MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
2020 was a year like no other. But while the planet struggled with the pandemic, developers continued to create and support incredible games to keep billions around the world entertained in these dark days.
That’s why we decided, with encouragement from our partner Virtuos, that now was a great time to bring back the DEVELOP 100, in order to recognise these efforts. For those unfamiliar, it’s a simple concept: a list of the top 100 most successful studios in the world.
Months of work later, and in partnership with the best data providers available – huge thanks to Famitsu, GSD, NPD and Sensor Tower – we have created an authoritative list of the most successful game developers over the last 12 months – using data from November 2019 to October 2020.
This isn’t simply a listicle based upon the opinions of a handful of industry insiders, instead we’ve used the very best revenue data from major markets around the world to choose our one hundred studios.
In an industry such as ours, with innumerable sales channels around the globe, with some of the best-and-brightest obscured within far larger organisations, and with many private companies playing their hands very close to their chests, there will always be some debate over the exact value of a single studio. But with the data we’ve collated and the research we’ve done, we believe that this list is as good as it could possibly be.
We decided not to rank the studios this year, but instead present them as a cohort of equals, listed alphabetically. While there are many big names you’ll be familiar with, there are many more success stories that may have passed you by as well. We hope you take the time to read about each and every one of our 2021 cohort. We’re hoping that that list helps spotlight success in unforeseen places, that it acts as a directory for excellence, a broadening of all our horizons. We hope it lets us see there are opportunities for success that we hadn’t considered before – and which provide further opportunities for many.
From all of us here, at MCV/DEVELOP, congratulations to every studio in this year’s DEVELOP 100. You should all be incredibly proud of your work and accomplishments over the past year.
Virtuos’ CEO Gilles Langourieux adds: “For everyone included in the list, I want to extend our warmest congratulations. You are a huge reason why the global games industry is going from strength to strength. And all that while creating games that bring a smile to the face of millions around the world. Thank you for making this industry what it is today and being a source of inspiration to thousands of game developers worldwide.”
Print copies of the Develop 100 have been distributed to the entire MCV/DEVELOP readership and should start arriving from tomorrow. But the whole list can be read online today below.
