The best games developing company ever?

[MJN SEIFER]

Out of curiousity, who would you say is the best videogames developing company to ever existed? Remember it's games developing I'm asking about, not a company that only made systems.

Don't say "Square" just because this an FF site...

[Slothy]

(so while Sega and Nintendo do count, Sony and Micrsoft do not).

Sony and Microsoft both own a number of in house development teams and companies, hence both count as well.

Anyway, I can't answer anything but Valve really. They never fail to wow me. Every game they've made is awesome.

[MJN SEIFER]

(so while Sega and Nintendo do count, Sony and Micrsoft do not).

Sony and Microsoft both own a number of in house development teams and companies, hence both count as well.


I'll edt it - thanks.

[Madame Adequate]

U.S. Gold :doublecolbert:

I'd say the most consistently good - as in their games are unarguably of stellar quality regardless of whether one actually likes them or not - devs are Valve and Blizzard.

[VeloZer0]

Blizzard for me. Who needs more than three IPs when each of them are mega blockbusters? The only thing I have played from Valve is Portal, but I don't think I have ever heard anything negative about them.

[Jings]

BioWare for me: Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, KOTOR, Dragon Age, Mass Effect 1 & 2. All top quality games.

[vinnie's mini's]

That is such a hard question! @.@ Hmmm, well I don't know about 'best' but one of my favorites is Rare - Or Rareware as its sometimes called.

As a child I was a fan of lots of their products; Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie, etc. Of course this was all before 2002 - where they were acquired by Microsoft - so I've only played their older stuff.

[NeoCracker]

Thats really hard, though I think I'll go with Atlus. They produced my favorite PS1 game, Brigandine, for starters. They are also responsible for the Persona games, and P3 and 4 are a couple of the best RPG's I've ever played, and their Devil Survivor one of the best SRPG's, and one of my favorite DS games.

[Hythloday]

I instantly go back to the companies that got me into gaming which would be Capcom and Nintendo, but honestly I hate both of them now. Megaman and Pokemon were great, but I couldn't play one now-a-days. But uhhhm,

Bungie. Gonna go ahead and bite the bullet to get flamed for that one. Yeah. I'm not even gonna pretend it's for Marathon or Oni, it's straight-up all Halo 2 and 3, why? The competitive game play (hence I omitted Halo 1 as it wasn't as competitive). I don't honestly care if the graphics are wretched (they were/still are), it wasn't as balanced as it could be (MLG got it right though), or if they were/all sub-par games they have the one thing that counts in a competitive gaming environment:

People playing it.

Which is why I do. In a room full of people, you cannot swing a cat without hitting someone who plays Halo. Having the ability to wreck said person (maybe after hitting them with a cat?) tickles my fancy. Ok, so why does me and other idiots who can't establish a :bou::bou::bou::bou:ty FPS from a good one make the company? Because I owe years of gaming to them. I could not have played a single player game like I have Halo.

If we take my true love away, and you were to ask me what company simply makes the highest quality games, hands down Epic. They definitely have the best mixture of game play, graphics, and creativity. They always fall short on some minor important details like the online play is a bit off and I can't even describe why.

[Vyk]

BioWare for me: Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, KOTOR, Dragon Age, Mass Effect 1 & 2. All top quality games.

+ Jade Empire

Pretty much same answer here. I can't think of a company with a better track record in my tastes

[Elite Lord Sigma]

In addition to having excellent games, Valve wins out thanks to their excellent community support. Almost no developer can beat them when it comes to that. Close runner-ups are Bethesda, Epic, and Bioware.

[Suikojowy]

Squaresoft.

Not just saying it because we're on a Final Fantasy board, it's just that they developed a lot of my favourite games of all time. Konami and Capcom are close seconds

[black orb]

>>> Konami is probably the best..:luca:

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm with NeoCracker, its Atlus if not for their in-house game developers (Megami Tensei Franchise) its also just the fact they have picked up the mantle of Working Design and tend to release games that never would have made it out of Japan if not for them.

Still, its mostly for the MegaTen titles, which still tend to blow me away and I have yet to meet an entry I dislike or felt was "meh". My secondary choices are Capcom whom despite making tons of mistakes still seems to find ways to redeem themselves every few years and make me fall in love with them, its like an abusive relationship. I also love Konami even if they are whoring out MGS. Nippon Ichi is also up there as well as Grasshopper Studios of which both love to appeal to the jaded gamer by lampooning video game cliches.

Sucker Punch is also up there, though I haven't played InFamous yet.

[qwertysaur]

Atlus is love

[Dreddz]

Sega obviously. Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Sonic, Shenmue, Yakuza and a heap of other titles. They may be a little on and off now but if you look at their history they have not only made quality titles but they have made an insane amount of them too. Guess you would have to be a Sega kid to really understand.

[blackmage_nuke]

As much as I love Square which has made my favourite games Ive never played a Konami game i didnt like.

[Meat Puppet]

Valve wins out thanks to their excellent community support.
cool joke

[Madame Adequate]

Sega obviously. Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Sonic, Shenmue, Yakuza and a heap of other titles. They may be a little on and off now but if you look at their history they have not only made quality titles but they have made an insane amount of them too. Guess you would have to be a Sega kid to really understand.

Actually yeah I have to agree with this, they're not as consistently good as some but they have made some absolutely amazing games in their time.

[Rostum]

I could name a few I like(d), but I'll keep it short.

Square-Enix, Nintendo, BioWare, Valve, Bluetongue, Halfbrick, Blizzard, Cyan Worlds, Mistwalker and Ubisoft Montreal to name a few.

[Slothy]

Valve wins out thanks to their excellent community support.
cool joke

What joke?

[Rase]

I'll just be boring and say Nintendo. All I need in life are Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Metroid, F-Zero, Kirby...

Valve's right behind. While some of their games just aren't for me, the ones that are I count among the best I've played, and the ones that aren't I can still recognize as quality stuff.

[Mo-Nercy]

I don't think a single year has gone by in my gaming history where I haven't purchased a Namco game. Add in all the money I've spent at the arcades playing Tekken 5, 6 and Soul Calibur 2 and there's no doubt that they're the developer I support the most.

But that's just me. Best of all time? Probably Nintendo, Blizzard or Valve.

[Nominus Experse]

egwdsfasd

[Rocket Edge]

Squaresoft.

Not just saying it because we're on a Final Fantasy board, it's just that they developed a lot of my favourite games of all time.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Square-Enix: Final Fantasy series and Kingdom Hearts.
Ubisoft Montreal: Assassin's Creed series and Prince of Persia (2008)
Bioware: Dragon Age (<3); I respect them for ME games too but I just couldn't get into ME itself
Nintendo: The Legend of Zelda series, Pokemon (Game Freak, but same diff, right?) and Mario series

[Madame Adequate]

Psygnosis

But now it's gone....

They were pretty fucking sweet too.

As were Bullfrog, come to think of it. There is a reason Molyneux got an OBE.

[Meat Puppet]

EA is comparable to The Blob.

[Aydin]

I lost faith in SquareEnix so... I'll have to go with Atlus as they have developed my two favorite games of all time, Persona 3 and 4!!!

[Laddy]

BioWare makes the most consistently great games, so Bioware.

[Alucard von Elru]

Kojima Productions for me. The Metal Gear Solid series has been an absolutely HUGE part of my gaming life, and Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is one of the craziest and coolest games I've ever played. Their games rarely disappoint me, and I feel that their games are more interesting and developed at a higher level than almost any other studio's. I eagerly await whatever it is Kojima and co. do next! :)

--Honorable Mentions:

No studio has a "spotless" track record for me (not even my favorite), but Squaresoft (NOT Square Enix) ranks very high for me. I adore Final Fantasy X, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, and Kingdom Hearts (the original).

Sony gets a lot of flack, and they deserve a lot of it for their often-crap marketing and ridiculous management, but their development studios are world-class. Naughty Dog has always been a very generic group in my eyes, until they rocked my face off last year with Uncharted 2. Sony Santa Monica's God of War series is, well, the best hack-and-slash action/adventure series ever made. Team Ico is, well, okay, "spotless" so far. :P Sucker Punch's InFamous doesn't do anything for me, but Sly Cooper is one of the best platforming series out there, especially Sly 2: Band of Thieves. One of the best platformers of all time! So yeah, Sony may not be as consistent as a Blizzard, but at their best their games are damn near peerless and as a company their stable offers a lot of variety.

Last up, Nintendo. Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Smash Bros., Pikmin, Metroid, etc. Not every game in those series' is good, but the ones that are tend to be about as close to perfect as games get.

[Greatermaximus]

At what point do we stop calling this one 'the best.'

At any moment you point out can signify when the device reaches state of the art status.

[Bolivar]

shouldn't have to be a 'best'. too tough to pick one. And I guess we don't know if we're discussing single development teams or companies that house multiple developers.

For me, they'd still have to be making games I enjoy.

Nominees:
Kojima Pro - hands down just some of the greatest games ever made from every aspect/viewpoint of game design. Peace Walker was phenomenal and I still have tons to do, including story.
Square - they made some of the best games of all time and still make games I enjoy, I'm enjoying XIII right now.
Sega - Shining Force, Sonic, Streets of Rage back in the day, Valkyria Chronicles, and Platinum Games stuff today. I love SEGA.
Valve - I hate the trendy hipster-gamers who love them (off these forums of course) but I simply cannot front, if for the mere fact of how many hours I have sunk into Counter-Strike 1.6 alone. Add up the classic gold collection and games I like but haven't delved into today, and you can't beat Valve.
Sony - they're simply leading in so many areas right now, pioneering "true"/traditional games and where they can go, such a diverse umbrella of studios from America, Europe, and Japan.

Right now I will give it to Kojima simply because of how great Peace Walker is today. It's my favorite game right now at this moment. And unlike Wolf Kanno, I would say the opposite is true - they've stopped whoring out MGS with Ac!d, Digital Graphic novels, and random game boy games, and instead are making incredible entries that take the core canon of the series in new directions. Only time will tell if MGS: Rising is any good or if MGS 3DS is worth a remake of such a masterpiece, but they have my full attention at the moment.

[Shiny]

Old School - Sega, LucasArts, Squaresoft, Nintendo, Capcom, Namco, Konami, and Sony Computer Entertainment

New School - Konami, Rockstar, Bioware, Ubi Soft, and Square Enix

[Levian]

Outside the obvious ones like Square, Konami, Capcom and Nintendo, I enjoy most games from Level 5.

[Rad Bromance]

Infinity Ward

[Meat Puppet]

Ayo Wisdom Tree in the house bitches

[Clo]

Right now I am definitely thinking BioWare.

Ahh, they're Canadian!

[Skyblade]

Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'll toss in Camelot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_Software_Planning).

They may not have the largest list of games, but that list is really, really impressive. Sure, half of it is sports games (specifically, the Mario sports games, which everyone hates), but the other half are all awesome, top-notch RPGs. We're talking the entire Shining Force series, its predecessors and spinoffs included. And of course, the other RPGs they've made, the awesome and soon-to-be more awesome still Golden Sun series.

It's just a shame these guys haven't made more RPGs.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well they have been trying to talk to Capcom into letting them make BoFVI. :D

[NeoCracker]

Well they have been trying to talk to Capcom into letting them make BoFVI. :D

So sad that they skipped V. :p

But if they get the rights I'd be in love with them.

And not all Mario sports games are bad, Strikers is surprisingly addicting.

[Bolivar]

Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'll toss in Camelot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_Software_Planning).

They may not have the largest list of games, but that list is really, really impressive. Sure, half of it is sports game (specifically, the Mario sports games, which everyone hates), but the other half are all awesome, top-notch RPGs. We're talking the entire Shining Force series, its predecessors and spinoffs included. And of course, the other RPGs they've made, the awesome and soon-to-be more awesome still Golden Sun series.

It's just a shame these guys haven't made more RPGs.

well I kinda incorporated their earlier stuff into SEGA because so many of the posts here seem to bring up larger publishing groups instead of individual developers.

[Shadowdust]

I've never played a Bioware game I didn't like. So my vote goes for Bioware. Bethseda gets an honorable mention thanks to TES.

[Laddy]

I guess I wan't the only one who found Dragon Age disappointing.

I also enjoy Rare. Rare was amazing.

[Markus. D]

Valve or Atlus... ooh! or Nippon Ichi.

[Jiro]

By the time I get to the bottom of this thread, ready to post, my list is massive thanks to all the ones I've been reminded of. Level 5, Square (Enix), Bioware and Bethesda are excellent. But there are others, like Valve, Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Camelot and the usual Capcom, Konami etc etc that I just haven't played enough games from to rate them correctly.

[Loony BoB]

Going by current/recent games? Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios.

That covers far too much for other developers to really compete with as far as I'm concerned. But the standout ones are, going from a list I found on Wikipedia: Ape Escape, Ico, Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, God of War, MediEvil, Wipeout, MotorStorm, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Twisted Metal and more.

However, if you count each of those subsidiaries seperately then I think I'd struggle to come up with anything. Most developers these days don't really release a large variety of games, so with any one developer you're likely to end up with one standout style of gaming that they cover and not much else. I find it hard to compare them because of that. If you're including past stuff, though, SEGA would be the one. Oh, going by today's games, it's possible that Nintendo might cover a large number of gaming styles but I've not played many of their games recently so I couldn't really comment on how good they are now.

[xXsarahXx]

Im gonna go with Capcom :D
They have so many great games out and they really try to listen to what their fans want.

[Quindiana Jones]

I'd love to say Valve (have they made a duff game yet?), but I can't due to the unreliable releasing of games. You can depend on their games to be awesome, but you can't depend on them to release them in a good way. xD

Bungie have made good games (okay, I've only played Halos. But apparently Marathon was cool?). Their customer support is pants, although they do throw a tonne of stuff at their consumers to make sure nobody complains about the :bou::bou::bou::bou:ty support. So it balances out.

Sony gave me SotC. I don't care about anything else they've made, good or bad. SotC, baby. SotC.

Squaresoft gave me FF9; the only game I have ever played literal dozens of times and 100%ed about half of those. Even Square are alright. Though I'd definitely say the magic is gone, the game are still good enough.

If Bethesda would get off their asses and gimme ESV, then I'd create my own site called "PeniiOnES.com" and have it with only one forum; the suck Bethesda cock forum. But even without that inevitably magnificent game, no one can deny that their more modern games like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 are amazing. Then again, Brink. So...yeah, swings and roundabouts.

I couldn't really pick a developer. They've all got naff games and good games, and it's not just the games that count anyway. I prefer to judge a game by the game itself, and just leave the developers alone. xD