I'll go old school, to a time when most "developer studios" were one or a few people.
Dan/Dani/Danielle Bunten might be the greatest game developer of all time. He was Sid Meier before Sid Meier, and was actually going to make Civilization for PC, but couldn't get approval - so he made The Seven Cities of Gold instead.
M.U.L.E. and TSSOG were incredibly fun to play and brought gameplay innovations that were astounding and immediately revolutionary - which means, of course, widely imitated.
Bunten wrote extensively on game design and all kinds of wide-ranging philosophical topics. He had a deeply troubled personal life, undergoing a rushed sex change he later regretted - bravely journaling his thoughts online in a time when nobody did that. (She, whatever. I don't care to get into a debate about that.)
My point is that Bunten was a true Renaissance type of game designer/genius/artist, and designed two of the greatest games of all time almost single-handedly.
You don't find that type around much today.
Oh, and hi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Bunten_Berry
"Danielle Bunten Berry (February 19, 1949 ? July 3, 1998), born Daniel Paul Bunten, and also known as Dani Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game M.U.L.E. (one of the first successful multiplayer games), and 1984's The Seven Cities of Gold."