What is your favourite developer company? Mine is ID Tech because they made games like the original DooM games which have serious long standing modding support and Quake for some of those tense DM games!
Favourite is a strange term to use about companies, but in terms of how interested I would be if all I was told it was a game from X, it would likely go like this.
Capcom seems to pump out absolute bangers lately. They have multiple rock solid franchises (Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter) and their buisness model is still, make good game, sell good game, profit from sales. They don’t shove half-assed life service attempts down you throat and most importantly they don’t fuck fans over. It says a lot when your least acclaimed game over the past 5 years is RE3 Remake with “Very Positive” Steam reviews. I’m really looking forward to RE5 Remake and Monster Hunter Wilds.
Half tempted to love any gamedev company that promises to keep making singleplayer games, that can be played offline, without microtransactions and battlepasses. It would take more than a few botched game launches to make me give up on them.
My favorite publishing house is probably Bethesda. I came to this realization the other day when thinking of what my favorite types of games are. Just so happens Bethesda has published nearly all of them in recent years. Arkane is my favorite dev because they’ve kept immersive sims alive with titles like Dishonored 1+2/Prey/Deathloop. ID software/Machine Games both keep the tradition of the classic shooter alive while bringing them into the modern era, games like Wolfenstein (The Old Blood, 1+2), and DOOM. The only games I don’t really care for out of Bethesda are their recent RPG games, I believe they’ve peaked at Fallout New Vegas. But with the upcoming Indiana Jones game being developed by MachineGames, I think they’ll deliver another fun first person adventure. They also quietly released HiFi Rush last year from Tango Gameworks (who also did the awesome Evil Within 2 game) and that oozed PS2 era video games quite amazingly.
The most recent developer who has crept onto that list in recent years for me is definitely FROMSOFTWARE. No need to really explain here, they’ve made a handful of classic dungeon delving masterpieces with the Souls series. Then went onto Bloodborne and Sekiro, most recently Elden Ring (which was the first full game I ever beat from them).
I’ll also echo Remedy, and do an honorable mention to 4A Games (highly recommend the Metro series for those into First Person Shooters, some amazing atmosphere in those games still). Double Fine too, with the recent Psychonauts 2, they aren’t super prolific in recent years but that game was amazing. I think the industry needs more creativity like Psychonauts 2 offered and what the studio offers in general. Capcom in recent years has been on fire too the upcoming Dragons Dogma 2 looks like it could become a classic if it’s as good as all these previews make it seem to be.
What metric are we using? The developer whose games I like the most? The developer who treats their employees best? Or treats their customers best?
Valve has produced mostly bangers, seems to treat customers well and is by all accounts a great place to work. They’ve also been pushing development for gaming on Linux. Hard not to go with them, even though it’s debatable whether they could be classified as a game developer anymore. But that’s fine.
Remedy deserves a shout-out for sticking to their guns, and continuing to produce weird artistic games that push the envelope in the AAA space.
I’m not as high on BG3 as most people (though it’s obviously a great game), but Larian also belongs in the discussion surely. I only ever hear good things about them.
Finally, the developer who inspires me the most is probably Lucas Pope. I love his ability to think outside the box and find entertaining gameplay loops in seemingly mundane things, but moreover I am just so impressed by how multitalented he is. I still can’t believe Obra Dinn was a one-man production. I love his artstyle and the music he makes as much as the games themselves.
Remedy Entertainment. They have been making banger after banger in my opinion, all the way back to Max Payne (and i wasted so many hours on Death Rally). Always heavy focus on plot, and well developed gameplay. Memorable soundtracks on most cases too.
Remedy Entertainment. From Max Payne 1 & 2, to Alan Wake 1 & 2, to Quantum Break, to Control, there has not been a game from them that I've played that hasn't been absolutely fantastic. They have not failed to miss so far.
I’ll probably hear some shit for this one but recently it has been Capcom. They’ve been pumping out high quality games for the past 5 or 6 years and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. Monster Hunter World/Rise, DMC5, RE 2 Remake, RE 4 Remake, Street fighter 6.
Their RE engine is like magic and I’m pumped for MH Wilds and RE 5 Remake.
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