Favourite developer this generation?

[Ulkjen]

Hmmm. If we are sticking to consoles and this generation, I would have to say Mojang and their Minecraft. It brought a lot of friends of mine off the x box and to the pc ;D.

 

[Fractral]

Atlus. All of my favourite games this gen have been made by them. Devil Survivor 2 was a masterpiece, let alone the Persona games.
I'm tempted to say Egosoft because they're making great, if very niche, games and supporting them for ages after release with new content and updates for free. I know everyone is talking about Star Citizen right now but until recently Egosoft was pretty much the only Dev still making space sim games, and X rebirth is looking pretty damn good.

 

[hooblabla6262]

Well, I definitely want to give mad props to TellTale for taking The Walking Dead and making a good character/story-driven game out of a series that prides itself on just that. Kudos!

I also want to mention Chucklefish, the developers of the currently unreleased Starbound. Now these guys are the standard to which we should hold many studios (so far). They have an incredibly strong rapport with their community, and they use this relationship to better improve the game.
I cannot stress how impressed I am with them. It's almost like making video games is a passion of theirs. Weird.

 

[TrevHead]

For me it's SEGA, with their old 16bit / arcade games, their own current gen IPs like Valkyria Chronicles, Binary Domain, Sonic Generations, Resonance of Fate, the excellent Platinum Games IP's and on the PC side Creative Assembly and Relic.

It's frustrating that SEGA don't localise all their JRPGs on the handhelds and have yet to port any of the Panzer Dragoons to current gen systems that includes Orta which doesn't work on PAL 360s grr. Then again I doubt those localisations would be profitable for them if they did as SEGA games tend to always drastically underperform.

Rising Star Games comes in 2nd

Just for giving the west some Japanese Shmups to play, even though the genre is a little too niche and quickly fell to the bargain bin.

Infact now I think about it the vast majority of my fave 360 games were bargain bin fodder, makes me think "Man! general video gamers have shit tastes and the retail system is broken" sigh.

 

[Collegeboy21]

I'm going to have to say Bioware for number one. They gave us Mass Effect and Dragon Age this generation. Not to mention SWTOR, which is actually pretty great, though not without its flaws.

Close second has to go to Bethesda for Skyrim. Man, I love that game.

 

[Nibiria]

Bethesda, for Skyrim and Oblivion.

Valve, for TF2 and Portal (the only two games I've played from them, both of which I've loved)

and...Gearbox. SHUT UP. I loved both Borderlands games and, even if their other games are shit (I'm looking at you, DNF & A:CM), I've logged countless hours into both games. They're fun for me, even after so many hours.

 

[MrMrAwesom]

PC gamer Suspicious Developments :3 GUNPOINT is amazing (YES THE TITLE IS IN ALL CAPS AAAAA)
& Tripwire Interactive for KILLING FLOOR (SAME HERE)

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

High Moon studios for making the awesome Transformers War & Fall of Cybertron and Deadpool hands down my absolute favourite for what they've done.

 

[Tanakh]

Valve

Because TF2, I've spent more hours with TF2 then I have with women.

I adhere to this statement, replacing TF2 with DotA2 and specifying that it would only be true if "with women" means to copulate.

 

[takemeouttotheblack]

Based purely on devs who made games that sucked me in, moved, inspired and entertained me the most and for the longest time I'm going to have to give it to Bethesda and Bioware.

Bethesda for both entries into the Elder scrolls series this generation, including associated expansion packs (yes yes I know; horse armor, calm down) and to a lesser extent Fall out 3 which was great in scope and atmosphere but try as I might, I couldn't get absorbed in the post apocalyptic dystopia.

Bioware for the Mass Effect series which I often worry i might love just a little bit too much and both dragon age games, which I managed to thoroughly enjoy despite some unfortunate flaws and design oversights.

Hounourable mentions go to:

Ubisoft montral, managing to have us murder countless englishmen, arabs, frenchmen, italians, turks and americans while still holding a valid message about racial balance and harmony and a strong moral imperative. Good job there.

Rocksteady, getting me even more interested in batman than christopher nolan did

Lionhead, Fable 2. Not so much Fable 3, though I enjoyed that as well.

Volition, proving you can out-silly yourself successfully

Relic, for some valiant attempts to bring the warhammer 40K Universe to life, even if they did come up with mixed results

Team Bondi, for struggling through the harsh strictures of an unforgiving buisiness model and recieving no reward at the end. Certainly not the only such story this generation, but it stands out in my mind as one of the most severe, especially since LA Noir was a real result in innovation, if again somewhat flawed.

And finally 38 Studios, for a brazen and interesting new IP which sadly may never again see the light of day despite showing a lot of potential.

Wow, I think this gentleman/lady may speak for me entirely. I'm mainly an RPG player, so Bioware and Bethesda on top, but also kudos to all of the above minus 38 Studios because I haven't played KoA yet, and I'd like to add Eidos for their work on Human Revolutions and Rockstar for RDR. A lot of the games these studios may have produced are flawed in some way, but I still enjoyed the hell out of them.

 

[dancowan15]

Best developers of this gen: BioWare, Naughty Dog, Irrational Games, Yager Entertainment, Valve, thatgamecompany, Sucker Punch, Telltale Games, Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane, Avalanche Studios, Insomniac Games, Criterion, Crystal Dynamics, and lastly, Firaxis.

 

[nathan-dts]

Naughty Dog, Irrational Games, Telltale Games, Kojima Productions and begrudgingly, Bioware; got to respect the men and women driving gaming forward by posing philosophical questions and making the industry respectable. All of them, except Irrational have made me cry this generation and all of them have made me think. That's important for the games are art movement, not that there's even a question about it.

Bioware have been slipping, but that trilogy, up to you know, was a masterpiece that challenged people to think about morality and philosophy. The Krogan stuff and the Quarian/Geth stuff were beautiful pieces of writing and although I'd like to exclude them because... you know... they did a lot with those three games.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Valve put out the Portal games so theres that.
My wife & I have probably spent most of our time playing Bethesda games. However I have a ps3 so i have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them.

 

[karloss01]

From Software, Platinum Games, Gearbox Software, Mojang, Re-Logic, Kojima Productions, High Moon studios, Relic Entertainment, Sonic Team and Rocksteady Studios.

and the reasons why I like them.

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Armored Core IV
Bayonetta (and most likely Bayonetta 2)
Anarchy Reigns
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Borderlands
Borderlands 2
Minecraft
Terraria
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker
Transformers: War for Cybertron
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 (including the expansions Chaos Rising and Retribution)
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Sonic Generations
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City

 

[TheEvilCheese]

1. Best overall: It's got to be Valve. I don't even play TF2 anymore but I have immense respect for what they've done since steam launched all those years ago. While HL3 is most likely vaporware, valve always come across as friendly and understanding of their customers while pushing out several games I have loved. They're now trying to promote Linux as a viable alternative for gaming, and while the going is slow it's a great- possibly vital- thing to do. The amount of time they spend producing free content...

2. Best gameplay: Hard choice; Could go to Valve because Portal 1&2 were pretty much the defining games of the generation while not being all about murdering people. Yeah, it's got to be valve. DOTA 2 and TF2 are the most played PC multiplayer games of this generation for a damn good reason, and it's not the hats. Also counter-strike. And they've done stuff like left4dead, which wasn't amazing but certainly a solid and fun experience. The continued quality of their work is beyond impressive when lined up against almost any other studio.

3. Most enthralling world. This encompasses the writing and backstory as well as presentation. Probably going to Valve again to be honest, I reaaaly liked the writing behind portal 1&2. I find it very difficult to fault them. Otherwise it'd go to Obsidian. New vegas- and more importantly the DLC- are some of the most immersive hours I can remember, being totally sucked in to the world despite the problems. And there are problems.


So.. turns out I'm a massive valve fanboy. huh. Funny that. Aside from Portal I'm not a massive fan of anything they've made (I've spent my share of time on 2fort though). That said, they are the most consistently high quality dev that springs to mind and while Valve time is an oft humorous thing they have actually put out a lot of content since the orange box (the best deal in gaming pre humble bundle IMO)

If it were games I've enjoyed most I'd be giving the award to Nintendo as usual. Followed by Bethesda, blizzard and Bioware. A developer is far more than just that to me though.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

Either Nintendo EAD Tokyo (Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2) or Naughty Dog (The Last of Us, Uncharted 2)

 

[IronMit]

I will have to pick Naughty Dog.

I had 2 incredible unique experiences with Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us


Special shout out to Bethesda (Fallout 3), Kojima (MGS4), Eidos Montreal (Deus ex hr), Bioware (ME1,2)

 

[Strelok]

Even though PC does not have generations I will bite, I think GSC Game World for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. 4A for the Metro 2033 games, Naughty Dog for Uncharted and The Last of Us. Action Games for Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason, one of the best psychological horror I have ever played. Irrational Games for BioShock and BioShock: Infinite.

 

[Strazdas]

Seeing as this generation has only just started, ask me again when it has ended & I'll tell you.

you are wrong. this generation is ending. it will end with the release of new consoles. and the next one will start at that time. currently it has not started yet.

...and the Wii U is what, exactly?

WiiU is the early starter of then ext generation that has very low sales and is insignificant enough not to roll over the generation tide.
we could say It is the last generation if your a Nintendo-only player, but thats about as far as your logic goes to.

 

[Lygus]

No doubt the award goes to CD PROJEKT RED and their commitment for free DLCs, free content delivered with Enhanced Editions (free OSTs, artworks, etc), staying as an independent company and having balls to stand for their business ethics. Next dev to them - Bohemia Interactive.

I see many people/fanboys don't understand what makes a particular company great. It's not about games or their past ONLY, it's about how they treat customers, do they have courage to stay independent or sell themselves to fucktard-run corporations like EA or Activision. That's the basic concept, anyway.