Develop 100 Names The World’s Best Game Developers: Who Is #1?

The editorial team behind Develop Magazine have just announced their list of the world’s 100 best video game developers. The list was formulated using Metacritic’s review score data for games released in 2010, regardless of platform or whether the games were retail or digital releases.

The Develop 100 provides interesting reading, as it showcases the entire spectrum of development today across 19 countries, from vast international studios to tiny one-person bedroom operations. Because it’s determined by Metacritic score, which is dependent only on game quality, the list contains many surprising entries from developers you might not necessarily have heard of. Similarly, a large proportion of the top 100 are developers of iPhone and iPad games, which suggests that the creativity afforded to developers by smartphone formats is resulting in some excellent titles.

The entire list can be found in glorious full-colour PDF form over at the Devlop 100 site, but if you’re after a taster, the Top 10 are as follows:

1 Nintendo EAD Tokyo (Japan)
2 2D Boy (USA)
3 ZeptoLab (Russia)
4 SCE Santa Monica (USA)
5 Blizzard Entertainment (USA)
6 Media Vision (Japan)
7 1337 Game Design (Sweden)
8 Bungie Software (USA)
9 Rockstar Leeds (UK)
10 TheCodingMonkeys (Germany)

Develop’s editor-in-chief Michael French praised Metacritic’s contribution and commented on the diversity within the list:

“Metacritic’s input has helped us put together a list of not only the 100 best developers of recent times, but the 100 best games too. […] The potent mix of traditional boxed console and PC games with plenty of digital releases sold through the likes of Xbox Live Arcade and the Apple App Store shows the vibrancy of the games industry. For the first time since we’ve published the Develop 100, a huge proportion of the list are independent developers, proving that there has never been so many opportunities open to those making games.”

The Devlop 100 list is sponsored by gamecity:Hamburg.