Who are your personal top tier developers?

[Kaamos_Llama]

Remedy has Alan Wake 2 out and reviews seem great. We've also had Fromsofts Armored Core VI and Larians Baldurs Gate 3 this year which have been both critical and commercial successes . These studios have a track record of making interesting and mostly quality games over a number of releases, which means that when I hear about a new game from them I'm interested no matter what.It also makes me likely to buy near release for full price pending reviews and buzz.

What studios would you consider in your current personal top tiers? Do you have any lower tier devs who you actively dislike and avoid for whatever reason?

No particular rules. I tried to restrict my list to studios which have more than one game, but I had to include Overhype because Battle Brothers took up so much of my time over the last few years.

S Tier
Larian, Remedy, Fromsoft

A Tier
Respawn, ID, Arkane, CD Projeckt, 11 Bit, Hare Brained Schemes (Shame about the news tho), Obsidian, Firaxis, Overhype

B Tier
InXile, Machine Games, SuperGiant Games, Creative Assembly

I'm not all that knowledegable about a lot of smaller devs so would be nice to add a few to my own list to look up. Who did I miss for you?

 

[Pifanjr]

The first ones that came to mind were:

- ConcernedApe, the creator of Stardew Valley.
- Suspicious Developments, the creators of Gunpoint and Heat Signature.
- Re-Logic, the creators of Terraria.

I've only played a single game from each of these though (I do have Heat Signature wish listed).

I'll have to think a bit more about which bigger developers I (dis)like.

 

[Colif]

Top
Rareware (before Microsoft bought them)
Ascaron Studios (before they ceased to exist)

I see a pattern
maybe thats why I struggle to find good games these days.

Bottom
Most things made by Deep Silver. They killed Ascaron off. and danced on grave (refer Sacred 3)
Anything made by EA

 

[Sarafan]

I presume we should only list the studios that still exist? Here's my TOP 10 then:

S Tier:
Obisidian, Larian, CD Projekt RED

A Tier:
inXile, From Software, id Software

B Tier:
Bethesda Game Studios, Harebrained Schemes, Beamdog, BioWare

 

[Colif]

I presume we should only list the studios that still exist? Here's my TOP 10 then:

I couldn't think of any I trust that still exist. Many of the companies I used to trust have done dumb things... Blizzard. comes to mind.
Thatgamingcompany haven't made a bad game I guess but they hardly AAA.


Bethesda bought ID and still can't get to Tier A

 

[Frindis]

S Tier:
Larian Studios, Crate Entertainment

A Tier:
From Software, id Software, CD Projekt RED, 4A Games, Bohemia Interactive

B Tier:
Bioware, Bethesda, KRAFTON, Inc, Gearbox Software, Snail Games

The worst one of them all and who deserves its own tier: Activision Blizzard

 

[ZedClampet]

S Tier: Creative Assembly, Gunfire Games (Remnant series), Turn 10 (Forza), Red Dot Games (Car Mechanic series)

A Tier: Obsidian, CDPR, Earthshine (Kingdoms Reborn), Empyrean (House Flipper), Codemasters

B Tier: Croteam, Coffee Stain Studios (would be S Tier without Goat Simulator), Pipliz, Miju Games, Firaxis

C Tier (honorable mention): Ubisoft

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I presume we should only list the studios that still exist? Here's my TOP 10 then:

S Tier:
Obisidian, Larian, CD Projekt RED

A Tier:
inXile, From Software, id Software

B Tier:
Bethesda Game Studios, Harebrained Schemes, Beamdog, BioWare

I was thinking current yea, but if people want to talk about past devs who dont exist or whatever sure.

Its a shame about Harebrained Schemes, I really liked the Shadowrun games and especially Battletech. Lamplighters league design style didnt appeal to me. I heard a rumour higher ups at Paradox didnt want to pay any licensing fee for IP so told them to invent their own. Maybe theyll maked a come back as an independant again and do some more stuff based around TT games. Wish them luck anyway.

Top
Rareware (before Microsoft bought them)
Ascaron Studios (before they ceased to exist)

I see a pattern
maybe thats why I struggle to find good games these days.

Bottom
Most things made by Deep Silver. They killed Ascaron off. and danced on grave (refer Sacred 3)
Anything made by EA

Yea I was thinking current, but I did say there arent really any rules to the thread so feel free to vent
EA publishes some pretty good stuff IMO anyway, Dead Space and Jedi Fallen Order I've liked fairly recently. its a bit weird to seperate publishers from devs sometimes as some places do a bit of both, I think Deep Silver is the same, although theyre owned by Embracer group themselves now IIRC.

S Tier:
Larian Studios, https://www.pcgamer.com/harebrained...r-confirming-major-layoffs-earlier-this-year/

A Tier:
From Software, id Software, CD Projekt RED, 4A Games, Bohemia Interactive

B Tier:
Bioware, Bethesda, KRAFTON, Inc, Gearbox Software, Snail Games

The worst one of them all and who deserves its own tier: Activision Blizzard

Dont know how I forgot 4A, I'd totally have them in A tier as well.

I dont get very excited for any Blizzard or Activision games anymore, but I bet I could jump into a COD or Overwatch and have some fun. Bobby will be gone by end of year, will that alter your opinion at all ?

S Tier: Creative Assembly, Gunfire Games (Remnant series), Turn 10 (Forza), Red Dot Games (Car Mechanic series)

A Tier: Obsidian, CDPR, Earthshine (Kingdoms Reborn), Empyrean (House Flipper), Codemasters

B Tier: Croteam, Coffee Stain Studios (would be S Tier without Goat Simulator), Pipliz, Miju Games, Firaxis

C Tier (honorable mention): Ubisoft

Few to look up there for me. Thought you might have some less obvious ones, nice!

I'm really liking Remnant : FTA, and I heard Remnant 2 is even better so Gunfire games will probably end up in A tier for me too

 

[Colif]

its a bit weird to seperate publishers from devs sometimes as some places do a bit of both, I think Deep Silver is the same, although theyre owned by Embracer group themselves now IIRC.

I guess i should have chosen studios but really I don't take that much notice. I don't follow people, I look at each product on its own, not based on who made it unless there is a history associated with them. I try to separate the art from the creator. Some creators destroyed my ability to enjoy their art by being annoying, but generally I don't take any notice if creation is good.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I guess i should have chosen studios but really I don't take that much notice. I don't follow people, I look at each product on its own, not based on who made it unless there is a history associated with them. I try to separate the art from the creator. Some creators destroyed my ability to enjoy their art by being annoying, but generally I don't take any notice if creation is good.

Yea fair enough. I dont mean I wont look at a game by someone I've never heard of or anything.

It helps to narrow the field of what to check out more closely if you know it was made by a team that made stuff you already love.

 

[Frindis]

Bobby will be gone by end of year, will that alter your opinion at all ?

I think a lot more would have to go, but I guess time will tell if they manage to turn things around.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I think a lot more would have to go, but I guess time will tell if they manage to turn things around.

Yea who knows if theyll be given more space to work on stuff under MS or whether that matters. I havent really been massively into any Blizzard games since Warcraft 3. As I understood it from the news a lot of the problematic people who left were actually a lot of the most important creatives? Or at least the more well known ones.

COD is COD, maybe it wont have to be the yearly ultimate focus if they dont have Bobby heavy breathing down everyones necks on the behalf of shareholders. Nothing else Activision comes to mind right now outside of publishing Sekrio, but there must be some good interesting IPs there that could come back given a bit less pressure.

 

[Zloth]

S Tier

• Larian: They've been making fun stuff since Divinity 2. Wish I had a T-shirt from one of their earlier concerts... maybe achievements with old dates on them count?
• Dandylion: Makers of Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children. They work their tails off, making ridiculously full featured games (well, only one so far) for cheap.
• Firaxis: Civilization, XCOM, Marvel's Midnight Suns... so much to love!

A Tier

• CD Projekt Red: great games, though they've fallen off a bit lately.
• Hello Games: only one game, but they keep giving out free updates. I bought No Man's Sky seven years ago, and they keep putting out new stuff to explore! (Though I think it's time for them to start with a clean slate again.)
• Harebrained: Shadowrun stuff was pretty good, BattleTech was great. Now let's see what happens when they're outside of Paradox.
• Kojima: Metal Gear Solid and now Death Stranding. Superb, original games with interesting worlds. Worlds so deep that, somewhere along the line, the game has to just sit you down and explain what the frak is going on for 10 to 30 minutes.

B Tier

• Piranha Games: makers of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. Fun game, lots of love post launch, and they give me the soundtracks to DLC that I haven't even bought. They know how to bribe me.
• Piranha Bytes: makers of Gothic and now ELEX. Excellent open words, but proceed with caution - there will be bugs for sure.
• Arkane: There's not much left of their once-S-tier reputation, unfortunately.
• SEGA: Of all the Ancient Publishers/Developers, they seem to have walked the furthest without turning to corporate awfulness.

E Tier

Egosoft gets its own tier. They're a little like Piranha Bytes, only more so. The X series is my favorite single player game series by far, but there's no way I'll even think about buying one of their games until it's been out for at least a year or two. They're what the term "bleeding edge" was invented for.

 

[Sarafan]

I couldn't think of any I trust that still exist. Many of the companies I used to trust have done dumb things... Blizzard. comes to mind.

The games Blizzard makes these days aren't bad. Diablo 2 remaster was very good. Diablo 4 is decent, but the aggressive level scaling kills the fun for me. You can't say they make bad games, but I agree they do stupid things as a company.

Its a shame about Harebrained Schemes, I really liked the Shadowrun games and especially Battletech. Lamplighters league design style didnt appeal to me. I heard a rumour higher ups at Paradox didnt want to pay any licensing fee for IP so told them to invent their own. Maybe theyll maked a come back as an independant again and do some more stuff based around TT games. Wish them luck anyway.

They'll manage somehow. There's still Kickstarter and I'm quite sure people would found another Shadowrun or Battletech game (not sure who owns the rights though). Also Beamdog is in a quite bad situation. Their newest game doesn't impress and they had to fire part of the team. I hope they'll find some niche.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

They'll manage somehow. There's still Kickstarter and I'm quite sure people would found another Shadowrun or Battletech game (not sure who owns the rights though). Also Beamdog is in a quite bad situation. Their newest game doesn't impress and they had to fire part of the team. I hope they'll find some niche.

Hopefully if the article was true and 80% of staff were let go they can somehow hire some back or scale up again.

I didnt know Beamdog made anything except for Infinity engine remasters and their mobile versions, maybe they would have been better off not taking the Epic shilling for more exposure. Its tough times out there, lots of companies scaling back despite making profits even.

 

[Brian Boru]

This is a list I've added to ad hoc over the decades, so plenty missed and probably more recent ones to be added. A lot are defunct now, but for those who want to explore old games, they're a decent starting point if it's your genre.

A List
4A Games—Metro.
Big Huge Games—Rise of Nations, AoE 3 Exp.
Broderbund—Prince of Persia, Carmen Sandiego.
Capcom—Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry.
Cavedog—Total Annihilation.
CI Games—Sniper Ghost Warrior.
Crytek—Far Cry, Crysis.
DMA Design / Rockstar North—Lemmings, GTA.
Ensemble Studios—Ao Empires, Ao Mythology, Halo Wars.
Epic Games—Jill of the Jungle, Unreal Tournament, Age of Wonders, Gears of War, Fortnite.
Firaxis—Civilization, Alpha Centauri, Pirates!, XCOM.
Gas Powered Games / Wargaming Seattle—Supreme Commander.
GSC Game World— Cossacks, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
id Software—Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake.
Inkle—80 Days, Heaven's Vault, Overboard.
Looking Glass Studios—Ultima, John Madden Football, System Shock, Thief.
LucasArts—Indiana Jones, Loom, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango.
MicroProse—Civilization, Master of Magic, Master of Orion, Railroad Tycoon, XCOM.
Mohawk Games—Offworld Trading Company, Old World.
Pandemic Studios—Dark Reign 2, Star Wars Battlefront, Destroy All Humans.
Petroglyph—Command and Conquer Remastered, Star Wars Empire at War, Grey Goo, 8-Bit.
Playrix—Royal Envoy, Fishdom, Gardenscapes.
PopCap Games—Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled, Bookworm, Zuma.
Pyro Studios—Commandos.
Qumaron—Adelantado, Roman Advs Britons, Roads of Rome, Northern Tale, Moai, Viking.
Rebellion Developments—Sniper Elite, Alien vs Predator.
Relic Entertainment—Homeworld, Warhammer 40K, Company of Heroes, Ao Empires 4.
Sierra Entertainment—King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry.
Suricate Software—Jewel Match.
Ubisoft—Far Cry, Rayman, Tom Clancy's various, Batman, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, The Crew, Anno
Valve—Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, Dota, Steam.
Westwood Studios—Command & Conquer, Dune.

B List
Amplitude Studios—Endless series, Humankind… latter a disappointment so far.
CD Project Red—The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, GOG.
Croteam—The Talos Principle, Serious Sam.
King Art Games—The Book of Unwritten Tales, Iron Harvest.
Nightdive Studios—System Shock, Preserving abandonware.
Oleg Sereda—Amazing Pyramids.
William Soleau—Bolo Adventures, lots of fun DOS games.

S List
Kojima

PS I see we have some non-native speakers here, who are not familiar with the true meaning of S List

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

S Tier

• Larian: They've been making fun stuff since Divinity 2. Wish I had a T-shirt from one of their earlier

I hadnt played any Larian games before Divinity Original Sin, but when 2 came out I was sold on them. Had some doubts about Baldurs Gate 3 because of the switch to a more Larian style game vs Infinity Engine, but its great and theres only minor faults IMO.

Funnily enough Divinity Original Sin is my most played Isometric CRPG of the last probably 15 years, despite being easily the worst of the 3 newer games. I still never saw credits in it.

Edit: OOo, I should have probably put Paradox in my B tier. I really liked Crusader Kings 3, and had a good dabble in Hearts of Iron IV a few years ago so I do follow their releases a bit. The model of milking for DLC's does suck though.

A List

Valve

Valve is top tier for sure (whatever letter you want to use for it). I'd love to play HL Alyx but price of entry to VR way to much for 1 game, especially now.

 

[Brian Boru]

I don't have time at the moment to flesh out with explanations, I'll try and get back to it later and post if I do.

Added titles to list.

 

[Sarafan]

Hopefully if the article was true and 80% of staff were let go they can somehow hire some back or scale up again.

I didnt know Beamdog made anything except for Infinity engine remasters and their mobile versions, maybe they would have been better off not taking the Epic shilling for more exposure. Its tough times out there, lots of companies scaling back despite making profits even.

They did Mythforce recently and the game is very mediocre. They should stick to RPG genre though. Their experience is based on it. I think the company has potential to find a niche in isometric RPG development. Pretty much the same as Spiderweb Software. Not sure why they decided to jump into Mythforce.

PS I see we have some non-native speakers here, who are not familiar with the true meaning of S List

Huh, just checked it and now I know it originates from Japan. It makes sense. This rank is common in Japanese games such as Devil May Cry and it should be rare.

 

[Colif]

The games Blizzard makes these days aren't bad. Diablo 2 remaster was very good. Diablo 4 is decent, but the aggressive level scaling kills the fun for me. You can't say they make bad games, but I agree they do stupid things as a company.

Diablo Immoral comes screaming back to remind me. I guess its a replacement cash cow now WOW can't last forever. Funny... I saw a video by someone saying Expansions are killing MMO. Without expansions WOW would have stopped being played about 2010.

Blizzard don't need to milk Diablo 4, they have immoral for that. At least it doesn't cost 500K to max a character out in Diablo 4.

 

[Frindis]

Diablo Immoral comes screaming back to remind me. I guess its a replacement cash cow now WOW can't last forever. Funny... I saw a video by someone saying Expansions are killing MMO. Without expansions WOW would have stopped being played about 2010.

+ @Kaamos_Llama : One good thing is happening and that is having Chris Metzen returning to Blizzard as creative advisor. That guy is the OG and maybe, just maybe under the new leadership, we'll be able to see something good come out of the shaitshow that is World of Warcraft now. We need to look at the past and remove flying mounts, battle pets, wow tokens, garrisons/housing, the insane amount of skills. Less is more and we don't need silly pandas, werewolves, and whatever else of useless races they introduced lately. I stopped playing after I finished WOLTK which was the last true good WoW expansion.

To be honest, I don't think it will be possible to save WoW even if they try their best to update the Classic experience or completely revamp the retail version. What they need to do is to start with making (if they are not already doing it and introducing it at Blizzcon this year) World of Warcraft 2, more in style with how Classic was and a bit more adult-themed but without getting to the 17+ rating. Make it slightly darker, like the Karazhan Crypt which unfortunately never made it to the release. More open-world bosses with a focus on huge PvP battles, and more random encounters like the silver mobs/mini-bosses you could get extra loot for, I love that stuff and having obviously a deep focus on making dungeons the best they can be while building from good examples like the ICC, Zulgurub, and Maradun as a few examples.

 

[Colif]

They need to kill wow, or turn it free to play... as Microsoft own them now, so money might not be as much of a problem. Nine expansions... thats enough to make 2 new games really. Not much left of the original game now anyway, its changed so much since 2006 that the only thing it shares with its original form is the name. I played it up until the 1st few months of Burning Crusade, I don't even recognise game now.

I learned things about myself in MMO that I don't like... so I would probably not play WOW 2 even if they made it. They have explored that story enough, its time for something new.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

They did Mythforce recently and the game is very mediocre. They should stick to RPG genre though. Their experience is based on it. I think the company has potential to find a niche in isometric RPG development. Pretty much the same as Spiderweb Software. Not sure why they decided to jump into Mythforce.

Thats the one I saw on their website, guess they were taking a swing. I'm all for that but sometimes it doesnt work out. Theres a hell of a lot of new CRPG fans been created by Baldurs Gate 3, might help them out in the future if they decide to do something more isometric.

+ @Kaamos_Llama : One good thing is happening and that is having Chris Metzen returning to Blizzard as creative advisor. That guy is the OG and maybe, just maybe under the new leadership, we'll be able to see something good come out of the shaitshow that is World of Warcraft now. We need to look at the past and remove flying mounts, battle pets, wow tokens, garrisons/housing, the insane amount of skills. Less is more and we don't need silly pandas, werewolves, and whatever else of useless races they introduced lately. I stopped playing after I finished WOLTK which was the last true good WoW expansion.

To be honest, I don't think it will be possible to save WoW even if they try their best to update the Classic experience or completely revamp the retail version. What they need to do is to start with making (if they are not already doing it and introducing it at Blizzcon this year) World of Warcraft 2, more in style with how Classic was and a bit more adult-themed but without getting to the 17+ rating. Make it slightly darker, like the Karazhan Crypt which unfortunately never made it to the release. More open-world bosses with a focus on huge PvP battles, and more random encounters like the silver mobs/mini-bosses you could get extra loot for, I love that stuff and having obviously a deep focus on making dungeons the best they can be while building from good examples like the ICC, Zulgurub, and Maradun as a few examples.

Funnily enough my time in MMO's was mostly pre WOW. The couple games I played died out largely because a lot of people migrated there. I wasnt feeling like starting a new MMO with my life situation at that time so I fell out of it.

Loads of people loved it, hope they can work something out for them. I have a feeling the time of the big MMO has passed though.

 

[Zloth]

Huh, just checked it and now I know it originates from Japan. It makes sense. This rank is common in Japanese games such as Devil May Cry and it should be rare.

Yeah, that was pretty weird the first time I saw it in a JRPG. Back in early grade school, we would just get an "S" for satisfactory or a "U" for unsatisfactory. So, in whatever game it was, I was seeing C tier, then B, then A - top of the class! Then these S's started showing up!? I've got A-class gear here, and you want me to switch to something that's just satisfactory!?

 

[Sarafan]

They need to kill wow, or turn it free to play... as Microsoft own them now, so money might not be as much of a problem. Nine expansions... thats enough to make 2 new games really. Not much left of the original game now anyway, its changed so much since 2006 that the only thing it shares with its original form is the name. I played it up until the 1st few months of Burning Crusade, I don't even recognise game now.

I learned things about myself in MMO that I don't like... so I would probably not play WOW 2 even if they made it. They have explored that story enough, its time for something new.

Yeah, I also think it's time to switch the game into a f2p title. This would give it a new life. As for classic experience, there are classic servers these days ran by Blizzard. It's a good way to make a nostalgic trip into the past.

As for WoW 2, I think there's always potential for this, but it's unlikely that the game would repeat the success of the original title. Personally I'd love to see World of Starcraft (or Universe of Starcraft?), but it's less possible now than it was 10 years ago. I'm not sure whether the Starcraft fanbase is big enough to justify funding an MMORPG in this universe. People are starting to forget about the franchise. If someone remembers Starcraft 1, he must be getting old.

Also I don't think Blizzard is capable of introducing a good new brand. Project Titan was very promising, but they cancelled it and reused part of the assets in Overwatch and we all know that this isn't a dream game. Right now creativity at Blizzard is at a very low level and it appears that Activision wasn't keen on risking anything new. Maybe Microsoft will change something, but I'm quite pessimistic.