Slashdot Mirror
Top 20 Game Publishers
Patrick Caldwell writes "Game Developer magazine recently released a list of the top 20 video game publishers. EA, Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are the first five, as could probably have been predicted." From the article: "
For the third year in a row, Electronic Arts (EA) has grabbed the top slot on the "Top 20 Publishers" chart. EA reached an annual revenue of more than $3.1 billion, continued high output and received positive average reviews for its titles. However, the company faced some serious competition from fellow publishers like Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, all of whom had very strong showings this year and rounded out the top 5 in that order."
I wonder whether these companies' HR departments are going to be slashdotted with resumes from unemployed homebrew game developers now.
All it says is bla bla bla. Here's a link to Game Developer Magazine where they just say buy me!
Screw it. It's not improtant anyway.
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Atari unfortunately slipped four places to No. 13, but is relying on key titles such as The Matrix: Path of Neo to reestablish a powerhouse brand.
bwahahahahahaa. it's almost as if atari is killing themselves on purpose.
...since the article doesn't give it to you, or link to it:
1. Electronic Arts
2. Activision
3. Microsoft Game Studios
4. Nintendo
5. Sony Computer Entertainment
6. Ubisoft
7. Konami
8. THQ
9. Sega Sammy Holdings
10. Take-Two Interactive
11. Namco
12. Vivendi Universal Games
13. Atari
14. SCi Games
15. Capcom
16. Square Enix
17. Bandai Games
18. Codemasters
19. Midway
20. LucasArts
Here's an actual news story about the list, at http://igo.ampednews.com/news/2798/ with a full list and more information from the article in the actual magazine:
For the third-straight year, Electronic Arts has taken home the top slot in Game Developer magazine's yearly list of the top-20 video game publishers.
The list, published in the magazine's October 2005 issue, reads like a veritable "who's who" of popular game companies. Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony followed EA in finishing off the top 5 -- though a number of factors, including both revenue and game quality, determined where the publishers ranked.
EA was a no-brainer. With an annual revenue of more than $3.1 billion, EA is the largest video game publisher in the world. The company released 126 games during the past year -- the most of any game publisher -- among them new titles in some of its flagship franchises, including The Sims, Madden NFL and Medal of Honor.
A number of business moves in 2004 and early 2005 helped cement the company's position atop the publisher pack.
The acquisition of Criterion Games landed one of 2004's most critically acclaimed titles, Burnout 3, in EA's hands. And the signing of exclusive contracts with the NFL and ESPN meant EA Sports' Madden NFL 06 was the only game in town with real-life NFL players, coaches and teams, as football aficionados responded by buying more copies of the football game than the year before.
Other than Criterion, EA's business connections with two other major game companies increased its slice of the development pie. It purchased 19.9 percent of Ubisoft -- which the magazine ranked at No. 6 -- and took over publishing rights of Valve Software's Half-Life 2 from Vivendi Universal Games, which ranked at No. 12.
But, the magazine said, EA faced strong competition from the other top 5, especially Activision and Microsoft.
Activision, publisher of Doom 3 and the Tony Hawk series, saw one of the biggest increases, from No. 7 to No. 2, this year as it added three new development studios: Toys for Bob, Beenox and Vicarious Visions. "Activision's policy of leaving studios more autonomous after purchasing them works just as well as EA's consolidation method," Game Developer noted.
Though it was Activision that bumped last year's No. 2., Microsoft Game Studios, down a spot, the magazine expects the company behind the Xbox and Halo to rebound. With a determined fall lineup that includes the release of the Xbox 360 and a bevy of "well-reviewed first-party games," Microsoft's switch from PC to Xbox game development has resulted in a swift ascension to the upper echelon of publishers. Expect a stronger commitment to the Japanese games market with the 360, as well, the magazine said.
Nintendo's claim of the No. 4 spot can largely be credited to the strong performance of its Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance platforms, while Sony slipped to No. 5 this year despite the critical success of games like God of War and Ratchet and Clank 3.
Take Two Interactive, which publishes Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, saw a drop to No. 10, partly due to the controversy surrounding Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' "Hot Coffee" sexual conten mod and resulting political and economic fallout. And since Take Two also publishes value-brand games developed by Global Star, its ranking has suffered because the magazine's list takes into consideration average review scores of the publishers' games. But a strong showing from Take Two's new sports game line -- 2K Sports, formerly Sega's Visual Concepts -- means that "next year is anyone's game," the magazine said.
In selecting its list, Game Developer used more than "raw revenue vales" to determine the rankings. Six criteria determined a company's placing: annual turnover, number of title releases, average review score, producer quality, reliability of milestone payments, and quality of staff pay and perks.
"This year's research reflects the continuing
... there's some shocks. Not really. I'd just be happy if any of them could put out an inovative product instead of just copying what was done last year... again... and again.
What ever happened to games like xcom, moo, spellcraft, privateer, etc? I'd kill for a game that had a fraction of that inovation today... instead of just another year of madden or yet another need for speed.
Shadus
I do not see any BSDs on that list ... as far as I am concerned, if I cannot find hunt, cribbage, rogue, and wump in /usr/games as soon as I set up a system, it is not worth bothering with.
(I kid)
Privateer was a prettied-up Elite. Xcom wasn't that different to some board games. Just because it was new to you doesn't mean it's innovative.
And what are you complaining about games nowadays for? Wario Ware Twisted, every other DS game, Killer 7, Metal Gear Acid, Donkey Konga, SingStar, Geist, EyeToy, Pikmin... You've never had it so good, and all you can do is complain. Open your eyes!
I'd be far more interested in a list of top producers/publishers, rated on the creative quality of their games, and how they treat their emplayees and customers... I can't take anything that rates EA and Atari in the top 20 too seriously.
My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
I disagree with this list on many fronts. EA is not the best publisher, just the largest/most profitable/most prolific or some combination thereof. The overall quality of EA games is going down the toilet and by the news I've read the treatment of their employees ranges somewhere between 3rd world sweat shop workers and Russian soldiers during WWI. EA is probably the biggest offender on those fronts but similar things could be said about many of those 'top publishers'. A qualitative perspective would probably leave most or all of those publishers on the board while giving respect to the ones who are actually encouraging innovation over pure profit. To those who would argue that profit is what game publishers are in the game for I say this: If you want to rate the publishers by profit margin then do it in a finance publication and not a gaming magazine. Gamers don't care about profit and while profitability is important it should be considered alongside the quality of the product if one really wants to see who's on 'top'.
I'm surprised there still are that many - I'd assume the top three would buy up all the others, thereby being able to dictate the direction the market goes - not to mention being able to dictate programmer/artist salaries; such a level of control will allow them to fire anyone not willing to work for free...
Don't trust any concentration of power.
EA takes number one when you consider game quality? Given the sheer number of crap they put out every year, their ranking should've gone way down simply due to poor reviews. The rest of the top 5 I can understand (Doom 3 boosted Activision's sales and the rest are first-party publishers.)
Shoveling shit out the door doesn't make you a top publisher.
I haven't purchased an EA game in years.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
If EA is number one, I sure feel sorry for the guys working at the other 19 companies!
Are capcom_spouse and activision_spouse far behind?
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka