Please keep in mind that this is purely subjective and based upon nothing more than my experiences and my opinions. You are more than welcome to disagree. I would love to hear your opinions on the topic, whether you agree or not!
As a note, I'm only including third-party companies. So, no including Naughty Dog or Bungie. (who is no longer a first-party company, having broken free of Microsoft, but for the purposes of this, I would consider them first-party) But, they are won't necessarily be excluded from Honorable or Dishonorable Mentions.
Best:
1. Valve
Does Valve deserve to be the number one video game company? That's purely conjecture, but I intend to offer my reasoning as to why. The critically acclaimed games that they've created and their innovation is enough to put them on this list, surely. But, what puts them at number one? You can argue that they only appeal to those who enjoy first-person games - what with their most notable games all being in the first-person perspective. You can also argue that their nature to be slow about releasing titles (six years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2) or even talking about certain topics. (Half-Life 2 Episode 3 and Half-Life 3 have been topics of speculation for years now, but the people at Valve have said little regarding them) All of that can be forgiven, in my opinion, because of the presence of one thing: Steam.
For those that may not know, Steam is an online service provided by Valve that allows people to access hundreds (even thousands?) of games that you would not have access to otherwise, whether it be an indie game that you may not be able to find anywhere else, or an older game that isn't available anywhere, save except for Amazon or eBay. In the latter two cases, there's a waiting period for the game to be shipped to you, and even then it might not work due to compatability issues. Steam gives players access to games quickly and compatability isn't an issue.
Valve is an incredibly user-friendly company. Not only do they allow players access to thousands of game via Steam, the games that they do release, they allow to be modded (modified) by their players. So much so, in fact, that one of their more popular games - Team Fortress 2 - is a sequel to a mod of Valve's Source engine.
2. Rockstar
I saw a list of top video game companies earlier (which inspired me to do this list) and I was surprised to see that Rockstar was not on the list. It surprised me because Rockstar has been putting out quality games for quite some time now. Another thing I like about Rockstar is that they're not afraid to do the things that other companies won't. They're not afraid of controversy and it seems like they won't let that controversy get in the way of their vision. Their most notable controversies involve the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as the Manhunt series. I won't go into detail, but stories on them are readily available - this being the internet after all.
Their games are unique; they do seem to follow a formula, much like Valve does with their first-person gaming. Instead of first-person gaming, Rockstar makes most of their games in an open world fashion. But, they do it in such a way that each game (or game series) feels unique. Bully, Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and L.A. Noire are all open world games made by Rockstar, but they each feel unique in their own way.
3. Rocksteady
A lot of you may be asking "Who?" Well. I'll tell you. Rocksteady is one of the companies responsible for Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City - two of the very best games I've played in recent years. This is something of a dark horse choice and a gamble, but from what I've seen, I think Rocksteady is going to turn into something truly fantastic in the years to come.
4. Ubisoft
I was slightly put off of putting Ubisoft on this list at first, but I've come to the realization that they really are a solid game company. Ubisoft is responsible for one of the most well-known and acclaimed franchises of the last half-decade. If you don't know that I'm talking about the Assassin's Creed franchise, then you've probably been living under a rock since 2006 some time.
They're also probably almost as well-known for putting out the Splinter Cell franchise. Admittedly, the quality of those games has gone down slightly with each installment, the latest release - Splinter Cell: Conviction still received solid scores from critics.
I also feel that Ubisoft is good for the greater whole of the video game community and to people in general. Before the Assassin's Creed games start up, one of the screens states that the makers of the game come from all different backgrounds; countries, races, religions. I believe that this type of thing promotes people of different backgrounds working together to make something that can be considered a work of art.
5. Bethesda
This was a hard decision to make. I myself can put forth some fairly substantial criticisms of Bethesda and their games. The biggest one is the nasty habit of some pretty noticeable bugs making it into the final release of their games as well as (this being more of a personal thing of mine) the characters in their games to have strange faces; if you've played a Bethesda game, you might know what I'm talking about here.
Unfortunately, those issues keep it from being higher up on my list, but moving to the positive. Bethesda has the uncanny ability for games it has developed or published to be beautiful and vast and incredibly immersive. It's very difficult not to spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours inside one of Bethesda's games. Personally, I can remember just spending basically days of my life away while I was playing Fallout 3. And that is enough for Bethesda to make this list.
Honorable Mentions:
Naughty Dog - Responsible for such things as the Crash Bandicoot series, the Jak & Daxter series, and the Uncharted series. The latter of which provides players with such a unique and cinematic experience. A new game by Naughty Dog entitled The Last of Us is also in production and many (including myself) are eagerly awaiting it.
BioWare - Though they've developed some (in my opinion) stellar games, their poor public relations and customer service keeps them out of the top five. Unfortunately, it's clear that their downfall has to do with them being acquired by EA. The future does not look bright for BioWare.
Epic Games - Epic has made quite a few critically acclaimed games, but it can be argued that their recent games are largely the same. But, they've also given gamers the Unreal game engine, which helps make them a positive.
Worst:
1. EA
EA is terrible. There is so much wrong with EA, I'm not even sure where to start. Well, okay. Let's start with EA's rampant greed. I will use one of EA's more recent releases as an example. One of EA's games, Mass Effect 3 - developed by BioWare - was released on March 6th. DLC (downloadable content) was released for Mass Effect 3 the very same day. I despise Day One DLC, but it's a little more forgivable if it wasn't so obvious the Day One DLC was meant to be shipped on the disc with the rest of the game. Instead, (this is purely conjecture on my part) the people at EA told BioWare to take the content off the disc and have the consumers pay an extra $10 for it, knowing full well that they would pay for it. The content on the DLC fit so seamlessly into the content of the shipped game that it was blatantly obvious that it was meant to be on the disc.
That's only the beginning. EA has been engaged in questionable business practices. They have effectively absorbed and destroyed other companies. Have you ever heard of Westwood Studios, Bullfrog Productions, or Origin Systems? Chances are you haven't because they've all been assimilated into the EA machine.
The preceding might not be so bad if assimilated companies didn't suffer for it. Because of EA's rampant greed, quality in games released by companies assimilated has dropped. Take, again, BioWare for example. Since being acquired by EA in 2007, the quality of their games has dipped, especially with two of BioWare's recent releases - Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3. It was evident that both of those games were rushed and the culprit could only be EA, considering it was a non-issue before EA acquired them.
All of that is bad, but the icing on the cake is the fact that all of
these terrible things that EA is doing, they're just pioneers for future
business practices of other video game companies.
Everything above is only part of the reason why EA is so hated. What it comes down to is their obvious greed and their lack of respect for the people that got them to where they are now; the fans and the consumers. That leads to inferior products and hate from the masses.
2. Activision
Activision is the second worst when it comes to practices I mentioned in the EA section. Their greed is not quite as rampant as EA's, but it's still apparent to anyone who isn't a sheep. Like EA, they've assimilated companies into themselves, but not quite destroyed them - take Infinity Ward or Treyarch or Neversoft for example.
What Activision is guilty of - so is EA, but this is about Activision now - is releasing a game that's more or less a copy of a previous game and calling it a new game. This is apparent in their Call of Duty series where they recently released Modern Warfare 3, which is more or less a copy of Modern Warfare 2. Incidentally, Modern Warfare 2 is a close copy of the first Modern Warfare. They've done it twice and they've hardly been called on it. It just seems like another way to gouge customers of their money, knowing that they're going to pay for it regardless.
3. Sega
Compared to EA and Activision, the next ones are far less serious and anger-inducing. I'll start first by saying that Sega is the maker of one of my favorite systems of all time - the Sega Genesis. But, the slow and steady decay of Sega over the years is undeniable. The decline is most clearly evidenced by Sega's mascot - Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic games have gone down in quality lately, especially with the addition of Sonic's friends. (with a few notable exceptions)
4. THQ
THQ has put out some good, enjoyable games, such as the games from the Saints Row series. But, perhaps what they're best known for are the video games of the film or video games of the TV show. When was the last time you played one of those games and said to yourself "Wow. That was not a crappy game at all!"? The answer to that question should be "Never." Need I say more?
5. Blizzard
This one is a bit more of a gray area, much like Bethesda. On one hand, Blizzard makes good games like Diablo and StarCraft. On the other hand, its most popular game, by far, is World of Warcraft. Which, in my opinion, is sub-par and cliche, particularly considering its genre as a fantasy MMORPG. (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game)
I have played World of Warcraft (otherwise known as WoW) as well as other MMORPGs and it doesn't seem to quite stack up. WoW is just too much of a cookie-cutter game to hold my interest for too long. I suppose that's why it's become so popular; it can appeal to such a broad audience.
The popularity of WoW is my main point of contention with Blizzard itself. (as opposed to the game) It seems that Blizzard didn't have much interest in making a game where people could go "Hey! This is unique!" Instead, they just wanted to grab as many people as possible.
Certain ads for World of Warcraft are also blatant lies. They advertise some number of million subscribers - sixteen million or somesuch. That's false. Those numbers are numbers they're retrieving based on every account that has ever existed. That means canceled accounts, trial accounts, banned accounts, beta accounts are all being counted into that impossibly large count, thus creating the inflated number.
I've read stories on World of Warcraft literally taking over peoples' lives, causing them to lose their jobs, their significant others, and deteriorate their normal lives. This does not help Blizzard's standing with me.
Dishonorable Mentions:
Koei - Koei may or may not make good games. That in and of itself is up for debate, but what puts them on this list is their disappointing tendency to make games that are basically the same, as well as running game series' into the ground. (see Dynasty Warriors)
Capcom - Though developers and publishers of the iconic Street Fighter series, their recent creations have not been up to par. Street Fighter IV was not as well-received as its predecessors, and the same may be said of Resident Evil 5, a more recent installation in the series.
343 Industries - Come on? Continuing the Halo series with Master Chief? Don't you think that's been run into the ground enough? Points are also lost for naming your company after the worst character in the whole series.
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If you agree or disagree with anything I've said or if you feel like I've missed something, please feel free to comment!
