No point picking the obvious from limited pool, plus gotta stand up for the little humans. These peepsicles are like a hug in a concrete can
Who is the best video game developer of all time?
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DDS2 was a pretty final conclusion but yeah I do love those spinoffy takes on SMT.
Though they ARE making SMT5 for the switch, that one recently had a trailer, and we also have the nocturne remake. Maybe next thing is DDS3 XD.
MGS4 and MGO2 (MGS4's online) is far more influential with online gaming than COD4 was. MGS4's SOP system of being able to see teammates and enemies (with certain abilities/items) through walls has made it's way into pretty much every major multiplayer game whether it's Overwatch or Uncharted or COD or Gears or Destiny. Off the top of my head (as I don't play much multiplayer these days), COD, Gears, and Ghost Recon all have sensor grenades in at least one installment, which are e-locators from MGS4. Even battle royale owes things to MGO2, which had a mode called stealth deathmatch that dropped players randomly in the map and had a slowly closing circle to force people closer together.
This is a hard question to answer right?
Because it depends on what you mean by "best Developer of all time". Do you mean, which company has made the best games in it's legacy? Or do you mean a game studio that has made the fewest mis-steps during it's entire lifetime?
For example Blizzard easily has to be one of the best developers ever, because of groundbreaking titles like Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. However in recent years Blizzards is a pile of dogshit in a bun for games like Warcraft 3 reforged, the past 5 years of World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void, and so on. So can I call Blizzard the best of all time because of their origins?
No I cannot.
However look at Nintendo. I hate Nintendo. But they have never had any catastrophe's of games since they started making games. While I don't like many of their games, I'd be hard pressed to not acknowledge there decades of consistant praise from the fanbase. And Hell, even when they did fuck up, their CEO cut his own salery so that the employees didn't have to take pay cuts. I mean Nintendo is fucking LEGENDARY, and if every game developer/publisher was like Nintendo, then we would have the most blessed hobby in the history of hobbies. Nintendo is the only company that I can think of, that genuinely feels like they only care about making fun games above all else. Success comes easy when you put the customers first as it turns out.
One other company I'd like to bring up that I didn't see mentioned is Sqaure/Enix.
They've not had much drama that I can think of, and while their games aren't always 10/10's, they have the balls to try different shit. And when that shit doesn't work (Final Fantasy 13), they are quick to learn the lesson and make a better game next time. The Final Fantasy series itself is legendary, but so are many of Square's other games like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Saga games, Secret of Mana, on and on Square is still the kings of JRPG's to this day IMO.
Because it depends on what you mean by "best Developer of all time". Do you mean, which company has made the best games in it's legacy? Or do you mean a game studio that has made the fewest mis-steps during it's entire lifetime?
For example Blizzard easily has to be one of the best developers ever, because of groundbreaking titles like Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. However in recent years Blizzards is a pile of dogshit in a bun for games like Warcraft 3 reforged, the past 5 years of World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void, and so on. So can I call Blizzard the best of all time because of their origins?
No I cannot.
However look at Nintendo. I hate Nintendo. But they have never had any catastrophe's of games since they started making games. While I don't like many of their games, I'd be hard pressed to not acknowledge there decades of consistant praise from the fanbase. And Hell, even when they did fuck up, their CEO cut his own salery so that the employees didn't have to take pay cuts. I mean Nintendo is fucking LEGENDARY, and if every game developer/publisher was like Nintendo, then we would have the most blessed hobby in the history of hobbies. Nintendo is the only company that I can think of, that genuinely feels like they only care about making fun games above all else. Success comes easy when you put the customers first as it turns out.
One other company I'd like to bring up that I didn't see mentioned is Sqaure/Enix.
They've not had much drama that I can think of, and while their games aren't always 10/10's, they have the balls to try different shit. And when that shit doesn't work (Final Fantasy 13), they are quick to learn the lesson and make a better game next time. The Final Fantasy series itself is legendary, but so are many of Square's other games like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Saga games, Secret of Mana, on and on Square is still the kings of JRPG's to this day IMO.
If Nintendo and Square were the only pubs/devs, I probably would've stopped video gaming long ago. They both make the same game over and over again for the most part. It took so very long for a Nintendo game to finally get systemic game elements with BOTW when that stuff was done over 20 years ago. And Nintendo is not very pro-consumer, they've done many things that other publishers have gotten reamed for but everyone gives Nintendo a pass on everything. Square hardly tries different shit, SNES and PS2 Final Fantasy games were literally the same mechanically. Even FF12 is the same exact mechanics, just automated. FF13+ has been far more experimental though.
Why isn't LJN on that list?
I picked Valve, because, despite what they've become, for me, they're still responsible for the brightest memories of PC gaming i have. And Alyx shows that they still have some gas in them.
But trying to be objective, it's Nintendo, hands down.
KojiPro isn't Konami, it's Kojima's own crew.
I picked Valve, because, despite what they've become, for me, they're still responsible for the brightest memories of PC gaming i have. And Alyx shows that they still have some gas in them.
But trying to be objective, it's Nintendo, hands down.
Supergiant is legit the only company I follow and will probably by their game
I don't think I would even call a company like Nintendo a developer for the purpose of this sort of comparison. It's really a publisher with multiple in-house development teams.
I feel a little similar about Bethesda. The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3, great fun. But where's the next after Skyrim? The answer is put back a l-o-n-g way, because having finally got Elder Scrolls Online shipshape and popular, they know an Elder Scrolls 6 will immediately wipe out a huge chunk of its userbase. And the Fallout series is clearly degrading into a parody of itself, because it's easier for Bethesda to flog the same old jokes to death than to get someone properly creative to take it to another level.
I don't blame them in a way. If you were going to spend $100-200 million developing and marketing a game, you would probably want the safest guarantee of returns, too. I suspect this is why a lot of the better creators jump ship, because they are creators and not satisfied plugging away at diminishing returns copies of one-time greatness, leaving a bunch of second-rank placeholders to crank the handle.
Why should Blizzard do anything interesting when it's got an easy cash cow to milk?
I feel a little similar about Bethesda. The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3, great fun. But where's the next after Skyrim? The answer is put back a l-o-n-g way, because having finally got Elder Scrolls Online shipshape and popular, they know an Elder Scrolls 6 will immediately wipe out a huge chunk of its userbase. And the Fallout series is clearly degrading into a parody of itself, because it's easier for Bethesda to flog the same old jokes to death than to get someone properly creative to take it to another level.
I don't blame them in a way. If you were going to spend $100-200 million developing and marketing a game, you would probably want the safest guarantee of returns, too. I suspect this is why a lot of the better creators jump ship, because they are creators and not satisfied plugging away at diminishing returns copies of one-time greatness, leaving a bunch of second-rank placeholders to crank the handle.
A long time ago, I would have said Blizzard, but, well, Activision-Blizzard
These days, I would probably go with Supergiant - Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades, are all brilliant games, and they are probably the company with the best track record, for me.
These days, I would probably go with Supergiant - Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades, are all brilliant games, and they are probably the company with the best track record, for me.
I mean, out of the options listed I'd pick Nintendo, they revived the industry and remained a major player in it going on 4 decades now, they have a decently high rate of good first party titles, they've been slow to the game in adopting terrible monetization practices, (I'm sure they're getting there) and the Switch is quite the little port machine that got a lot of third party support back in their corner.
Kojima is certainly interesting but his studio still only has one rather divisive game. I think his presence as a developer who makes what he wants is very valuable and I hope it continues to more unique projects, though I don't know if they'll necessarily be more appealing, and that's fine.
Valve I do like rather a lot but their development cycle is a nightmare in terms of actually publishing new games. They're very developer centric from what I understand so they don't force a product to launch unless they approve of it with their fairly high standards. But the last games they've put out just haven't interested me and I'm not able to afford VR or a living space that can accommodate it, so I think I've fallen out of their user base since that seems to be the direction they want to push their software.
As for Blizzard, they made a lot of games that I enjoy rather a lot, but they haven't made a worthwhile contribution in 5 years and I think they're powered entirely by the frustration of their own fanbase. I truly dislike them on a personal level and I don't think I could even enjoy any future titles they do put out with the knowledge of who's profiting from it.
Kojima is certainly interesting but his studio still only has one rather divisive game. I think his presence as a developer who makes what he wants is very valuable and I hope it continues to more unique projects, though I don't know if they'll necessarily be more appealing, and that's fine.
Valve I do like rather a lot but their development cycle is a nightmare in terms of actually publishing new games. They're very developer centric from what I understand so they don't force a product to launch unless they approve of it with their fairly high standards. But the last games they've put out just haven't interested me and I'm not able to afford VR or a living space that can accommodate it, so I think I've fallen out of their user base since that seems to be the direction they want to push their software.
As for Blizzard, they made a lot of games that I enjoy rather a lot, but they haven't made a worthwhile contribution in 5 years and I think they're powered entirely by the frustration of their own fanbase. I truly dislike them on a personal level and I don't think I could even enjoy any future titles they do put out with the knowledge of who's profiting from it.
Yeah, they have a 100% success rate so far, in my eyes at least. Small team with large passion and talents. I probably should've said it was Supergiant instead of assuming the linked clips would do it instead.
Was trying to edit old post to add extra video, but will add it here, as the final part was touching how visibly affected they are by Hades reception going so well.
OK, but that's just a particular type of item which got replicated within a small number of games within a single genre. Hardly crown-winning stuff if we're talking about the greatest developer ever.
As far as I can tell, Valve runs Steam, and after that it's a bunch of people with almost total latitude to do as they please: and if they don't feel like making a game, they don't make one and do something else supposely useful instead. My impression is that some Valve employees who want to be involved in making games have got really quite frustrated with it, because it has no apparent drive to make games.
Huh, the SOP system literally changed basically every single multiplayer shooter. Something as basic as seeing your teammates through walls in say Rainbow Six Siege is rooted in MGS4's SOP system. Ghost Recon Future Soldier's online literally ripped everything wholesale from MGO2, even some little known skill like Narc3 is a character class feature in that game. And, influencing the current battle royale juggernaut isn't small potatoes either. MGO2 even had items you could buy with in-game currency before TF2. Lastly, the MGO2 community coined the term "git gud", which has is has infested every genre...
I"m not saying or trying to argue Kojima Productions is the greatest dev ever as their output is too centered on a single franchise. But to say that the dev has been relatively uninfluential is cutting them well short.
Not going to answer, because there is none, but of the options, I'll say Nintendo.
Now to tell you guys why you're right or wrong, because we need an objective voice here, and objectively, my opinion is objective.
Now to tell you guys why you're right or wrong, because we need an objective voice here, and objectively, my opinion is objective.
I dunno about "best" in a lot of those cases, but I broadly agree with the sentiment that Nintendo is developer focused. I wish they'd go third party, because really not fond of a lot of their hardware, but yeah. Of the four, I have to give Nintendo the top spot, because with all their quality IPs, they've earned it.
So, I really like Metal Gear, but that says more about the IP than the developer IMO. It's similar to CD Projekt Red - yeah, everyone loves Witcher, but it's still their only IP, and it's not even really THEIR IP.