Does anyone know who the big or up and coming games developers/publishers/companies are? I need to know for a thesis I am going to be writing on the games industry and have no idea where to start or who I should be speaking to? can anyone help with any leads?!! I would be most appreciative.

The big publishers are easy to find. Here are the top 20.

The "up and coming" publishers are quite a bit harder. Looking at historic trends only shows you the history. The investment market says it best that historic trends are not necessarily an indicator of future performance.


Developers, on the other hand, are much more difficult to track down. The better developers are very often (not always) bought out by first parties, publishers, or bigger development houses. They may keep their name, but they're suddenly "a subsidiary of X". I don't know how you count those. There are a lot of indie studios out there that start doing well, but I've watched a lot of indie studios who do well get purchased over the years.

Hey,
thanks so much for your help.
Do you have any idea of how these companies are structured so that I can speak to key people from the dept's who develop the games? whether their independant or in-house? Would it just be a matter of calling up and asking who their head of games development is or is that protected info for most companies?
I've no understanding of the games industry-as you can tell I'm sure!

Quote: Original post by roopydoop
I've no understanding of the games industry-as you can tell I'm sure!

Not to mention no understanding of how to use Google or do research!

As tsloper mentioned, you need to learn how to search for the answers yourself rather than being spoon-fed the information. That is, after all, one point of writing a thesis. If you are just spoon-fed answers then you haven't really found the answer or argued the position of your thesis, have you? In fact, I would argue that you would have simply presented somebody else's thesis.

Back to the topic at hand...

You haven't said what kinds of questions are you interested in asking, nor who you want to get responses from. You are young and probably therefore ignorant of the fact that employees generally can't make statements about the company unless they are public relations or are executives.

Make a list of your questions that you want to ask, then use your brain to figure out what job title in the company would be able to answer the questions, then use the web to find those people.

Good luck on your thesis.

Okay guys he's not another industry hopeful you have to rip into. I know everyone here feels it's their duty to shatter the "rose-tinted glasses" of every ignorant slob who asks for help, but maybe just ignore the post if it's so beneath you to actually answer the question.

Quote: Original post by My_Mind_Is_Going
Okay guys he's not another industry hopeful you have to rip into. ...maybe just ignore the post if it's so beneath you to actually answer the question.

Said the person who thinks it's smart to say "my mind is going" with every post. (I roll my eyes)

Quote: Original post by My_Mind_Is_Going
I know everyone here feels it's their duty to shatter the "rose-tinted glasses" of every ignorant slob who asks for help, but maybe just ignore the post if it's so beneath you to actually answer the question.

Re-read the original post, paying attention to the lines "up and coming games developers/publishers/companies" and "I need to know for a thesis"

The first quote says he is looking for a list that doesn't exist except in speculation, and the second implies that he wants to write a thesis yet not do the initial research.

The problem isn't that the original poster is an "ignorant slob" as you put it. The problem is that he is in a position where he should be using his mind and both primary and aggregate information more than he is. That in itself earns much more degradation in most academic circles. (He is working on a thesis, after all.) The minimal comments he received here are relatively constructive.

Quote: Original post by tsloper

Quote: Original post by My_Mind_Is_Going
Okay guys he's not another industry hopeful you have to rip into. ...maybe just ignore the post if it's so beneath you to actually answer the question.

Said the person who thinks it's smart to say "my mind is going" with every post. (I roll my eyes)

Yes said that person, what does my screen name (which you've commented on several times now) have to do with the lack of respect that people are shown in this (Business of Game Dev.) particular forum? That's two posts you've made in this thread alone that serve no purpose beyond being derogatory remarks about another member.

You don't find people treating each other this way in the development forums. Somebody posts their code and says they can't figure out what to do, and that they need help, and people offer suggestions. Nobody would say "Go read a programming book newb" because that would be totally unconstructive.

to frob: Maybe the OP can correct me on this but I don't think this is a graduate thesis from the sounds of it, and likely not a senior thesis either, so I don't think recognition from the academic community is a top concern, more like a good grade from the instructor.

> I am going to be writing on the games industry and have
> no idea where to start

You haven't told us what your thesis is about. The video game industry is large and there is a lot of subjects to talk about: console competition, game development economics, product life cycle of various game genres, developer quality of life, piracy, etc. As Frob said, you'll need to be a lot more precise as to what information you are seeking for your thesis.

Not knowing what you are looking for and assuming you don't know yourself either, here are some interesting books / articles. Random order & subject.

Gallagher, S. & Park, Seung H., "Innovation and Competition in Standard-Based Industries: A Historical Analysis of the U.S. Home Video Game Market", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, VOL. 49, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2002, p.67

Laramee, Francois-Dominic, "Secrets of the Game Business, 2nd Ed", Charles River Media : Game Development Series, 2005.

Bates, Bob, "Game Developer's Market Guide", Premier Press : Game Development Series, 2003.

Gordon, P.F., "Balancing video-game piracy issues", IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, January 2004.

Boyd, S.G. & Green, B., "Business and Legal Primer for Game Development", Course PTR, Nov 2006.

Paul Hyman, "For Better or Worse: A Quality of Life Update", Game Developer Magazine, June-July 2007.


-cb