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, and there is no other video game company in existence that deserves to be #1 other than Nintendo.

I bet if you went out on the street with iconic video game characters from various companies and franchises on sheets of paper and asked pedestrians the names of those characters, Nintendo's characters would be the most recognized. That just says it all. Nintendo does what others can't-they have produced game franchises and consoles that nearly everyone has had some contact with. For other franchises, you have to be more familiar with the gaming scene. But Nintendo goes beyond gaming. It's a pop culture staple, recognized by nearly everyone.

The only company who always make very high quality games but I don't think anyone can just work with it, is Nintendo. After the Masterpiece of Zelda Ocarina of Time (launched in 1998), a god of gaming, Shigeru Miyamoto, started the development of the sequel a year later. The period of time was so short that it was causing nightmares at the team, even Miyamoto itself. The team only had less than ONE YEAR to do the game from zero!

Finally this team (Nintendo EAD) used this ideas from the development process to make a another Masterpiece called The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (launched in the year 2000). The story is about another world called termina that will be destroyed by a moon in 3 days, link must avoid the destruction by stopping the moon and recovering Majora's Mask (nothing of Zelda and Ganon, *cough*, Peach and Bowser).

I consider this game as the perfect example of best sequel (or similar to DLC) in the history of gaming. Also it is another example of ...more

Nintendo has made the most consistent line of gaming systems and games, from the NES to the WiiU. The majority of 'old school gamers' are Nintendo favourers over the other systems, but it's not only the systems that make this company great. They have a variety of games that allow people who are not 'real gamers' to have a video game break, they make the most (and best) video games for kids and should I even mention the kinds of games they make? They have my vote for number one

Naughty Dog is hands down the best developer out there besides Insomniac Games. And started off with Crash Bandicoot which was the perfect mascot and character for its time. Perfect for the age group that it was directed toward. Moving onto the world of Jak and Daxter set the benchmark of gaming for its era, defining what story telling and gampeplay is really supposed to be. Moving onto 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 than Naughty Dog. They are the god of video game developers.

Naughty Dog deserves to be in the top 5 at least. Maybe even top 3. Every single game they have created have been nothing short of magnificent. From Crash, to Jak and Daxter, to Uncharted, to The Last of Us, they have NEVER failed to meet expectations, at first I was fine with their #6 spot but after creating The Last of Us, they deserve the #3 spot in my opinion behind Bethesda and Valve. Rock star makes a great case for #3 too, but I feel like Naughty Dog's story telling, puts them just a hair ahead, I write this review right before Grand Theft Auto V so most likely I would put them at #3 and and at 4 after it releases and I play it, but Naughty Dog deserves a top 5 spot for sure.

Naughty Dog's developers are true innovators. They continuously push the limits of video games with each new release. And can invoke all forms of emotions. With Crash Bandicoot, they can make innocent children laugh. With Uncharted, can give you pure adrenaline, making Indiana Jones' movies to life. Blending the line between Movie acting and Video game acting since the first Uncharted. They truly reached the epitome of progress with The Last of Us. Besides pushing a 7 year old console and utilizing it to it's absolute limit, they set a milestone in acting so incredibly high and giving excellent visuals and fluid animations. Not even mentioning the shiver inducing soundtrack that perfectly fits the gritty mood of the game. With TLOU's cliched but very well realised, depressing story and never before seen acting, it can make a grown man cry

Naughty Dog has created some of the best games I have played and will play in all my life. Uncharted is the stepping stone for action narrative games. With amazing character development and off the chain set pieces. The Last of Us is one of the best or arguably the best game of the PS3 and PS4 generation or all time for a matter of fact. With an emotional story and beautiful graphics its amazing. Even Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter and PlayStation icons and are timeless classics we all want another game to. Their past 3 games have gotten 10's and Uncharted 4 isn't looking to be any different in scores.

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 (gameplay wise) title 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 favourite 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 games Bethesda made that I have played (Fallout 3, Fallout NV, TESIV: Oblivion, TESV: Skyrim) have never failed to impress.

Fallout 3, the pinnacle of Bethesda's storytelling. Escaping from 101, searching desperately for my dad, restoring clean water to the Capital - their story encouraged me to live in their world, to feel angry at the creators of the vaults, to laugh at the strangeness of Little Lamplight. I cannot express the sadness I felt when I sacrificed myself to put in the code to activate the purifier. But you know what? I didn't go back to a previous save to continue my journey and sacrifice later. I was satisfied.

TESV: Skyrim is a beautiful game with beautiful gameplay mechanics. I entered a world where I would make hard choices about the war, whilst at the same time experiencing the thrill and extremely gratifying experience of killing dragons, all occurring within an environment that defied the turmoil and conflict through its beauty, and conversely ...more

Only really supporting bethesda due to the Elder Scrolls games. I'm actually a Bungie fan, but it didn't make the list haha

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was full of intense hand to hand combat (unless you're an archer like myself) and superb graphics. Considering Skyrim had 500+ hours of gameplay (not including dlc's) and 580+hours with dlc's skyrim creators aced a world with superb interaction of 90% objects. The customizable characters along with decossion making and open world gameplay gave both emotion and created connections between characters. I think with all this included the graphics are perfect in their own right.

Great job Bethesda, hope you get more votes

Razor Adams 154 (360 gamertag)

A developer which delivers exceptional single player experiences (Fallout series, Elder Scrolls series) with large open worlds and hundreds of hours of gameplay. Their engine is also fairly mod friendly (despite some recent backlashes - Creation Club) and Bethesda fairly frequently in communication with the community.

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 best would be an understatement for Valve. Seeing that they have never made a single average, let alone bad, game.
In fact they have made some of the very BEST game series including Half Life, Portal, Tram 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!

Half-Life introduced narrative and story telling for FPS, it also had AI that would fight each other. Half-Life 2 is still the standard today for single player campaigns, it has the first real physics interactions in gaming, it introduced top quality facial animations and overall incredible graphics. The Half-Life series set the bar for single player FPS games.

Counter-Strike is the number 1 online action game series. It's success revolves on its skill-based game-play and clever maps.

Team Fortress 2, despite being 6 years old, is still one of most played FPS today. It has been VALVe's playground for experimentation and is now one of the most versatile FPS to exist. It introduced community-created content as part of a game.

Portal series is the most innovative FPS experience in recent years, if not of all time. It's an entirely new kind of experience with great humour and clever design. You are now thinking with portals.

The Left4Dead series showed us what ...more

Valve intorduce everything that video game developers should have on their games, start from Half-Life, forget about Doom, Half-Life introduce realistic gameplay, narrative on game, and almost everything. Half-Life 2 improve more and more from Half-Life to make itself one of the best games of all time. Another games? Valve has everything, play Team Fortress 2,Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, then you can forget Nintendo

The magic of most of Rockstar's back catelogue is the the open world nature of them. It sucks when a game ends but most games from Rockstar lets 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 desires. 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 have many of the greatest characters in gaming; Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, Trevor Phillips, Lemar Davis, Cole Phelps, Rusty Galloway, Hershall Biggs, John Marston and Max Payne among others.

I only have a few favorite games of all time, and around 3 are Rockstar's games. Incredible studio. They deserve to be above Valve and Bethesda because: Bethesda doesn't make any good games anymore, and Valve literally doesn't make games anymore. But Rockstar just throws out masterpiece after masterpiece. I think they should tie with Naughty Dog, though.

Grand Theft Auto, L.A. noire, Max Payne 3, Red Dead redemption and Bully. I look forward to everything RockStar continues to produce, as they are truly the pioneers of the industry, whether that would be in facial animation, story telling or pushing the boundaries of open world game-play. Alongside with Valve and Naughty dog, currently the best developer.

Grand Theft Auto, Bully, Red Dead, Warriors, L. A Noire, and more. They don't just goof around in their games, they try to make it much better than the previous. Their games are fun. They produce many games, and they even made RAGE, their own game engine. Their games are so good that many people bought their games.

Indeed! They also did a really good game for the PS2 Called Under the skin. You play as a Three year old alien called Cosmi fro the Planet Mischief. Every Alien Must go to a new planet to learn mischief, and Cosmi chose Earth, The Hardest challenge, to become a hero.

The game is seen in a Third - Person Perspective. And you have to prank people to earn coins, and complete the mission whatever it be in 10 minutes or less.

Pranks include:

Torches
Hula Hoops
Karaoke (Turn people's faces white with your tone deaf singing! )
Dinosaurs
Sharks
Cannons
And many more!

P.S. You will be attacked in your alien form, so you can transform into people to hide from them. There is also a stage similar to Resident Evil!

Resident Evil, Megaman, 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 like every single decade. Megaman, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, Most consistent video game company

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

I personally disagree with this. Their biggest hits (except Chrono Trigger. That was amazing) where just lucky shots. Final Fantasy was kind of Square's last resort at a good game, before going out of business because they made flop after flop at the time. Back in 2003, Kingdom Hearts was also risky, because the mix of Disney and Final Fantasy characters seemed stupid, but somehow it was really fun. But Kingdom Hearts isn't good anymore because of its prequals and midquels, making the plot of the entire series way too hard for a kid to follow, because let's face it: That's where the original game was marketed at.

From Chrono Trigger to Nier Automata, currently playing Octopath Traveler. Square Enix is the best J-RPG game company to date. Their games doesn't let you grind, instead they make you go through the story with whatever you have at the time. Every Square Enix game you have 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.

I love Square Enix there the best game developers ever. I am 12 almost 13 but I'm a game developer. I love making games and I currently have a idea for a role playing game but my idea goes why beyond even my knowledge. I wish I could get in touch with Square Enix

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 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.

Loosely using Jontrons terms, when Rare came along it was not about the high score it was about the adventure. That's what is rare about Rare Ware.

Nintendo is better but rare certainly deserves better than 8th!

The new rare is going downhill. But the old rare was awesome. Banjo, Conker, star fox 64, they rule. Rareware for the win

For me, BioWare sets the standard for character development. Their NPC's 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).

Really love Bioware's games. 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.)
Really respecting Bioware. I mean, they made the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Hands down, best DLC I have ever played in my entire life.

To be frank, I hated games when I was young. All my friends played some sort of video games like World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Halo etc. I never liked any of the games back then as I don't find satisfaction on shooting some random people in the face for no reason, nor do I find constant grinding entertaining. The biggest downfall for games at the time though was I couldn't find any game that was immersive or story-compelling enough for me to play, and so I resort to books and movies. However all that changed just a few years ago when I stumbled upon Mass Effect 2 & Dragon Age Origins.

Both these games are unique in their own way but one thing is common though is that they have one heck of a story and incredible characters that almost feels human. Choices made by me matters in these two games and for the first time I actually feel immersed into the story of a game. Dragon Age filled my hopes for a fantasy world where nothing is truly black or white while Mass Effect 2 set ...more

"BioWare's vision is to create, deliver, and evolve the most emotionally engaging games in the world."And I dare to say they managed to live up to it so far,this company could easily be considered the best RPG games developer on the market.

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 the First person shooter games. All it's 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

Due to id Software being one of the most influential companies in the industry (wrote the books on FPS), I would like to believe they should be higher on the list. However, I can understand why it is not in the top 10 due to their current relevance in the industry. Hopefully, the relative success of Doom 4 will change that in the near future!

These guys need to be in the top 10 at least. One of the most important studios in the industry, or at least they are historically one of the most important.

Not only did they make the most incredible mascot, which I adore so much, I even have a Tattoo of him. But the also did extremely well back in the 90's catching up to Nintendo, which might not sound like much but if you think about it, Nintendo were HUGE back then so 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 unmistaken. I LOVE speed and I'm glad SEGA were around to bring us that, Sega should be at least 9th or 10th on the list tbf.

Sega created sonic, shenmue, and the best consoles. Agree or disagree doesn't matter. The fact is without sega, you wouldn't have online gaming. The dreamcast allowed for online gaming right out of the box. Even before that there was a net link for the Saturn, and even one for the genesis

Sega should be top 3. They helped save gaming as a whole...great arcade games, great consoles...
Games on the genesis help define how fun gaming could be. Series like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Sonic...
Along with their (other) great arcade games.

They created good games in their time, it's just tgey went downhill with Sonic '06 and giving their Sonic license to one of the worst ever, idiotic and evil company, Big Red Button to create Sonic Boom, which was a living hell.

They made the witcher as good as they could, given the budget. Released it. It was good, so money started rolling in. Then they improoved it with enchanced edition, not just patches. Talking about patches, 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...

Give it 5-10 years and nobody else will even come close to CD Projekt. They haven't developed many games, but the ones they have made have been excellent and well ahead of their time graphically. This dev has a lot of talent working for them. Plus they're a dev who really knows how to listen to it's fans. The Witcher 3 will put them much higher on the list and Cyberpunk 2077 should solidify their spot in the top.

Have you played the Witcher 3!? It truly is the best game I have played, I have never been so immersed in such a vast world, with such good lore and history behind it. The characters became like real people. With two massive expansion packs, including a whole new region that both came for free! How can this not be the best game dev ever

CD Projekt RED respects their audience unlike many game developers. They give all their games the time and attention it requires so that when it does come out, the game is an actual fully fleshed out game and not a half finished game that some other companies release.

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

Ratchet and clank is the most unique game I have ever played. These games are one 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.

I'm going with insomniac because spyro the dragon introduced me to games and is still my favorite game ever made.

Even though Blizzard is catering to a bit of a niche crowd, they manage to have a massive fanbase of dedicated and loyal people. And 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 are geniuses. The stories in WoW, Diablo and StarCraft are just amazing with a super rich lore. Blizzard is just the best dev out there right now

This list makes me realise 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 flaws me every time.

Blizzard has the most stellar creatively unique and imaginative game developers out there. Each outstanding game they create has a vast ever-expanding universe, each with their own story and intriguing lore from StarCraft, Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch! Blizzard has the greatest jaw-dropping cinematics hands down! I've always imagined if they'll ever create an MMOFPS like StarCraft Universe someday! A gamer can dream.

I have played most of their games I am even playing beta version of Heartstone and it is very addictive... They are created games with best gameplay and best animated graphics... I feel they are better than Valve.

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

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

Praise the Sun! Do I need to say anything.

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.

And 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 make 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.

Bungie has the best ears when it comes to listening to their community. They NEVER fail to impress, their skyboxes are unmatched, their gun controls and mechanics are flawless, they sold the #1 game of all time on Xbox, Destiny is a massive flagship game that is still going strong (especially after the release of The Taken King ), and they never fail to get their community involved with feedback and improvements.

This is almost insulting to see this compnay so far down on the list. They deserve way more props than 12th place. They deserve at least 5th. I believe that if they catered to the PC community more, they'd get even bigger recognition. In my opinion, Bungie is one of the best gaming developers of all time. Their legacy continues and they never fail to impress.

One of the few gaming companies that don't sell out the their developer, They know what they are doing and I give my full support to the company. They have made some of the most popular titles in gaming and deserve to be higher.

Bungie have had an all star class of actors work on Halo 2, they have had 3 of their games game of the year. And John McCarthy is working on Destiny enough said.

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 cancelling metal gear solid 5, but chose not to, saying "with mgs5 were taking quality over sales" not to mention metal gear solid is one of the gaming industries most respected franchises with one of if nit the best on-going story! Kudos to kojima and can't wait for mgs5!

Kojima should be even lower are you kidding me? How can you make zone of the enders the 2nd runner and then just forget about that series? And then when we finally get hope of a sequel get a "laugh out loud jk, the RERELEASE didn't sell well so no one must want it", no people just don't want to spend $30 on a game they already have, he's a one trick pony who only does mgs any more

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

Kojima should be at least 3rd or 4th, have you played any of their games?

Game Freak has made several different games besides Pokemon, however, let me point out that Pokemon 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 ANY video game.

One word; Pokemon. Enough said

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?

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.

The best game developers..

Infinity Ward has made 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.

I think they shouldn't had add infinity ward to 15. Dice should been like number 3

They made call of duty, my favorite game series.

The only people who even like Activision or are dumb enough to think they are one of the best developers is a dumbass. I'm sorry if this offends you, but smart people come to realize that Activision doesn't care at all about the community in general. Take Call of Duty for instance, they made legendary games like Black Ops 2 and Call of Duty 4. After Black Ops 2, Activison put half-ass effort into their games, and try and get nerdy kids to spend hundreds of dollars on supply drops. Not only is this in Call of Duty, but also a similar money-greed situation in World of Warcraft. They made a good game, yes, but then once it becomes popular, they bribe us with money and only seek their franchises as a half-ass way to get money. Does Nintendo make their Mario games half-ass every year? No, they constantly change their games and try new things to please the community, which in my opinion is why they are the best, and Activision one of the most money-greeding worst.

This company remakes the same game over and over for 8yo, they brought back old IPs (Guitar Hero and Pro Skater) without putting any effort, just for either retaining the rights or making a quick buck, and they bought Crash and Spyro and have done nothing with it. These guys suck

Yeah, Activision hasn't been developing games for years. They publish games. There's a difference

After they cancelled Crash landed for no reason and didn't give Crash back to sony.I started to despite these guys.