Top 10 Best Video Game Developers

Nintendo not only saved the video game industry but also revolutionized it. Nintendo has created the most well-known and beloved franchises in gaming history. Time and time again, Nintendo releases video game masterpieces that solidify themselves as timeless classics, destined to be enjoyed for decades to come.

The amount of quality and refinement that goes into every Nintendo game promises fun and memorable experiences. Nintendo has been the biggest influence in my life and made me who I am today. There is no other video game company in existence that deserves to be #1 other than Nintendo.

Naughty Dog is hands down the best developer out there, besides Insomniac Games. They started off with Crash Bandicoot, which was the perfect mascot and character for its time. It was perfect for the age group that it was directed toward.

Moving on to the world of Jak and Daxter set the benchmark of gaming for its era, defining what storytelling and gameplay are really supposed to be.

Moving on to the Uncharted series and The Last of Us, both of these games are absolute masterpieces. They've come a long way from where they started, and no one has ever put as much effort into making a video game as Naughty Dog. They are the god of video game developers.

Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, even Starfield! Do I need to say more? Most of Bethesda's games have won countless GOTY awards.

Every single one of those games features a huge open world beaming with content, variety, and diversity. I am so glad to see Bethesda so high on this list. That shows that people really know what they are talking about and can appreciate the studio that brought us some of the most celebrated video games of all time.

Skyrim is still the best game I have ever played, and part of that is because of how extensively Bethesda worked on the game and put so much content and detail into it.

Bethesda also gave us a sort of similar game (gameplay-wise) in the Fallout series, which was also phenomenal. They also pumped out Dishonored and Wolfenstein, both with a similar feel and both excellent and fun.

So basically, Bethesda has put out a ton of my favorite games, and I think they should be number 2 (after Valve, of course) on the list, closely followed by Rockstar and Square Enix (Sleeping Dogs, anyone?).

The best would be an understatement for Valve. Seeing that they have never made a single average, let alone bad, game is impressive. In fact, they have made some of the very BEST game series, including Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, DotA, and others, none of which were even remotely boring or lacking content. Valve's games set standards for all the games to come.

And they made Steam, the best digital distribution service available. Second to none, Valve is the best of the BEST!

Nobody trail-blazes like the folks at Valve. Despite their notorious delays, frustrating secrecy, and the existence of the Artifact game, nobody seems to break new ground like they have. Just about every product they put out is of the highest quality, and in my book, they are a standard for other developers to strive towards. They also have taken good risks to try and further the gaming industry as a whole, which is what the industry sorely needs right now.

The magic of most of Rockstar's back catalogue is the open-world nature of their games. It sucks when a game ends, but most games from Rockstar let you continue the game in whatever fashion you want even when the storyline ends. In Red Dead Redemption, you can still hunt bounties and skin animals to your heart's desire. In L.A. Noire, you can bust endless street crimes. In Grand Theft Auto V, there are the taxi missions and tow truck missions, among others.

Nintendo may have saved the game industry, but even they can't hold a candle to Rockstar's finest. Rockstar also has many of the greatest characters in gaming: Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, Trevor Phillips, Lamar Davis, Cole Phelps, Rusty Galloway, Herschel Biggs, John Marston, and Max Payne, among others.

Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Okami, Ace Attorney, Viewtiful Joe, Dead Rising, Ghosts n' Goblins, and the Disney games for the NES. Those are all masterpieces that make Capcom deserve a place in the Top 10.

Coming out with great games every single decade: Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising. Most consistent video game company.

What?! Capcom has the greatest games ever! Mega Man, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter. I could go on and on!

From Chrono Trigger to Nier Automata, I'm currently playing Octopath Traveler. Square Enix is the best J-RPG game company to date.

Their games don't make you grind. Instead, they make you go through the story with whatever you have at the time. Every Square Enix game is full of emotion and relatable characters (sometimes they feel like anime characters), which I instantly care for. And boy, is the environment magical.

Kingdom Hearts is reason enough, and the later installments in the Final Fantasy series are, even if they aren't as good as the earlier ones, still some really awesome games.

And if we go back even further, we have Chrono Trigger, which even after two decades, is one of the best games ever made.

The thing that makes Rare so great is the fact that they perfect any genre they touch. Tell them to make a platformer, they give you Banjo-Kazooie. Ask them for a racer, you get Diddy Kong Racing. Fighting game? Take Killer Instinct.

Say what you will about their tenure with Microsoft, that doesn't change the fact that they made the best life simulator on the 360 (Viva Pinata). Even their Kinect games have that Rare charm to them, and I'm looking forward to their newest game, a pirate adventure game called Sea of Thieves.

For me, BioWare sets the standard for character development. Their NPCs are well-rounded and realistic, as are (most) of your interactions with them.

They also lead the industry in allowing character choice to customize the player experience without detracting from the overall narrative. Hands down, BioWare has made the most compelling grand-scale narratives in gaming (Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect).

I really love Bioware's games. I've played the entire Mass Effect trilogy and all three Dragon Age games. I'm very much hoping they will continue making such amazing games and won't focus fully on multiplayer games. Storytelling is definitely their best quality. Mass Effect 3's ending genuinely made me sob. (EA, keep your hands off this company and let them make their games.)

I really respect Bioware. I mean, they made the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Hands down, it's the best DLC I have ever played in my entire life.

Being the company that pretty much invented first-person shooters and is responsible for creating the Quake engine, which many current 3D engines derive from heavily in one way or another, and being the company that made Quake, arguably the first full 3D game in history, I think these guys deserve to be a bit further up the list.

Their lack of innovation lately lets them down a bit, but they're definitely pioneers.

This is the most important company of all time in the context of first-person shooter games. All its technology has been used by other companies like Valve (the Source engine has some stuff from the ID Tech engine 2, and Half-Life 1 is entirely done with some of John Carmack's engines).

And their games are some of the best games I have ever seen: Doom, Quake, Rage, Wolfenstein. 11/10

Not only did they make the most incredible mascot, which I adore so much, I even have a tattoo of him, but they also did extremely well back in the '90s catching up to Nintendo. That might not sound like much, but if you think about it, Nintendo was HUGE back then. For another company to come up with a new mascot and catch up to Nintendo is incredible.

The Sonic games are incredible. I've been a HUGE Sonic fan my whole life. I don't care what these new 3D games are like because I still play the hell out of them, and the quality is unmistakable. I LOVE speed, and I'm glad Sega was around to bring us that. Sega should be at least 9th or 10th on the list, to be fair.

They made The Witcher as good as they could, given the budget. After its release, it was good, so money started rolling in. Then they improved it with the Enhanced Edition, not just patches.

Talking about patches, the final patch removed all copyright protection. How thoughtful is that? No copyright protection for Witcher 2. Instead, they wanted to file lawsuits directly against illegal downloaders. People complained, they dropped the idea. Instead, they appealed to people just to buy games and support the developers.

There is something inspiring about all of this. Perhaps when they get rich, they will become corporate, but for now, Rohan will answer...

Spyro, Resistance, and Sunset Overdrive alone deserve giving Insomniac a spot in the top 10, but Ratchet and Clank make this developer top 5 worthy. Ratchet and Clank are just so much fun. Also, the new Spiderman game looks amazing. The best developer behind Naughty Dog.

Ratchet and Clank is the most unique game I have ever played. These games are some of my favorites of all time. Insomniac really puts time and creativity into their games. Thank you for the great games.

They would be much better if it weren't for Universal Interactive Studios, and they could keep the Spyro franchise.

From Software is my favorite company of all time, along with Game Freak and Nintendo. If you hate From's games, you probably aren't a hardcore gamer.

Quality over quantity. That's their belief. And they make our games super fun and challenging.

Praise the Sun! Do I need to say anything else?

Even though Blizzard is catering to a bit of a niche crowd, they manage to have a massive fanbase of dedicated and loyal people. Even though the games they make may not be appealing to everyone, they are all quality games with a lot of money and work put into them.

Also, Blizzard's story department is filled with geniuses. The stories in WoW, Diablo, and StarCraft are just amazing with super rich lore. Blizzard is just the best developer out there right now.

This list makes me realize there are so many good game developers out there. But Blizzard is the only developer (not counting Westwood because it was usurped, and I was a huge fan of RTS at the time) who I've run to a gaming store or their website to purchase every one of their games.

They are so intent on providing a fun gaming experience in every one of their games, it floors me every time.

I voted for Bungie because I know where they are headed. Though they are currently in a primitive condition due to their recent split with Microsoft, they will rise to be as well-known as Valve and Rockstar in the next 10 years. That, I can assure you.

They are already very popular due to their community spirit and for creating the most successful sci-fi video game franchise of all time: Halo.

As if that wasn't enough, they are currently working on what looks to be the game that will have possibly the biggest effect out of all next-gen games: Destiny, a highly innovative FPSMMO that will take players to the stars.

Now that they are an independent company and not under the money-grabbing grip of Microsoft, they will gradually start making subsidiary companies to develop games for them, and they will begin to publish their own games. When this happens, Bungie will officially have made it where they deserve to be.

Kojima should be right up there, at least at 3. You know a game developer is loyal to its customers when they literally were thinking about canceling Metal Gear Solid 5, but chose not to, saying, "With MGS5 we're taking quality over sales."

Not to mention Metal Gear Solid is one of the gaming industry's most respected franchises with one of, if not the best, ongoing story! Kudos to Kojima, and I can't wait for MGS5!

Kojima was one of Konami's key developers. However, Konami fired him. Konami should be bankrupt and abandoned for such dumb actions.

Game Freak has made several different games besides Pokémon. However, let me point out that Pokémon is the second/third best-selling franchise in Game Boy Original, soon-to-be 3DS games. Only behind Mario and Mario Bros., the two best-known franchises in any video game.

Game Freak is awesome and has a lot of potential. They will be in the top in a few years.

Pokemon, Pulseman, Drill Dozer, HarmoKnight, and Yoshi! All amazing games! Why isn't Game Freak in the top 10?

Infinity Ward has made the No. 1 shooter game, Call of Duty. Can't believe it's not counted as top 10!

Always a big fan of the Call of Duty games Infinity Ward develops. Can't wait to see Call of Duty: Ghosts.

They made Call of Duty, my favorite game series.

If you are a Grand Theft Auto fan, then you will love Rockstar!

Haven't played any, but I hear good things.

Use trailers that are real for starters.