They are recognized immediately by the most famous game developers. The bitter experience of creating a gaming company

The 50 best game developers of all time were chosen by the editors of the IGN portal. We invite you to take a look at the first half of this huge list and find out what contribution each company has made to the gaming industry.

The top ten looks like this:

Founded in 1983. Journalists write that the word “legendary” is not enough to describe this studio, which has led several revolutions in the gaming industry. Nintendo EAD created Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario 64. They say it saved the entire gaming industry after it crashed in the early 80s. Plus, Nintendo has forever changed the way we interact with games, and does so again every few years.

Capcom

Founded in 1983. Made a name for themselves when the NES came out, the Mega Man games are the most memorable old-school games of all time. In the 90s there was Street Fighter, then the Resident Evil series of games. Among the key games, IGN highlights Devil May Cry.

Rockstar North

Founded in 2002. Key games: Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, Red Dead Redemption. Exactly for GTA games, Red Dead Redemption and Manhunt elevated her to third place in the ranking.

Konami

Founded in 1969. It took fourth place thanks to the games Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill 2.

Atari

Founded in 1972, it not only released the console that popularized gaming, but also developed the important arcade games Gauntlet, Marble Madness and Paperboy. In the 90s the company created Primal Rage, Area 51 and San Francisco Rush.

SquareSoft

Founded in 1986. Main games: Final Fantasy 7, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears

Valve

Founded in 1996. Key games: Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead. Don't forget about Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Dota. And of course, an invaluable contribution to the industry as a Steam platform.

Blizzard Entertainment

Founded in 1991. Diablo, StarCraft, World of Warcraft - and that says it all. One of the most influential companies in the world. Their WoW still has over 10 million subscribers. In addition, they dominate in real-time strategies.

Maxis

Founded in 1987. The games The Sims, SimCity, Spore left their mark on the industry.

id Software

Founded in 1990. Created Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2, the revolutionary 3D Quake that set the rules for what first-person shooters should be. In addition, their Quake 3 Arena has become a very popular multiplayer game.

The following studios are located below:

11. LucasArts(1982) Games: X-Wing, Monkey Island, Star Wars: Dark Forces

12.Looking Glass Studios(1990) Games: Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief

13.Bethesda Game Studios(1986) Games: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3

14. BioWare(1995) Games: Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate

15. HAL Laboratory(1980) Games: Earthbound, Super Smash Bros., Kirby's Dream Land

16. Naughty Dog(1984) Games: Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

17. Ubisoft Montreal(1997) Games: Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

18.Enix(1986) Games: Dragon Quest, Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia

19. MicroProse(1982) Games: Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon, Civilization

20. Insomniac Games(1994) Games:: Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man

21. Namco(1970) Games: Ridge Racer, Pac-Man, Galaga

22. Level-5(1998) Games: Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

23. Epic Games(1991) Games: Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal Tournament, Gears of War

24 Polyphony Digital(1998) Games: Gran Turismo, Omega Boost, Gran Turismo 5

25.Infinity Ward(2002) Games: Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Well, who took the remaining 25 positions?

One of Japan's leading game developers and creators. The company was founded in 1979, and then it was called Japan Capsule Computers. The current name is an acronym for CAPsule COMputers. Previously, I created games for third and fourth generation consoles. The games were based on Disney cartoons. Now Capcom is releasing more serious games: , Devil May Cry, .

Konami Corporation

Naughty Dog

Bethesda

Well, how can you do without? After all, these Canadians have done so much cool games! But they are recognized by four franchises that have gathered a huge community: the universes and Dragon Age, as well as games and. Bioware was founded in the winter of 1995, oddly enough, by three doctors - Ray Muzika, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. The company is located in Edmonton, Canada.

From Software

Infinity Ward

ID Software

So Wolfenstein 3D can be called the progenitor of all first-person shooters. IN Quake 3 published in 1999, played by almost everyone. Chopped by local network in the above-mentioned establishments, they made small symbolic bets among themselves. It was all very cool and funny. By official version The name "id" goes back to Sigmund Freud's term and is read as "id", but in fact id is an abbreviation and translates as Ideas from the Deep.

In June 2009, id Software was acquired by ZeniMax Media, which is also the parent company of . This acquisition cost ZeniMax Media $105 million, for which they took out a loan. Currently, a new part of the shooter series is being prepared for release, which is essentially the fourth part, but there is no number in the title (probably a restart of Doom from the beginning?). Well, let's wish them good luck and wait for the next masterpiece.

Good afternoon, Kanobuv residents! E3 starts tomorrow, we are all waiting for loud and worthy announcements, but for now I propose to talk about those thanks to whom the gaming industry exists - about developers. I’ll immediately make a reservation that this top is nothing more than the personal opinion of the author, and he does not pretend to be completely objective, however, I will still try to argue my position, and whether you agree with me or not is up to you. Well, let's go!

The gaming industry originated in the distant 70s. It was then that the first consoles and home PCs began to appear, and as a result, the first gaming companies. Many of them have already ceased to exist, but some are still afloat and delight gamers around the world with their creations. We'll talk about them today. It is worth noting that there are really a lot of such companies, so only the best of the best will be in the top - those who bring serious innovations to their projects and, moreover, work in different genres. Unfortunately, precisely because of their concentration in only one genre, such developers as Bethesda Softworks (RPG: The Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3), Codemasters (Racing: Colin McRae Rally, GRID, F1, TOCA Race Driver), id did not make it to the top Software (FPS: Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, Rage), NCsoft (MMORPG: Lineage, Guild Wars, Aion), Paradox Interactive (Global Strategy: Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron) and others, but these companies really made a serious contribution to their genre and even if they are not in the top, we need to remember them.

Just 5-7 years ago, I would never have given 15th place to a gaming giant like Blizzard. Yes, and Activision would have received a higher rank, because then both Tony Hawk and the first two parts of Call of Duty were frankly good. However, now we have what we have. The merger of these companies did not bring any profit to gamers - we lost several cool series (Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, True Crime), saw the collapse of Activision's subsidiary studio - Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing, Blur), and received only tons of paid DLC, cut StarCraft 2 and a conveyor belt game about bad Russians, which has been made on the same engine for several years now and brings absolutely nothing new (we are talking, as you understand, about Call of Duty). Let's see if Diablo 3, which has been postponed more than once, can save the situation.

A Japanese company with a rich history and brilliant games - Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon. The only problem is that these games were good and innovative by the standards of the 90s at the time of the SNES and Nintendo 64. Now the company has essentially entered the assembly line and does not offer anything new, and we can only be content with the evolution - Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. 2 -> Super Mario Bros 3 -> New Super Mario Bros. -> New Super Mario Bros. Wii... What's next, your bets?:)

A mediocre company that gave us a mediocre one Red series Faction, funny GTA clone Saints Row, an excellent strategy in the setting of the second world Company of Heroes and games in the Warhammer universe. As they say, there is plenty to choose from, although there is nothing to choose from. Now THQ is experiencing serious financial difficulties and, as a result, the release of another promising game Metro: Last Light (by the way, special thanks to THQ for supporting Ukrainian developers from 4A Games) was postponed to next year. We wait.

About this French company you can talk a lot. She always tries to please everyone at once, releasing her projects on all possible platforms, even Cell phones(they have a division called Gameloft for this). However, if earlier Ubisoft made really great games, now they have followed in the footsteps of Activision and put profit above other interests. Yes, there is the brilliant Rayman Origins. But what can you say about the ruined Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell series? An interesting situation arises with Assasin's Creed. The game is certainly worth attention, but 8 parts in 5 years, isn't it too much?

Are you surprised? :) Yes, yes, 11th place is occupied by Electronic Arts with all its subsidiary studios. The company is certainly a giant in the gaming industry and produces a ton of titles, some of which are really worthwhile (I would highlight Mirror's Edge, the Skate series with brilliant controls, NHL, and perhaps the Battlefield 3 multiplayer). “Why such a low place?” - you ask. Well, firstly, for their disgusting attitude towards other developers. We all remember how “electronics” almost tried to uproot Rockstar, which was weakened at a certain point, from Take-Two, we remember how they forced Valve to remove their games from Steam. "a in support of Origin" (which, by the way, after a year of existence is still full of bugs and not optimized) Secondly, again for the love of paid DLC (how many of them did Mass Effect have?), disabling. game servers and annual release of all sorts Need for Speed ​​and sports simulators with minimal changes. In general, watch this video, it characterizes the company very well :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ

Here we are at the top ten. It is closed by the German company Crytek. These developers set themselves apart from others through technical innovation. Using their own CryEngine, they first made Far Cry, a game that for the first time offered gamers simply gigantic levels, in which there was also no loading between indoor and outdoor rooms with different lighting models, and then Crysis, which generally became the standard for PC- gaming and still remains one of the best in terms of graphics. True, the sequels to these games turned out to be less successful, maybe because Ubisoft and EA intervened? :) Another one promising project from Crytek - Ryse for the Kinect controller (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm-_hDRD2mk), let's see what happens.

BioShock, Borderlands, Call of Cthulhu, Civilization, Mafia, NBA 2K, Stronghold - if you are familiar with these titles, know that they were made by 2K Games and its studios. Of course, there were controversial games - Mafia 2, Civilization 5, Duke Nukem Forever, but in general, a score of 9 on metacritic is a common situation for these guys. The company is also good because it widely supports small studios and helps them publish their projects.

Square Enix (formerly Eidos Interactive) is another company that has released such brilliant series as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Deus Ex, Hitman and Tomb Raider. By the way, the last two, as you already know, have been continued and at this stage of development look very promising.

Three Japanese companies are in 7th place. To be honest, it was almost impossible to distribute them in places, because they all gave us a bunch of cult series. See for yourself - some have Resident Evil, others Silent Hill, others Splatterhouse. Or this: some have Monster Hunter, others Tales of, others Castlevania. Should I continue? :) And I will continue, because there is still Lost Planet, Time Crisis and the masterpiece Metal Gear. It is also worth noting that the companies are the kings of the fighting game genre and release projects such as Tekken, Soul Calibur (Namco), Def Jam (Konami in collaboration with EA) and Street Fighter (Capcom).

A relatively young company in game development, which began its activities with the launch of Xbox in 2002. Now it produces games mainly for its console, but does not ignore PCs. So what has it managed to do in these 10 years? Together with internal and external studios , such as Bungie, Lionhead, Rare, Turn 10 and Epic Games (we'll include it here) have released several great projects. Firstly, this is the Halo series, which is the best (or one of, as you wish) in its genre, which showed that FPS on consoles is not only possible, but can also be a masterpiece. Gears of War is a project that rethought the mechanics of third-person shooters and also made a serious contribution to the genre. The Mikes also have the original RPG Fable, the excellent racing simulator Forza Motorsport and huge base Xbox Live Arcade games. Speaking of live, this is the first gaming service that has so widely united gamers around the world, allowing them to play together, communicate and measure their achievements - and this is also the merit of Microsoft. Kinect is also worth mentioning. This is a promising device that has become the fastest-selling electronic device in the history of mankind and allows you to control the gameplay without any controllers.

The company, known to us for its PlayStation consoles and games for them, falls into the top five, leaving behind its main console competitor. No, no, no fanboyism (especially since I have a box, not a PS3 :)) it’s just that Sony really did a lot for the industry, and their games are a little more soulful or something. But closer to the topic. So, Sony released three generations of consoles on the market (+2 portable), one of them, the PS2, is the most popular in history, selling 154 million units. Sony consoles are impressive technical characteristics and a powerful base of exclusive games, including almost the best Action-Adventure of the Uncharted generation, the Gran Turismo racing series, the innovative platformer LittleBigPlanet, the excellent stealth action game Siphon Filter, the slasher God of War and many others. By the way, for the last 3 years it was games from Sony that took the main prize at VGA in the “Best Graphics” category, which also says a lot. We should also highlight Sony's subsidiary studio, Quantic Dream, which gave us such masterpieces as Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain.

A childhood company, a dream company, a company with a bright past and a vague future. Having started its history by providing entertainment to American soldiers on military bases in the 40s, Sega has come a dazzling path, releasing a bunch of ingenious projects. Their slot machines and consoles were always ahead of their time. Take, for example, the Dreamcast - it was the world’s first console with support for the Internet (there was even a built-in browser) and multiplayer, the first console with a VGA video output (and, as a result, the picture in games was favorably different from its competitors), and a GD-ROM drive? What about the Visual Memory Unit? For those who don’t know, this is a device with a screen and buttons that was inserted into a gamepad and allowed you to continue playing, for example, at work, and also displayed useful information on the screen during the main game (for example, a map or the number of ammo). Yes, yes, what Nintendo will show us the day after tomorrow with its Wii U was already done by Sega 12 years ago. Well, what series has the company released! Sonic, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star, The House of the Dead... Separately, it is worth noting the game, the budget of which was a colossal amount for those times - 70 million dollars (later it was overtaken only by GTA 4 and Gran Turismo 5), the game , which gave complete freedom of action and, one might say, formed a unique genre of FREE (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment), a game in which our beloved Quick Time Events first appeared. This game is Shenmue. Unfortunately, it suffered the same fate as the Sega company as a whole; it was ahead of its time, for which it paid. Now Sega no longer produces consoles and is on the verge of bankruptcy, but still continues to delight us, for example, with brilliant strategies from the series Total War, the action movie Yakuza and Sonic, who, unfortunately, is no longer the same...

Here we come to the top three. Ready? Then go ahead!

Remedy is a Finnish company consisting of only 60 people. Compared to the above-mentioned corporations, it could have faded and gone into the shadows, but this did not happen and will never happen again. Remedy has proven to the whole world that hard work, perseverance and true dedication to your business will definitely lead to success. This is how Max Payne appeared - a cult TPS that radically changed the concept of the genre. The game has a chic noir atmosphere, an excellent plot, many innovative ideas, such as, for example, “bullet-time” and much more. Having sold the franchise to Rockstar for several million dollars, the developers from Remedy could have been drinking cocktails in Hawaii for the rest of their lives, but they stuck around and released the psychological thriller Alan Wake. I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen a game with the same attention to detail, storytelling style, atmosphere, and characters you really want to believe in. It is worth noting the soundtrack - it is a masterpiece in everything, from composer Petri Alanko to Poets of the Fall, who performed under a pseudonym as an in-game group. When playing games from Remedy, you understand that this is not just another assembly line joke, but exquisite handcraft. Many thanks to the Finnish guys for this. By the way, few people know that it was Remedy, even before working in the gaming industry, who founded the company Futuremark and released the well-known 3DMark, which is still used to compare computer performance.

Well, 1st place, gentlemen and ladies :)

A company whose every game released is a masterpiece. A company that puts the interests of the user above all else, and only then its own. The company that changed the way gaming was done and promoted digital distribution to the masses. All this is about her, about Valve. On their account: 1) The cult series Half-Life. Now gamers around the world are ready to give everything to see its continuation. 2) Team FPS Counter-Strike, which seriously influenced the development of e-sports. 3) The awesome cooperative shooter Left 4 Dead, which has won awards for best multiplayer more than once. 4) The ingenious Portal puzzle, which has no analogues. 5) Team Fortress 2, which showed all the beauty of the free-to-play gaming model with active interaction between players. And of course Steam, which literally revolutionized gaming. It enabled users to purchase games from the comfort of their home while receiving timely additions, while eliminating the need for a publisher for developers and allowing them to more quickly respond to the needs of the gaming community. Valve has a good technical support, regularly holds competitions and sales, supports and hosts eSports competitions (for example, The International - a tournament for another game from Valve - Dota 2 with a prize fund of $ 1.6 million) and does much more for gamers and everyone who cares about gaming industry.

That's all, ZiP-777 was with you. Let me remind you once again that the top does not pretend to be completely objective, so I expect comments, discussions and personal ratings from you. Thanks for your attention and good luck!