Who is your favourite developer in business right now?

Jazoni89

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Get_A_Grip_ said:
I'm going to go with RockSteady Games. Yes they've only made two games. But both of them are truly excellent and have set a standard that all licensed games should try and reach.
Nope, they also made a semi obscure game for the PS2, and Xbox called Urban Chaos: Riot Response.



It's also quite good.
 

JLML

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Zeboyd Games. You know, Cthulhu Saves the World and that stuff? Yea, those guys. Because the jokes. ^_^
 

Dfskelleton

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iD Software has been my favorite for a long time, but RAGE was a little... it was good, but not iD Software good. Still, they've always had a firm commitment to providing exceptional games and customer service (once again, save for the driver issues on RAGE's launch, although they got that patched up pretty quick).
I'm hoping that Doom 4 will retain what made the first two fun (see: simplicity) and not try to throw in a bunch of stuff that no one wants (see: regenerating health).

Valve is also pretty cool.
 

TrevHead

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Platinum Games, then CAVE, Treasure and Grasshopper

Also have a softspot for Relic and Creative Assembly even though I don't currently play their games.
 

Ranylyn

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Atlus.

A lot of people don't know the difference between developper and publisher, but I do, and I can respect Atlus for both. They not only take financial risks to bring unproven yet fun franchises to western audiences (Atlus localized the original Disgaea, for instance, as well as brought Demon's Souls to North America, although Namco covered it for Europe, just two examples) but their own games are always consistently quality.

Their writing COULD use a little work, sure, but I freaking DARE other mainstream devs to bring us a Persona 3/4 or a Catherine. Or take such financial risks to localize good games that the parent company can't translate and ship overseas. In fact, most are happy to either leave great series to stagnate because it's not their huge moneymakers (Capcom and BoF, Square and too many to count, etc) or even close down entire companies under them over lower than anticipated sales!

And as far as business practices go, Atlus has never overtly pissed me off. My Boycott list of companies who did inexcuseable business practices is over 10. And Atlus has never done anything so bad that it caught my attention. So I can support them, guilt-free!

Long story short, rather than look at what companies I HAVEN'T boycotted and can buy from, sometimes I just look for the Atlus Label to make it go faster.
 

Scrustle

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Bhaalspawn said:
EA don't develop games. They publish them. They own a lot of good studios, but despite the fact some of them are called "EA something-or-other" they don't develop any games in-house, like Valve or Nintendo may do. So they don't count.

OT: This is actually kind of hard. There are a lot of famously good studios out there, but do we really know everything about them? Also, although I don't disagree that plenty of the studios mentioned here are great I mostly don't have an affinity for their games, or I'm not familiar with them at least.

When I think of studios I like the first that comes to mind is Turn10. They have a genuine passion for what they do and it comes through a lot in their games. They listen to and keep in contact with their fanbase a lot, and darn it, Dan Greenawalt just seems like a really nice guy. I think Microsoft stifles them slightly though. They run on an incredibly tight release schedule and I think as a result of that their games are starting to get kind of overly-iterative.

Bethesda are another of my favourites. Again, they're clearly doing what they're doing because they love it. They don't want to make a game that ticks all the boxes and appeals to so many people it ends up appealing to nobody. They just want to make the game exactly how they want it to be, and to be as good as it can be. Each time they make a new game they want it to be new. They won't keep making sequel after sequel on the same game engine until it becomes ancient and outdated, they start over each time because they want it to be a completely new game and a completely new vision. Todd Howard is also a pretty groovy dude.

And although I haven't really gotten on with their games so far I think I have to mention CD Projekt if I'm talking about studios that do things the way they want. CD Projekt even arguably do it to more of an extreme than Bethesda. Even so much as to more or less throw away many chances to bring in profit which they are entitled to. They create free expansions and DRM free games which are incredibly uncompromising in their mechanics. They have an extremely precise vision that they want to achieve and give to people, profits be damned! There's no way anyone can't respect a studio with that kind of attitude. They're like the studio from a gamer's wet dream.

But am I saying those things just because I like the games? I guess that's not true with CD Projekt, but it's still a valid point. And do we really know these studios? Are they really these awesome places full of cool people, or do they just have a really great PR departments? How much do we really know about what goes on behind the scenes? I can't help but wonder about these things.
 

mattttherman3

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Bethesda. Skyrim, minus hearthfire because who gives a fuck about that?

NamcoBandai, because I love the tales series, and they keep bringing them here :)
 

Vigormortis

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For me, it's honestly a toss-up between Valve, Relic, and Runic.

Valve, from the first moment I played Half-Life, has never failed to amaze and entertain me. They are a think-tank of some of the most creative minds in the industry.

Relic, who made one of the greatest strategy games of all time (Homeworld), still crafts some of the finest RTS games on the market. As little a fan as I am of Warhammer: 40K, even I have to admit the "fantastic-ness" of the Dawn of War games. And that's not even touching on Company of Heroes.

Runic, though having effectively only two game to their name, are responsible for giving me one of the best action-RPGs I've ever played. Certainly not the deepest, but still the one I've had the most fun with besides Diablo 2.

So really? It's a tough call.

Signa said:
Then there is Valve, but it's hard to call them a dev these days.
I'm curious. What makes you say this?

I hear that argument a lot around here and it's always perplexed me.
 

Signa

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Vigormortis said:
Signa said:
Then there is Valve, but it's hard to call them a dev these days.
I'm curious. What makes you say this?

I hear that argument a lot around here and it's always perplexed me.
I say that because they've taken to being a retail store more and more. That doesn't diminish my love for what they do and how they do it, but we are talking about developers here, and Valve hasn't developed a game that I'm ecstatic for in years. Portal 2 was great, but it had its flaws. I don't give a shit about CS:GO, and L4D was amazing while it still held my interest, but I'm really bored with it now. TF2 is about the only game I play by them these days.

So yeah, that and it feels like a cop-out answering Valve in a question like this. Of course Valve is my favorite company/developer/publisher/retailer/social media network... They do too much.
 

TaintedSaint

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CD Projekt RED by far these guys are the new Bioware. The witcher games are amazing and the stances they take on DRM and DLC make them a shining in a ever bleaker world of gaming. One of the few Developers I will support 100%
 

mayney93

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Probably a bit unheard of but, Gas powered games, they made dungeon siege series, ( not the terribad 3rd one, which i still pre-ordered, damm you obsidian), and supreme commander, and a few other tit bits, they are my favourite dev because dungeon siege 1 and 2 defined the start of me gaming, plus, which other games are so awesome you'll play them at like 8 fps to completion just coz?
 

Quadocky

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A tie between Croteam, Larian Studios.

Croteam because they really care about the games they make. Well of course they mostly work on Serious Sam given that they are a pretty small developer.

Larian Studios because they are pretty much the last remnant of the golden age of PC RPGs, not only that, they are still alive and kicking. My favorite thing about them is that you can really feel the quality and dedication they put into their games. Especially the larger games they create.

My favorite publishes however are Interplay and Devovler Digital.

Interplay because they took a chance on many games that turned out to be fantastic, like Fallout 1 and 2 and various other RPGs.

Devolver Digital because they are probably the only publisher that ever made me want to buy a game. I wish all publishers were as cool as Devolver Digital.
 

nexus

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In no particular order of importance:

Obsidian, Capcom, Konami, and Bioware.

All of these companies gave me incredible gaming memories. We're talking Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, etc etc.
 

Athinira

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Valve.

You can complain about the lack of Half-Life 3 (or episode 2) all you want, but even assuming Valve is only in the business to make money, they do it in a way that benefits me and they never stop doing things that as a gamer makes me happy.

If all gaming companies adopted Valve's mindset (but for heavens sake, not their release schedule), gaming would be at a much happier place.
 

DarkhoIlow

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My favorite developer is CDProjekt RED.

Listening to their fans regarding the changes that were made into Witcher 2 and giving up DLC for free made me want to support them even further by buying the Collector's Edition for a single player game.

Aside from that I still have hope in Bioware since I loved all the games that they have released since Baldur's Gate.
 

kommando367

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Bethsoft. Their games aren't for everyone, but they know how to maintain quality control and I like how they make their games with so much open world freedom in mind.
 

aguspal

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I dont know....



I think its because I usually dont pay much attention to what devs make what game, I just get the game I wanna play and... I play it...

I guess, in that sence I am kind of a "Casual gamer". Or maybe I am just a lazy gamer... I dont know, really.


But If need to say someone. I guess I will go with Capcom. Simply because they created Dead Rising and Ace Attorney series, both series that I love and I just happended to remember them while writing this comment xD.
 

SuperSuperSuperGuy

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It's a toss-up. Valve and Atlus are both great developers with great PR.

Valve is probably better overall, with Steam and their dabbling into hardware, but Atlus gets major points for making the Shin Megami Tensei series, particularly Personas 3 and 4, which remain some of my favourite games in existence.

Runners-up are NIS, Nintendo and Game Freak.
 

Mr.Mattress

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I have two:

Valve - Because of all the awesome things they do, and Because TF2 is fun and I love it!

Nintendo - Nintendo always has a special place in my heart. Without them, I would never have played video games (I grew up an N64-Gamecube kid). Yes, the Wii is dumb, but that's besides the Point. Nintendo has almost always made good games (Especially the main Mario and Legend of Zelda Games series), with a few exceptions. Nintendo is a veteran game maker, and one of the strongest modern day video game companies on the earth. The WiiU is looking great! And the fact that they saved Bayonetta from dying is very Valve-ish in my eyes (Even if people don't support it).