Written on January 12th, 2013 by Alan Lee

EDGE picks the top 50 greatest developers, DmC and Ni No Kuni rated

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edge top 5

Edge magazine has picked its top 50 developers, and the studio at no. 1 is not surprising at all.

Yes, they have chosen Valve–the creators of Half-Life and Portal–as the best studio for 2012, followed by Mojang of Minecraft fame.

Nintendo EAD is at no. 3 and considering their pedigree, that’s not surprising at all. Platinum Games of Bayonetta and Vanquish fame are at no. 4, which shows how much the magazine values their approach to creating innovative new IPs, with primary focus on gameplay mechanics.

Naughty Dog, arguably Sony’s best studio, is at no. 5, followed by the mammoth Rockstar North. You can check out the complete top 50 list below. I agree with all of them personally. The issue also contains reviews for a lot of games and Ninja Theory’s DmC: Devil May Cry got an 8 out 10, and Ni No Kuni and Planetside 2 were also rated similarly.

Here are the rest of the scores: Ace of Spades: 4, Zero Escape: 7, Uncharted fight for fortune: 5, Aero porter: 7, and Qatqi: 8.

valve headquarters

Valve HQ

Top 50:

1. Valve
2. Mojang
3. Nintendo EAD
4. Platinum Games
5. Naughty Dog
6. Rockstar North
7. Bungie
8. FromSoftware
9. Arkane Studios
10. Riot Games
11. Epic Games
12. Media molecule
13. Dice
14. Kojima Productions
15. Irrational
16. ArenaNet
17. Blizzard
18. Rocksteady
19. Ubi Montreal
20. Bethesda
21. Double Fine
22. Terry Cavanagh
23. Thatgamecompany
24. Gearbox
25. 343
26. Firaxis
27. EA Canada
28. Bioware
29. Eidos Montreal
30. Playdead
31. Sony online entertainment
32. Crytek
33. Redlynx
34. Vlambeer
35. CCP
36. Telltale
37. Id
38. Ninja theory
39. Quantic Dream
40. Codemasters
41. Criterion
42. Mossmouth
43. Harmonix
44. Sony Santa Monica
45. Capybara
46. Creative assembly
47. Halfbrick
48. Wayforward
49. Jagex
50. Relic
-

It’s surprising to see no Polyphony Digital or Square Enix on the list, but considering their recent output I guess it was a fair choice. Mojang’s inclusion so high on the list is certainly surprising, but they did manage to create a game that spawned off numerous clones and Minecraft managed to become one of the most influential games this gen.

EDGE has been known to reward innovation, creativity, and technical ability; that’s also their reasoning for creating this list. Do you agree with them?

  • Nameguy

    Wayforward? What the bleeding hell?

    They really ran out of creativity for the last spots. Polyphony ought to be there.Insomniac too.

    Especially when there are so many developers here who make legitimately bad games.
    I know it’s just opinions, but dood. EDGE’s opinions suck.

    • DHGH

      Turn 10?!

      FM1 93/100
      FM2 90/100
      FM3 92/100
      FM4 91/100

  • seena

    Go valve :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Dingle/1584421895 Richard Dingle

    Valve at #1? Really?! Half Life is so far over rated its not even funny. There only other title of note is a very nifty and interesting TEST GAME(Portal was the filler title in the Orange Box). Portal just really surprised everyone with its great use of dialogue and puzzle mechanics, the OB as a whole was underwhelming. I just find that to be offensive to put them above NIN/Naughty Dog/Rockstar.

    Platinum is also a fairly strange one to put in the top five. I am pretty sure they wanted to go for shock value to score more hits :/

    • http://www.facebook.com/adam.hurd2 Adam Hurd

      Platinum are much less shocking than Mojang. I mean Minecraft is fine and all but one game does not make you a top 50 game developer. Platinum have been pretty consistently awesome, Madworld, Infinite Space, Bayonetta and Vanquish were all awesome and Anarchy Reigns, Metal Gear Rising and The Wonderful 101 all look fantastic, not all that shocking considering the pedigree of their top designers too…yeah I don’t agree with Valve but hell loads of people claim they’re gods so y’know, not a shock

      • http://twitter.com/matthewjames84 Matt G

        Mojang definitely doesn’t deserve to be no. 2

        One game does not a studio make

    • http://www.facebook.com/sturm.davenport Sturm Davenport

      completely agree. half life and GTA are the most overrated video game series ever!!!

    • gondola

      Valve are the messiah to PC fanboys and they account for a large portion of game “journalism” consumption, so it’s not surprising they get pandered to quite a bit (you could make the same case for Mojang at #2 – an even bigger joke).

      Maybe it’s because I’m not American, but I’ve never understood why a FPS series (one that stopped mid-series, no less) about a silent protagonist killing aliens from another dimension would be treated as anything other than the generic B-movie turned game that it is.

      • Robert Pacino

        half-life2 is a good game, n the episodes, but yeah take it easy my dude, this list is a goddamn joke really, i kno games n companys but some of these namers arent even recognizable, and i hope this isnt an alltime list lmfao!!

    • Zenamez

      “Valve at #1? Really?! Half Life is so far over rated its not even funny.”

      It’s not as over-rated as CoD is so we have that. Also to boot, they didn’t specify “Half life” being the game EDGE chose to reward VALVe with the #1 spot with. It could have been Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike or Portal for all we know.

    • pezus

      A crash course in Valve games:
      Half-Life
      Half-Life 2
      CS
      L4D1 and 2
      Team Fortress 2
      Portal 1 and 2

      They’re all really acclaimed and popular.

      • Robert Pacino

        crash bandicoot, jak and daxter 1,2,3 uncharted 1,2,3, lets be serious, L4D isnt even that good, portal is fun, wtf is CS? half-life? umm its okay,

        • pezus

          Wtf is CS? One of the most popular multiplayer FPS for years on PC. Keep in mind that I’m just listing many of the great games they’ve made. You can disagree all you want, but that doesn’t make the games any less acclaimed.

          Why are you listing ND games? They are in the top 5. I agree with that. Great devs.

  • Anonymous

    Edge writers can go and fuck themselves, just look at that awful list. Sony Santa Monica should at least be in the top 5, they are my #1 personally. The God of War series is more acclaimed than the Uncharted series so they’re easily Sony’s best developer.

    • Navs

      Possibly, but don’t forget Naughty Dog has also created Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot. I can’t believe Platinum Games is in the top 5, especially given the disaster that is their most recent game, Anarchy. Not to mention their PS3 version of Bayonetta was extremely buggy. And where are Insomniac and Sucker Punch?

      • http://twitter.com/matthewjames84 Matt G

        Platinum is an EASY top 5.

        Plus they didn’t port Bayonetta to PS3. That was Sega. The Xbox360 version is immaculate.

        • ALpacinoCasino

          immaculate? are you gay?

          • Navaret

            Are you?

      • Navaret

        Then play the X360 of Bayonetta…it’s the superior version.

    • http://twitter.com/matthewjames84 Matt G

      On what planet is God of War more acclaimed than Uncharted?

      Uncharted 2 is often mentioned as one of the greatest games of all time, and possibly the greatest 7th gen console game.

    • ggsd

      I personally do not agree with this list, I’d put Rockstar North at the top. They continue to support games that are years old and play with community non-stop. Free DLC, reliable ports, and great games. That defines a good developer.

    • Alcasino

      yea? you aint fuckin lying neither

  • http://twitter.com/srslygtfo Mr. X

    Why is Ninja Theory on the list? The one decent game they made comes out next week.

    • http://www.facebook.com/adam.hurd2 Adam Hurd

      Enslaved was out a while ago, you seem to be confused what year it is

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jj-Barrington/22605751 J.j. Barrington

        Enslaved was barely decent. He’s most likely talking about Heavenly Sword.

        • Pop Tarts

          He’s talking about DMC, but I enjoyed Heavenly Sword, and Enslaved was meh for 15 bucks.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jj-Barrington/22605751 J.j. Barrington

            That doesn’t make things better. I’d rather he were talking about Heavenly Sword.

  • http://twitter.com/scannerbarkly scannerbarkly

    This list is a joke. Best developers of all time? This list honestly makes me question how long anyone who was involved in making it has actually been playing games. Bitmap Brothers, Bullfrog….both belong on a best of all time list. Edge are going for the early Aprils Fools.

  • http://paranoimia.co.uk Paranoimia

    “EDGE has been known to reward innovation, creativity”

    So why is Nintendo anywhere near that list? They’ve basically been recycling the same 4 or 5 games for the last 30 years.

    • Greg

      If you take that narrow of a view on it. Of course they would because their games are fucking good, people buy them because of it.

      Don’t forget Pikmin Earthbound and F-Zero etc. because we definitely are making too many of those games. *sarcasm*

  • kokaine

    This list isn’t a joke. Fucking Gamechup is a joke for failing to realise that this list isn’t the “greatest of all time”, but an ANNUAL LIST of the top 50 working today.

    http://www.edge-online.com/news/were-picking-the-50-best-game-developers-in-the-world-which-would-you-choose/

    • Eccentricone

      Thanks, edited.

  • James

    If Mojang is #2, Rovio might as well be #1. Ridiculous.

  • http://twitter.com/matthewjames84 Matt G

    Okay, the inclusion of some of the names on this list without including Retro Studios is an absolute joke.

  • mark

    RARE! Where’s RARE?!!!1! do i need to name all the classics that they made for Nintendo?!

    • Greg

      Until they fell of their pedestal and died….

  • le monkey trouble

    Gearbox over Croteam? Ninja Theory at all?

    this list is BS, the only things I agree with is Clover/Platinum Games at number 4 everything else is bullshit

  • Anonymous

    Jagex at 19, but no CD Projekt RED?
    Jagex is nothing more than Runescape, and their ‘cover feature’ for Transformers looked awful.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jj-Barrington/22605751 J.j. Barrington

    Yeah… this list fails on virtually EVERY level.

  • Kellso

    Treyarch…..not there. Like seriously they put Jagex on the list, not that i don’t like runescape but theres a thousand better games out there. Cough* Call of Duty Cough* Cough*

  • http://www.facebook.com/SanAndreasX Andrew Wilson

    This list is bullshit. There’s a lot of great studios with a LONG history of good games missing and a lot of one-hit wonders from recent times on this list with one good game and a bunch of mediocre ones to their credit.This is a flavor-of-the-month list.

  • http://twitter.com/zeroskie zeroskie

    What the bullshit? CDProjekt isn’t on the list at all. But halfbrick and 343 are?

  • http://www.facebook.com/logan.tawse Logan Tawse

    Look, I know Minecraft is a huge phenomenon and has sold millions, but I don’t think that warrants them as being the second best developer ever. That’s way too high. They’ve made ONE game, and while it was huge, I don’t think that’s enough. Especially when they just edge out Nintendo, who have done way more for the gaming industry with their games. Personally, I would have put Nintendo at #1, but I can understand Valve being chosen.

  • http://www.facebook.com/samer.mahran Samer Mahran

    in what world is blizzard number 17 and valve number one ,definetly not the gaming world, i agree with platinum games and from software being so high platinum are in my top 3 , blizzard is number one for me i am a console gamer and used to be a pc gamer as well nothing stix like blizzards games !! blizzard, kojima pro, plat for me

  • hesoyamdonMonster

    Platinum Games look good, but they don’t have the art or emotion in their game. they achieve technical aspects, like 60fps for their games and good graphic, in old console , but i have never felt deepness in their characters. vanquish is good example, all the reviewers told its good game, when i played it, i got bored in less than 20 min. the game is unnecessary difficult, with horrible check point, in fact i couldn’t cross the first boss. the worst part was, characters is really boring, i just don’t want to play the game anymore.

  • hesoyamdonMonster

    wow, this list is really bad, are EDGE saying Polyphony Digital andGuerrilla Games are not good enough. Ninja theory has made for of the worst in recent memory.

  • AlCasino

    where the fuck is rocksteady? arkham city is better than any platinum games game, and minecraft……???????????

  • AlCasino

    wait nvm LMAO this is n4g….this doesnt matter anywhere in the world

  • bonezai

    No. 1 Naughty Dog

  • http://twitter.com/Ryuzito RyuRanX

    A list of the best game developers of all time without Origin Systems, The Looking Glass Studios, Black Isle and Bullfrog Productions?

    LOL at EDGE’s youngsters. who don’t know jack shit about gaming history.

  • john dorien

    “create a game that spawned off numerous clones”
    minecraft itself is a clone!

    • nope

      please explain how minecraft is a clone?

  • gamer_twins

    what the fuck?? DICE is better than KOJIMA PRODUCTION are you fucking kidding me???? my list of top 5
    1.Rockstar Games
    2.Kojima Production
    3.Naughtydog
    4.Rare(for DKC)
    5.Retro Studios (for Metroid Prime)

    Lol Mojang 2nd place with a copied idea actually Minecraft isn’t a original idea and only with that game they are in the 2nd place?? WTF

  • CliffLee

    I don’t agree with some studios, but without CD Project RED?!… without them i don’t agree at all… (sorry my eng.)

  • http://twitter.com/SuchSimplicity Gabe

    Irrational Games, BioWare, CCP, Telltale Games, id Software, and Quantic Dream should all be higher on that list. And why the fuck is 343 Industries on there? Sure, Halo 4 is great, I love it, but that’s all they’ve ever done, other than helping with Reach and CE: Anniversary. This list is awful.

  • http://twitter.com/SandyLewis90 Sandy Lewis

    I’ll agree to a certain extent on *some* their picks but I’d think if you put these developers against some of the greats of all time, they’d fall well short. That does however post the question of whether new programmers and developers should be seen as better of all time than some of the original programmers. http://www.ranker.com/list/most-influential-game-programmers-of-all-time/ready-to-startup gets into that a little bit but it’s something that has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s almost a chicken and egg thing. The original developers made simple games, but the newer developers built on that to make new, awesome games. I’m torn between who to put higher.

  • Navaret

    Platinum Games+Bayonetta=automatic win!

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