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Top 20 Game Publishers

Posted by Zonk on from the you're-the-tops dept.

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."

2 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. The Full List by Sugar+Moose · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...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

  2. News article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    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