my top 5 most successful video game developers

Whether you’re 14 or 40 you can’t deny the impact of video games and the change it has had on pop culture over the years. From Atari to the Virtual boy console, the video game industry is now a 60 billion dollar franchise and will only continue to grow over time, but what games can be accredited  for helping this power house industry grow? Which franchises have had their finger dipped in the pie? And what characters have won over the hearts of billions of kids across the world and burn the pockets of countless amounts of parents every year. Today I will be going over the top 5 “most successful video game developers”

5. Sonic Team

Although the sonic team may not have had the most titles under their belt they were successful in 1 particular  title that would eventually end up giving them video game gold in well…sonic the hedgehog. Established in 1990 the sonic team has had the grueling job of basically carrying SEGA on its back, the blue speed demon has accounted for over $20 million dollars in sales (ALL BY HIMSELF might I add), $20 million might seem like a lot but the fact that this company has been around for over 15 years makes that money look more like nickel in a sea of quarters. The sonic team is also responsible for the less popular “virtual fighter” series and the “phantasy star online” series, what these 2 games lacked in overall mainstream popularity they made up for in creativity and have since had a heavy fan cult following. I guess if there’s just 1 thing we can thank the sonic team for doing it would have to be for making a figure to rival the great mario

4. Bungie

When Microsoft announced that they would be jumping into the gaming race heads spun. Bungie had been working on a game that had the interest of both Microsoft and Macintosh, that game would later be named halo. When the game made its appearance at E3 in 2000 Microsoft liked what they saw and had to have it, halo would eventually be developed as an exclusive 1^st person shooter for Microsoft’s new experiment “XBOX” the game sold over 6 million copy’s. With the commercial success of halo bungie studios would now have the pressure of creating a sequel to what could have been the best 1^st person shooter at that time, bungie would further feel that pressure with a 3 way buy out of there studios, splitting ties with both “Microsoft” and “Take two interactive” due to the debts of a massive recall for bungies previous games Myth 2. Halo 2 would be released in 2004 setting the standard for the gaming industry with a record $125 million on release day, halo 2 would be later followed by 3 more games and about 10x the money. Bungie is currently preparing for the release of their newest game “destiny” which will be available for the PlayStation 4 console, as Sony hopes to have the same success with the studio as its competitor has in the past years

3. CAPCOM

Ahh the company responsible for 50% of my childhood, mega man, street fighter, strider?! Working the minds such as Tokuro Fujiwara, Hiroshi Matsumoto, and Takahiro Arimitsu how could you not be making money? Capcom has reeled in more than $700 million in the u.s alone, and that number continues to grow with ongoing titles such as marvel vs Capcom and devil may cry. Games however, have not been the only field Capcom has been involved in. The “resident evil” series has not only found success as a franchise video game, but on the silver screen as well. Capcom has been very profitable in the way they market and promote themselves and in my opinion people should start taking notes because with an all-star lineup of directors and developers this is a company that is going to be in business for a long time

2.  Konami Corporation

Now I’m sure a lot of people are just about done reading at this point, I mean Konami at the #2 spot? And a lot of people are probably thinking “how exactly does this guy measure success?” $2.4 billon u.s dollars as of 2012, you can’t have that much money without being in an elite class of success and to think it all started with a jukebox repair and rental shop in 1969. Konami has since been the LeBron James of the video game world producing such hits as (as if I even have to list them)

-Metal gear

-Dance dance revolution

-Castlevania

-Contra

-Frogger

-Gradius

-Silent hill

-Yugioh

Part of the reason konami has had so much success over the years is the company’s ability to venture off into other aspects of the gaming world. Yugioh is currently the most played card game in the u.s as well as the most profitable. Konami has also found itself at the paying end of a series of casino games in paradise, Nevada. If you throw card games, dancing arcade games and casino slot machines all in a pan bake at about 300 degrees for 45 minutes you should be left with a product that will have you not only making money but a product that can maintain a powerful fan base for over 30 years  

1.     Game Freak

         

Game freak is at the top of my list for 1 reason and 1 reason only, Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, and Junichi Masuda, these are the men responsible for giving us a little portable game by the name of POKEMON. I don’t think this 1 needs a whole lot of explanation, pokemon has been the highest selling handheld game in gaming history, the top of its class really. Game freak can continue to make pokemon games for the next 10 years and will not see a drop in revenue and this is because of the creativity in these 3 men. Nintendo really landed on a gold mine with this one, I predict Nintendo to exclusively sell hand held consoles in the future and when that happens game freak will be seeing a lot more work and possibly be forced to release more titles but until that happens there children’s children can live off the success of their franchise game Pokemon

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