Industry Snapshot: Developers of Note (when they’re actually developing)

The joy of the video game industry is that the industry leaders express their character, for better or worse, through the games they make. Recently released titles, or upcoming ones, are getting gamers excited for the return or their favorite franchise or the promise of an upcoming experience. But to truly understand what we can expect from developers for the future, we should take a look at the name they’ve made for themselves. Here’s a handful of companies who have, or sadly haven’t, been busy recently.

3D Realms was a big deal back in the nineties when DOS was the primary means of PC gaming, with titles like Rise of the Triad and the Duke Nukem franchise. Sadly, they’ve followed the advice of Guns and Roses and decided that it’s important to wait a decade after announcing a title before releasing it. Their last project as a developer, Prey, took 11 years to see the light of day, and their current Chinese Democracy, Duke Nukem Forever, is a game that was officially announced in 1997 and will be released “when it’s done.” Hopefully that will be in our lifetimes.

Another name you might recognize is Treyarch, a game company that has found a comfortable seat in the back of the class. This company has produced many unoriginal, licensed titles and is most known for its additions to Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty franchise. Sadly, their additions to the series(CoD 2: Big Red One and CoD 3) are solid, but they regularly fall short of those offered by Infinity Ward. At the end of the day, Treyarch just looks like the kid who’s paid off the nerd to let him copy on history exams. And special thanks to publisher Activision, they have been assigned Call of Duty 5, which will be another World War II title even after Infinity Ward blew their audience away with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Team Ninja is a specialized development team that focuses solely on two franchises, Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. After four years of doing nothing but re-releasing their original 3D Ninja Gaiden, they finally released Ninja Gaiden 2 this past July. The team is based out of Japan and make titles that are supposed to appeal to a western audience, so naturally, they’re filled with gigantic breasts and excessive amounts of gore. To be honest, it seems like this team is just a group of twelve year old boys who are still obsessed with “boobies.” Is there any other reason the Dead or Alive Xtreme franchise would exist?

These developers may have found their way into headlines recently, but there are plenty of other characters within the industry. And really, isn’t that why we love it so much?