Game Developer Magazine has released its Top 20 Game Publishers list for 2006. The rankings are based upon calculations of game review scores, overall revenues, and other factors.
GDM said of its newest list, "2006 brings the fourth annual Game Developer Top 20 Publishers ranking, and along with it evidence of an industry in flux as it prepares for the next generation of console hardware. Some publishers have sought to beef up their existing talents and resources to handle the oncoming storm, while others have contributed to the constant consolidation the industry has been experiencing."
The list is as follows:
1. Electronic Arts
2. Nintendo
3. Activision
4. Sony Computer Entertainment
5. Take-Two Interactive
6. Microsoft Games Studios
7. THQ
8. Ubisoft
9. Konami
10. Sega Sammy Holdings
11. Namco-Bandai
12. Vivendi Games
13. Square Enix
14. Capcom
15. NCSoft
16. Sci/Eidos
17. LucasArts
18. Buena Vista Games
19. Atari
20. Midway
While the list reads like a who’s who of the big movers and shakers of the video game industry, it is lacking in representing the smaller players such as RedOctane (of Guitar Hero fame), Bizarre Creations (Xbox Live Arcade’s mega-popular Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved), and other companies which cannot compete on the same scale as the larger behemoths in the industry. But as small as these companies are in comparison to the giants, they represent a needed voice and important function in the game industry–they produce games which are novel and entirely separate from the mainstream offerings of the larger publishers.
