develop 100
In association with
INTRODUCTION « CRITICS’ CHOICE
Thatgamecompany's Journey was one of just six games in the Develop 100 that isn't a sequel or part of a series
Nintendo, although it has 13 games in the 100, was considered the second best studio by critics. Some may argue its entry is a an anomaly. The Japanese company’s broad division names and sub-groups, especially for older games, isn’t always clear. Nintendo EAD (Entertainment Analysis & Development) and its sub- groups are generally the developer for many of its games, but that team is so large and bound so closely to publishing. But as a ‘software house’ it clearly has some of the most creative (and going by previous Develop 100 rankings, most commercially-minded) talent in the business, so the cap fits. We’ll let you look at the list
yourself to see who else has made the cut, but there are a
CRITICS’ CHOICE
number of interesting trends to bear in mind. Firstly, it is sequels aplenty.
The No.1 game is a sequel. Seven games in the top ten are direct follow-ons or spiritual successors to other games. There are just six games in the 100 that have never had a sequel and were original IP: Journey, Grim Fandango, Minecraft, Rez, Braid, and Okami. Overall 27 games on the list
(i.e. over a quarter) are games that are second-in-a-series (e.g. Sonic The Hedgehog 2) or a direct sequel to another game in a franchise (e.g. Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Metal Gear Solid 2). 26 are sequels to sequels or other spin-offs. Does this speak of game developers’ ability to refine and innovate on established ideas when
approaching a sequel? That certainly makes sense for games like Uncharted 2 and others that have placed highly. Is it a lack of imagination from our panel? Is it hype and nostalgia? The answer is likely a mix of all three. This means that in the final list
you can see a lot of split votes for lots of diffrent game series. Broadly, the result speaks to the power of the likes of Mario, Grand Theft Auto or Zelda. But when it comes to critics
picking the best in those series they aren’t agreed. So a series like Grand Theft Auto has its three most recent, and commercially successful, releases present in the list, but all had a similar number of votes. All of those games are also actually out-ranked by sister title Red Dead Redemption.
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