| Revision as of 16:17, 7 October 2002 editFrecklefoot (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers45,337 edits Augmented discussions of third party and in-house development teams. Added some links.← Previous edit | Revision as of 18:59, 9 October 2002 edit undoFrecklefoot (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers45,337 editsm Added emphasis per style guide and added linkNext edit → | ||
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| Video game developers are the creators and visionaries behind each and every video game. | '''Video game developers''' are the creators and visionaries behind each and every ]. | ||
| Alongside the three key consumer markets in ], the ] and ] are thousands of games developers. From the well established and respected likes of ] and ] are many newer startups and break aways such as ]. | Alongside the three key consumer markets in ], the ] and ] are thousands of games developers. From the well established and respected likes of ] and ] are many newer startups and break aways such as ]. | ||
Revision as of 18:59, 9 October 2002
Video game developers are the creators and visionaries behind each and every video game.
Alongside the three key consumer markets in Asia, the United States and Europe are thousands of games developers. From the well established and respected likes of Nintendo and Bullfrog are many newer startups and break aways such as Lionhead.
Video game developers fall into one of two categories: third-party developers and in-house developers.
Third-party developers are usually called upon by a video game publisher to develop a title for one or more platforms. Both the publisher and the developer have a great deal of say as to the design and content of the game. In general, though, the publisher's wishes trump the developer's. It is not uncommon for a developer to have several teams working on different titles for different publishers. In general, however, third-party developers tend to be smaller and comprised of a single, closely-knit team. Third-party game development is a volatile business as small developers may be entirely dependant on money from one publisher. One cancelled game can be letal to a small developer. Because of this, many of the smaller development companies last only a few years or sometimes only a few months.
Many video game publishers also have large in-house develop teams. The size of the teams vary depending on the games, but they can number from a few to the dozens. In the case of MMOG's, they can number in the hundreds! In-house development teams tend to have greater freedom as to design and content of a game than do third-party developers. Also publishers tend to more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget and missing deadlines than of third-party developers.
Some of the more notable game development companies:
A
B
BioWare
Blizzard Entertainment
Bethesda Softworks
Bullfrog
Bungie Studios
C
D
E
Eidos Interactive
Electronic Arts
F
H
I
K
L
Llamasoft (Jeff Minter)
Lionhead
LucasArts
M
N
Namco
Neuron Entertainment
Nintendo
O
P
R
S
SCEA
SCEE
SEGA
Sierra Entertainment
SNK
T
V
W
Westwood Studios
Wangame Studios
- See also : Video game