed everything over to Jeb. But eh I guess if you can make millions out of nothing. *shrug*
 
Here are the others:

11 - epic Games
12 - Media Molecule
13 - EA Dice
14 - Kojima Productions
15 - Irrational Games
16 - Arena Net
17 - Blizzard
18 - Rocksteady Studios
19 - Ubisoft Montreal
20 - Bethesda
21 - Double Fine
22 - Terry Cavanagh
23 - Thatgamecompany
24 - Gearbox Software
25 - 343 Industries
26 - Firaxis Games
27 - EA Canada
28 - bioware
29 - Eidos Montreal
30 - Playdead
31 - Sony Online Entertainment
32 - Crytek
33 - Redlynx
34 - Vlambeer
35 - CCP Games
36 - Telltale Games
37 - Id Software
38 - Ninja Theory
39 - Quantic Dream
40 - codemasters
41 - Criterion Games
42 - Mossmouth
43 - Harmonix Music Systems
44 - SCE Santa Monica Studio
45 - Capybara Games
46 - The Creative Assembly
47 - Halfbrick Studios
48 - Wayforward Technologies
49 - Jagex Games Studio
50 - Relic Entertainment

Not sure if I agree with the positions of some of these ... will have to read the article :confused:
 
Cod said:
kbrickley, good job not being lazy like me!
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I had a few minutes and I can type reasonably fast ... easy enough to read it off the iPad ... now I just need to read their justifications :cool:
 
Joke list, thought EDGE was never credible in my eyes.
 
Riot at #10...thats too low. What Riot has done with the free-to-play system is remarkable and outstanding. They are also advancing and promoting e-sports to uncharted territories (especially in the US)
 
I wonder what era of games do they take into account. Both id and Epic may not be releasing great games at the moment, but I think if we take into account their past titles, they deserve to be higher.

Bioware is another strange one, since today's Bioware is completely different from the pre-EA Bioware
 
All Valve themselves make are dated looking casual friendly corridor shooters, they don;t really have a "range". Oh and they take previously free mods and turn them into paid for software. They probably won because of their emperor's clothes seeing (damnit I must asskiss Valve or I will rock teh boat!) "fan" boys. :p (though more and more people seem able to admit it...)

It\s also kind of stupid have MOjang. They have never finished a single game, nor fulfilled any promises. No adventure mode, but 2 ports to other devices...

Also no Shiny. Needs to be another developer like them :D
 
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DeathPrincess said:
All Valve themselves make are dated looking casual friendly corridor shooters, they don;t really have a "range". Oh and they take previously free mods and turn them into paid for software. They probably won because of their emperor's clothes seeing (damnit I must asskiss Valve or I will rock teh boat!) "fan" boys. :p (though more and more people seem able to admit it...)

It\s also kind of stupid have MOjang. They have never finished a single game, nor fulfilled any promises. No adventure mode, but 2 ports to other devices...

Also no Shiny. Needs to be another developer like them :D
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There's no science to the quality of a game. Just because people don't hate Valve games the way you do, it doesn't mean they are blind fan boys. I think most of EA games suck these days, doesn't mean its wrong for others to enjoy them. Its just a case of others like the stuff EA do with all the online thing, while I loath them.
 
Hornet said:
There's no science to the quality of a game. Just because people don't hate Valve games the way you do, it doesn't mean they are blind fan boys. I think most of EA games suck these days, doesn't mean its wrong for others to enjoy them. Its just a case of others like the stuff EA do with all the online thing, while I loath them.
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I don't "hate" Valve games, nor do I think they are a crap developer. I just find their titles ok, but mostly pretty dull and waaay overhyped 7/10 kind of things.

Even ignoring their games, how are the a great developer? Is there a range to Valves games: No. It's all corridor shooters, oh and DOTA... What was the last original thing they did? :p
 
I am pretty sure Valve is on the list because of Steam, not just the games they've created themselves. Though to answer your question, Portal is not a corridor "shooter" ... well, not technically. :p
 
Here is the explanation of their criteria ... nice and subjective so the YMMV (your mileage may vary) factor definitely applies:

Judged by Edge's editorial team, the EDAs are not ranked by revenue, sales figures, or review scores. There are no hard and fast criteria that every studio included needs to satisfy, but we know what we're looking for. We're interested in technical and creative ability, in studios which realize the most involving and stimulating game worlds, whether through visual, audio or game design.

We're looking at imagination, at studios bringing new influences and themes to videogames, and those that experiment with giving players new ways of interacting with them. We're looking at the ingenuity to create enthralling experiences with finite development resources. And we're looking at studios which understand and engage with their audiences, and have the vision to know where games are going next.

Some of the studios we've highlighted here are vast, employing hundreds of people and making games with similar scale. Some comprise just a few. But all of them make games that reach out to their players and mean something to their lives.
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There ... done with my touch typing for the day :D

And here is the link to the listing on their site (of course I find the link AFTER I typed in their criteria :eek: ) http://www.edge-online.com/features/edge-developer-awards-2013-the-top-50-studios-working-today/ ... let the debate continue :cool:
 
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Skillz said:
I am pretty sure Valve is on the list because of Steam, not just the games they've created themselves. Though to answer your question, Portal is not a corridor "shooter" ... well, not technically. :p
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Their article on #1 is pretty long but the games they mention at the start of the article are Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, Left for Dead 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive which all had updates in 2012 ... and since it is a 10 page article :eek: ... they also seem to go into
Steam, including Green Light and other areas ;)
 
My top 3 list goes like this - mind you all of them are out of business
1) Sierra
2) Origin
3) Microprose
4) Bullfrog
 
DeathPrincess said:
I don't "hate" Valve games, nor do I think they are a crap developer. I just find their titles ok, but mostly pretty dull and waaay overhyped 7/10 kind of things.

Even ignoring their games, how are the a great developer? Is there a range to Valves games: No. It's all corridor shooters, oh and DOTA... What was the last original thing they did? :p
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I guess its a matter of taste, but I never found corridors shooter to be bad. I mean games like Borderlands do have its own charm but between these open world FPS and RPG games, sometimes I need a break and just play something simple, just shooting stuff that moves from one room to another :p

Some of the best FPS I've played like Half Life, Doom, Soldier of Fortune 2, Unreal 2, these are all linear shooters. Edit: and Serious Sam too, heh.
 
If they were still in business,I'd insist that GSC be on the list for the STALKER series alone.
 
Obsidian should definitely be on that list.


IMO, they should be fairly high up on it too. But to not even place them on a top 50 list is just absurd.
 
kbrickley said:
Their article on #1 is pretty long but the games they mention at the start of the article are Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, Left for Dead 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive which all had updates in 2012 ... and since it is a 10 page article :eek: ... they also seem to go into
Steam, including Green Light and other areas ;)
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Based just one those titles...
TF2 - 3/10... (unless you like slow games then 5/10)
Portal 2 - 6/10 (too short and too easy)
L4D2 - 9/10 (though thats not really a valve game TBH)
Dota 2 - Havent played it enough to say.
CS - 5/10 (too samey and boring, and too CoD like)
None of those, other that the one Valve didn't really make are pretty bad... Nor are any of them original or ground breaking, meaning this is all just a big load of nonsense. :D


Hornet said:
I guess its a matter of taste, but I never found corridors shooter to be bad. I mean games like Borderlands do have its own charm but between these open world FPS and RPG games, sometimes I need a break and just play something simple, just shooting stuff that moves from one room to another :p

Some of the best FPS I've played like Half Life, Doom, Soldier of Fortune 2, Unreal 2, these are all linear shooters. Edit: and Serious Sam too, heh.
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It's not that corridor shooters are bad, I like them and probably play them more than anything. (Not so much Valve's rendition of the genre, because their combat is usually pretty poor compared to other games, and no where near as fun. HL2 doesn't have the rush of SS, or the gunplay of Quake... It's kind of too "story based" and the story hasn't got much to it). It's just thats all they seem to make. It's not like they can turn their attention to multiple genres, like, Shiny who have done RTS/Action/Platformer/RPG/etc. and come out with a great game every time. They've done one type, made a few ok games, and thats pretty much it. :D
 
DeathPrincess said:
Based just one those titles...
TF2 - 3/10... (unless you like slow games then 5/10)
Portal 2 - 6/10 (too short and too easy)
L4D2 - 9/10 (though thats not really a valve game TBH)
Dota 2 - Havent played it enough to say.
CS - 5/10 (too samey and boring, and too CoD like)
None of those, other that the one Valve didn't really make are pretty bad... Nor are any of them original or ground breaking, meaning this is all just a big load of nonsense. :D




It's not that corridor shooters are bad, I like them and probably play them more than anything. (Not so much Valve's rendition of the genre, because their combat is usually pretty poor compared to other games, and no where near as fun. HL2 doesn't have the rush of SS, or the gunplay of Quake... It's kind of too "story based" and the story hasn't got much to it). It's just thats all they seem to make. It's not like they can turn their attention to multiple genres, like, Shiny who have done RTS/Action/Platformer/RPG/etc. and come out with a great game every time. They've done one type, made a few ok games, and thats pretty much it. :D
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hugley retarded post. Too drunk to form a response, will another time, but yeah.

'lolwut' indeed
 
Kryptorchid said:
lol wut?

To clarify, I'm not discouraging your rating, but your reasoning is "lol wut" worthy.
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How are CoD and CS different?

Small playercounts. Same setting. Same weapons. Dated graphics. Based off the same engine. Same game modes. "Unrealistic" gunplay.

The main difference is one is slow (CS) and one is fast (CoD). Oh and people get all anal about CS and don't really notice they're playing CoD in slow motion. :D
 
DeathPrincess said:
None of those, other that the one Valve didn't really make are pretty bad... Nor are any of them original or ground breaking, meaning this is all just a big load of nonsense. :D
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Well I wouldn't have put Valve at #1 and Mojang at #2 if it were my list ... all top 10 lists are pretty bogus since even the objective ones (which are few and far between) still subjectively choose the "objective" criteria they will use ... in this list's case the criteria were solely subjective which makes it very easy to dispute their choices, especially when they eliminate other choices like CD Projekt and Obsidian ... also, mixing console and PC developers together is a recipe for argument since most people wouldn't agree on a top 10 list in only one of those categories, let alone both :D
 
DeathPrincess said:
How are CoD and CS different?

Small playercounts. Same setting. Same weapons. Dated graphics. Based off the same engine. Same game modes. "Unrealistic" gunplay.

The main difference is one is slow (CS) and one is fast (CoD). Oh and people get all anal about CS and don't really notice they're playing CoD in slow motion. :D
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I don't know because CS came out before CoD did ? Your post is insanely stupid.
 
Banko said:
I don't know because CS came out before CoD did ? Your post is insanely stupid.
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CS if from 1999, CoDMW 2007 to expand upon your comment.

Additionally, if someone can't figure out how CS and CoD differ gameplay-wise, I'm not sure me explaining will make sense.
 
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