without these developers the video game
industry wouldn’t be what it is today
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 legendary video game development
studios for this list we’re not taking a
look at game publishers but developers
that create games these development
Studios pioneered amazing titles start
at iconic franchises or whole new genres
though they aren’t necessarily as active
today
number 10 Sega am-2
back in its glorious heyday Senko was a
major player in the video game industry
this is largely thanks to Sega am-2 a
division of the company led by the great
Yu Suzuki delivering several classic
arcade and console titles
I am too blew the socks off gamers with
1985’s hang on the first arcade game to
utilize 16-bit graphics however it
wasn’t until the mid 90s early 3d era
that made a m2 a household name thanks
to its virtue a series of arcade games
from Virtua racing to Virtua Fighter to
Virtua cop however their most memorable
title would be an arcade mainstay for
more than two decades with Daytona USA
number nine Capcom in addition to
publishing Capcom has also developed
some of the most enduring video game
franchises ever Street Fighter and
especially its follow up helped elevate
the fighting genre to another level of
popularity
although Megaman wasn’t a huge hit upon
release
it’s slick platforming and pioneering
stage select option eventually caught
the attention of many amounting to
numerous sequels the studio has also
left its mark on the survival horror
genre with the Resident Evil series
which would go on to inspire Devil May
Cry and some of their key franchises
arguably peaked a long time ago but
regardless that reputation will always
have fans coming back for more number 8
LucasArts
it should come as a surprise that
LucasArts developed plenty of Star Wars
games including x-wing and dark forces
some of their most beloved titles
however were point-and-click adventures
like Sam and Max hit the road and Grim
Fandango held on not to worry I’m not
going anywhere these games not only won
people over with their inventive puzzles
but offbeat comedy as well The Secret of
Monkey Island in particular demonstrated
that games could be consistently
hilarious putting an emphasis on clever
writing and lovable characters feel so
lucky that you’ve happened to capture my
shape than murder me and everyone on
board after Disney acquired Lucasfilm
LucasArts sadly ceased developing games
oh well at least many of the company’s
chief developers have gone on to other
great projects Plus maybe guy brush
Threepwood could team up with Jack
Sparrow someday hey man it could happen
what we ain’t what I want to be a pirate
number 7 Westwood Studios Westwood
Studios will forever be remembered as
the developer that launched realtime
strategy games into the mainstream they
laid the groundwork for the genre in
dune 2 and took the world by storm with
their immensely successful commanded
conquer franchise Westwood dominated
plenty of other genres too
the eye of the beholder games stand is
two of the most engrossing Western RPGs
the 90s had to offer
through their adaptation of The Lion
King
Westwood also reminded us that video
games based on movies could actually be
pretty good too unfortunately Electronic
Arts shut down the studio in 2003 during
its incredible run though
Westwood came soft and of course
conquered Abdoun – you don’t have
warcraft you don’t have Age of Empires
it’s debatable whether Blizzard would
have ever entered the real-time strategy
genre number six
EADS software long before there was Halo
or Call of Duty there was a first-person
shooter called Wolfenstein 3d aside from
pioneering the FPS genre Wolfenstein 3d
put in software on the map due to its
gory violence and mind-blowing graphics
well mind-blowing for 1992 it software
only became more prominent with doom
which significantly upped the ante not
to mention the bloodshed and weapons
quake was yet another landmark for the
studio showcasing groundbreaking 3d
technology and online multiplayer and
now with doom 4 or just doom it’s
looking like its software’s still got a
lot of fight left in them number 5
squaresoft
when people think of JRPGs chances are
one of squaresoft’s phenomenal titles
comes to mind
over the years this game company gave us
some of the best characters and stories
in the history of video games best known
for the never ending and ironically
named Final Fantasy franchise square
also developed several standalone
masterpieces including The Secret of
Mana and Super Mario RPG Chrono Trigger
in particular might just be the greatest
JRPG of all time
entering the 21st century square would
continue to take on bold projects such
as the fan-favorite
Kingdom Hearts even those where merged
with Enix and officially became Square
Enix in 2003 they’re still alight in
there that’ll never go out
number four Konami I’m alone there now
in our special place believe it or not
Konami actually started as a jukebox
business upon experimenting with arcade
games however the company found its true
calling with a little game called
Frogger from there
they proved to be one of the most
versatile game studios around from beat
em ups like turtles in time to shooters
like contra to RPGs like zuikou den to
music games like Dance Dance Revolution
Konami has mastered virtually every
genre they’ve also made one hit
franchise after another including
Castlevania Silent Hill and Metal Gear
Solid with all that said it’s rather sad
that the company has made some somewhat
self destructive decisions over the last
few years man what happened to you guys
mr. Kojima had every intention of being
with us tonight but unfortunately he was
informed by a lawyer representing Konami
just recently that he would not be
allowed to travel to tonight’s awards
ceremony to accept any awards
number three rare
rare achieved early success on the NES
with games like Battletoads but truly
piqued upon becoming a second-party
developer for nintendo between the
fourth and fifth eras of video game
consoles everything rare touched turn to
Gold Conker’s Bad Fur Day banjo kazooie
and the Donkey Kong Country trilogy
would significantly influence the
platforming genre for generations to
come they additionally delivered one of
the defining multiplayer games with
Goldeneye double-oh-seven
as well as its spiritual successor a
perfect dark while it looked like Rare
would never run out of gas everything
seemed to go downhill when Microsoft
acquired the company oh wow you’re
calling euler climb and go on and do the
xbox live loser yes yeah rares glory
days might well be behind them but we
can still revisit some of their timeless
games on the rare replay collection
number two valve corporation just tell
me just say yes okay what you’re doing
there is jumping you just you just
jumped it’s hard to think of a video
game developer that’s taken more chances
with first person shooters than the
valve corporation this developer
reinvigorated the genre with their debut
game half-life at a time when most FPS
games were all about shooting first and
asking questions later this 1998 title
immersed players in an atmospheric
environment with intelligent AI and
involving story and unique weapons valve
would maintain everything that made
half-life extraordinary in its 2004
sequel along with other ambitious titles
like portal and Team Fortress 2
60 second if you’ve never had the
pleasure of playing a valve game go and
buy a copy of the orange box immediately
just don’t ask when half-life 3 is
coming out before we get to our top pick
here a few honorable mentions
number one Nintendo Entertainment
analysis and development don’t get too
cocky
da Vinci how you handle on uShip
Nintendo Eid is the only company to make
our top 10 lists for both modern and
legendary video game development studios
and it’s easy to see why during a dark
era when games seem to be a passing fad
they breathed new life into the medium
with immortal titles like Super Mario
Brothers The Legend of Zelda and too
many others to list here in the decades
to come Nintendo EAD would continue to
break new grounds in terms of graphics
controls and gameplay this division
recently became part of Nintendo
Entertainment planning and development
while epd has big shoes to fill
we’re hopeful that they’ll manage to
keep Nintendo relevant in the
increasingly competitive video game
market
do you agree with our list what’s your
favorite legendary video game
development studio excellent snake age
hasn’t slowed you down one bit for more
entertaining top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
industry wouldn’t be what it is today
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 legendary video game development
studios for this list we’re not taking a
look at game publishers but developers
that create games these development
Studios pioneered amazing titles start
at iconic franchises or whole new genres
though they aren’t necessarily as active
today
number 10 Sega am-2
back in its glorious heyday Senko was a
major player in the video game industry
this is largely thanks to Sega am-2 a
division of the company led by the great
Yu Suzuki delivering several classic
arcade and console titles
I am too blew the socks off gamers with
1985’s hang on the first arcade game to
utilize 16-bit graphics however it
wasn’t until the mid 90s early 3d era
that made a m2 a household name thanks
to its virtue a series of arcade games
from Virtua racing to Virtua Fighter to
Virtua cop however their most memorable
title would be an arcade mainstay for
more than two decades with Daytona USA
number nine Capcom in addition to
publishing Capcom has also developed
some of the most enduring video game
franchises ever Street Fighter and
especially its follow up helped elevate
the fighting genre to another level of
popularity
although Megaman wasn’t a huge hit upon
release
it’s slick platforming and pioneering
stage select option eventually caught
the attention of many amounting to
numerous sequels the studio has also
left its mark on the survival horror
genre with the Resident Evil series
which would go on to inspire Devil May
Cry and some of their key franchises
arguably peaked a long time ago but
regardless that reputation will always
have fans coming back for more number 8
LucasArts
it should come as a surprise that
LucasArts developed plenty of Star Wars
games including x-wing and dark forces
some of their most beloved titles
however were point-and-click adventures
like Sam and Max hit the road and Grim
Fandango held on not to worry I’m not
going anywhere these games not only won
people over with their inventive puzzles
but offbeat comedy as well The Secret of
Monkey Island in particular demonstrated
that games could be consistently
hilarious putting an emphasis on clever
writing and lovable characters feel so
lucky that you’ve happened to capture my
shape than murder me and everyone on
board after Disney acquired Lucasfilm
LucasArts sadly ceased developing games
oh well at least many of the company’s
chief developers have gone on to other
great projects Plus maybe guy brush
Threepwood could team up with Jack
Sparrow someday hey man it could happen
what we ain’t what I want to be a pirate
number 7 Westwood Studios Westwood
Studios will forever be remembered as
the developer that launched realtime
strategy games into the mainstream they
laid the groundwork for the genre in
dune 2 and took the world by storm with
their immensely successful commanded
conquer franchise Westwood dominated
plenty of other genres too
the eye of the beholder games stand is
two of the most engrossing Western RPGs
the 90s had to offer
through their adaptation of The Lion
King
Westwood also reminded us that video
games based on movies could actually be
pretty good too unfortunately Electronic
Arts shut down the studio in 2003 during
its incredible run though
Westwood came soft and of course
conquered Abdoun – you don’t have
warcraft you don’t have Age of Empires
it’s debatable whether Blizzard would
have ever entered the real-time strategy
genre number six
EADS software long before there was Halo
or Call of Duty there was a first-person
shooter called Wolfenstein 3d aside from
pioneering the FPS genre Wolfenstein 3d
put in software on the map due to its
gory violence and mind-blowing graphics
well mind-blowing for 1992 it software
only became more prominent with doom
which significantly upped the ante not
to mention the bloodshed and weapons
quake was yet another landmark for the
studio showcasing groundbreaking 3d
technology and online multiplayer and
now with doom 4 or just doom it’s
looking like its software’s still got a
lot of fight left in them number 5
squaresoft
when people think of JRPGs chances are
one of squaresoft’s phenomenal titles
comes to mind
over the years this game company gave us
some of the best characters and stories
in the history of video games best known
for the never ending and ironically
named Final Fantasy franchise square
also developed several standalone
masterpieces including The Secret of
Mana and Super Mario RPG Chrono Trigger
in particular might just be the greatest
JRPG of all time
entering the 21st century square would
continue to take on bold projects such
as the fan-favorite
Kingdom Hearts even those where merged
with Enix and officially became Square
Enix in 2003 they’re still alight in
there that’ll never go out
number four Konami I’m alone there now
in our special place believe it or not
Konami actually started as a jukebox
business upon experimenting with arcade
games however the company found its true
calling with a little game called
Frogger from there
they proved to be one of the most
versatile game studios around from beat
em ups like turtles in time to shooters
like contra to RPGs like zuikou den to
music games like Dance Dance Revolution
Konami has mastered virtually every
genre they’ve also made one hit
franchise after another including
Castlevania Silent Hill and Metal Gear
Solid with all that said it’s rather sad
that the company has made some somewhat
self destructive decisions over the last
few years man what happened to you guys
mr. Kojima had every intention of being
with us tonight but unfortunately he was
informed by a lawyer representing Konami
just recently that he would not be
allowed to travel to tonight’s awards
ceremony to accept any awards
number three rare
rare achieved early success on the NES
with games like Battletoads but truly
piqued upon becoming a second-party
developer for nintendo between the
fourth and fifth eras of video game
consoles everything rare touched turn to
Gold Conker’s Bad Fur Day banjo kazooie
and the Donkey Kong Country trilogy
would significantly influence the
platforming genre for generations to
come they additionally delivered one of
the defining multiplayer games with
Goldeneye double-oh-seven
as well as its spiritual successor a
perfect dark while it looked like Rare
would never run out of gas everything
seemed to go downhill when Microsoft
acquired the company oh wow you’re
calling euler climb and go on and do the
xbox live loser yes yeah rares glory
days might well be behind them but we
can still revisit some of their timeless
games on the rare replay collection
number two valve corporation just tell
me just say yes okay what you’re doing
there is jumping you just you just
jumped it’s hard to think of a video
game developer that’s taken more chances
with first person shooters than the
valve corporation this developer
reinvigorated the genre with their debut
game half-life at a time when most FPS
games were all about shooting first and
asking questions later this 1998 title
immersed players in an atmospheric
environment with intelligent AI and
involving story and unique weapons valve
would maintain everything that made
half-life extraordinary in its 2004
sequel along with other ambitious titles
like portal and Team Fortress 2
60 second if you’ve never had the
pleasure of playing a valve game go and
buy a copy of the orange box immediately
just don’t ask when half-life 3 is
coming out before we get to our top pick
here a few honorable mentions
number one Nintendo Entertainment
analysis and development don’t get too
cocky
da Vinci how you handle on uShip
Nintendo Eid is the only company to make
our top 10 lists for both modern and
legendary video game development studios
and it’s easy to see why during a dark
era when games seem to be a passing fad
they breathed new life into the medium
with immortal titles like Super Mario
Brothers The Legend of Zelda and too
many others to list here in the decades
to come Nintendo EAD would continue to
break new grounds in terms of graphics
controls and gameplay this division
recently became part of Nintendo
Entertainment planning and development
while epd has big shoes to fill
we’re hopeful that they’ll manage to
keep Nintendo relevant in the
increasingly competitive video game
market
do you agree with our list what’s your
favorite legendary video game
development studio excellent snake age
hasn’t slowed you down one bit for more
entertaining top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
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