Develop 100 - 2007

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Covers DEV 100

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2007 in association with

DEVELOP 100

The World’s Most Successful Game Studios 2007 Edition


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Develop 100 utilises ChartTrack data which is the strict copyright of ELSPA. For more information, subscribe to the ELSPA weekly report. Contact ELSPA at 167 Wardour Street, London, W1F 8WL. Tel: 020 7534 0580 Fax: 020 7534 0581.

DEVELOP 100 evelop 100 ranks the world’s game developers according to the revenues their products generated through UK retail. The figures come directly from ChartTrack data. Retailers contributing to ChartTrack’s data represent 90 to 95 per cent of all UK retail sales for games and the figures have been weighted up so as to accurately represent the market as a whole. Figures are based on sales of all games available on the market at all price points and on all formats (PS2, PSone, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, GBA, Nintendo DS, Wii and PC) from 01/01/2006 through to 31/12/2006. For each studio, up to five of its biggest selling titles during that period have been highlighted for individual analysis. Where these titles add up to less than 100 per cent of the studio’s total revenues, it is then indicated what percentage of the total is accounted for by the top titles. ‘Highest UK Chart’ refers to the highest position reached by that title in ChartTrack’s weekly All Formats list.

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CONTENTS 6-7 CENTURIONS Develop editor Michael French offers his thoughts on this year’s list, picking out the highlights and analysing the trends it reveals about games development

8-9 HOT ‘DESKING This year’s Develop 100 is sponsored by Autodesk, a company that understands what makes a bestseller and produces the animation software most studios couldn’t live without

10-111 1-100 This year’s Develop 100, complete with studio-by-studio analysis, contact details and key statistics

112-115 A-Z

EDITORIAL ANALYSIS Michael French Editor, Develop [email protected]

Mark Walbank Contributing Writer

Two handy lists summarising the 100 studios in this book: one ordered alphabetically, the other by ranking

117 TRACKING SYSTEM The Develop 100 is based on data generated by our partner in the project, ChartTrack. Director Dorian Bloch explains the work behind the scenes, and offers extra market facts you won’t find in the 100 itself

119-123 NUMBERS CRUNCHED Eye candy breakout charts which highlight some of the lists’ most significant and thought-provoking trends

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CENTURIONS Who are the real winners in the 100? Who’s at the vanguard of games design and managed to hit a creative and commercial sweetspot? Michael French looks at what this year’s list tells us… ith the new generation of consoles now starting considerably, and reflects how quickly the newer machine to bed in around the world, the book you’re has found a home. The resultant knock on the sales of each reading is a perfect snapshot of the global games studio’s game reflects how well they’ve harnessed the next development sector. generation format. The topline facts might be no surprise.Yes, the total value Ironically, one of the other trends is the rise of Nintendo, of money made by the teams on this year’s list is higher whose new hardware formats advocate smaller teams, than last year’s, in line with the overall cheaper development costs and less asset growth of the games market. EA Canada The Develop 100 consumption – the complete opposite of the is still number one and despite some big-budget HD-driven games Microsoft’s changes in the top 10, the likes of underlines a powerhouse encourages. Nintendo itself, plus Nintendo, Konami, Ubisoft and big-name number of key Maxis, Ubisoft France, Traveller’s Tales, Amaze independents Traveller’s Tales are still top and a variety of publisher owned-studios, dogs in their respective fields and genres. trends in the games have benefited from the DS boom and the But it’s the trends shown that paint an market – including introduction of the Wii, both of which have a interesting picture beyond the intriguing firmly established the irresistible and numbers and market with a revenue totals. casual bent; undeniable The first of massmarket these is the successes of consumers which undeniable rise Nintendo and are a mix of of the Xbox 360. young and old. EA Canada, EA Microsoft in 2006 Don’t worry, Redwood Shores, the PlayStation Ubisoft Montreal, Epic, Rare – these Portable and PS2 also cast a are just a few of the teams that shadow – but serve more as a have found considerable financial backdrop to the alreadysuccess producing high-quality established market than new games for 360. That it already has a trends. It’s more likely that, UK user-based of a million once the PS3 has established (the territory our list is itself in the UK, it will be next based on) has helped year’s Develop 100 where

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Sony’s power is proven (rather than tested, which is arguably what has happened over the last 18 months). In terms of the often talked about topics such as new IP and the battle between independent developers and internally owned ones, the situation between last year’s edition of the 100 and this year’s actually remains quite steady. Nintendo once again is responsible for helping some of the bigger new IP ideas to market (Brain Training for the DS, and Ubisoft’s Red Steel for Wii), while two independents once again muscle into the top 10 (Yuke’s almost literally with its WWE titles – the other is Traveller’s Tales). Finally, before you jump in to the list proper, bear in mind that there are some cultural differences a UK-based list throws up when compared to the other big territories of North America and Japan which readers last year questioned us about. (Although, in all honesty, they are cultural forces that would arguably distort the list if they were included, rather than a weakness in our data.) For the former, EA’s big seller Madden and its studio Tiburon is low down the list and would be placed higher were this charting based on US sales. Although that in fact would skew the listing in another direction given the country-specific federal sport NFL truly is, rather than the international one soccer is, so the Develop 100’s bias towards that sport (list leader EA Canada makes FIFA, third place goes to Konami which makes Pro Evolution Soccer) is evidence of its international relevance. And as for Japan, well, Western content barely scratches its charts, and when it does is on a delay – the most recent big hit from outside its country walls was GTA: San Andreas, a full two and a half years after its release in North America and Europe. So the Develop 100 truly is a listing for the world’s studios. And of course the United Kingdom is still the world’s third-largest territory for games sales, so its figures have genuine weight, and when ordered as they are over the next 120 pages, they make for truly illuminating reading. Enjoy.


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AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE Michel Kripalani, senior games industry manager at Develop 100 sponsor Autodesk offers his view on what’s to come for the games development industry and why innovation – which has secured each studio in this book its place on the list – is so important… s a leading provider of 3D tools for the games industry, we’re delighted to support the Develop 100 book and promote some of the most successful games and developers in the world. Many developers in this book are 3ds Max and Maya users. We’re proud to honour their work through this initiative. Our research teams are constantly striving to produce better, faster and more creative software with our customers’ needs in mind. We’re working with game developers to push the boundaries of what’s possible and to realise their most creative ideas. Together, we’ll work to ensure that this industry continues to flourish. Now that the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 are available, the next generation of gaming has arrived. Our 3D animation products play a huge role in helping the industry adapt to next-gen game development. Every aspect of game development has become much more complex and there’s more data to deal with than ever before. Games teams are expanding and games costs are increasing. However, with the improved console capabilities come more opportunities for game developers to realise their creative vision. Autodesk is paying close attention to these emerging production challenges to ensure that our tools continue to evolve with game developers’ needs. Autodesk is committed to doing everything we can to help make the transition easier on our customers. Game developers are now expected to produce more, but are not given extra time to meet these increased demands. Thus, studios are focused on finding efficiencies throughout the development process. Autodesk helps meet this challenge by providing tools that create an efficient workflow, focusing on core performance, threading our code, speeding up productivity for people working with the tools and helping create a new generation of talented artists. We’re also expanding our efforts into the middleware environment to help developers leverage Autodesk’s technology into the game engine, ensuring that in-game animations are on par with the gorgeous graphics that are pushing gaming experiences to the next level.

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Production of upcoming action adventure Kane & Lynch (pictured) by IO Interactive (at position 36 in the 100) has been powered by Autodesk products

Current industry projections suggest that the video games industry will grow by about 12 per cent a year for the foreseeable future. And in around four years’ time, the industry will no doubt reinvent itself again. The only thing that is certain is that innovation and solid gameplay will reign and that the people who are successful will be well rewarded. These characteristics of game production remain timeless. Autodesk aims to provide a solid foundation for people to build their stories and gameplay experiences. When we all work together, there’s no limit to what we can achieve. Good luck!


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AUTODESK PRODUCTS 3ds Max, Maya and MotionBuilder are the most popular 3D content creation software products with game developers worldwide. Maya 8.5 features the new Nucleus technology, developed by Autodesk’s Academy Award-winning Principal Research Scientist Jos Stam. Nucleus is a unified simulation framework allowing artists to create elements that interact with other dynamic objects such as fluids, cloth and rigid bodies. Maya nCloth is the first module of Nucleus. It allows artists to direct and control a range of simulations, including cloth, plastic, metal and other materials. Maya nCloth helps artists create simulations with greater ease than ever before. 3ds Max 9 includes several new features and enhancements in the areas of animation and Biped, rendering, UI and usability. 3ds Max 9 Extension: Productivity Booster is available to Autodesk subscription customers, enabling them to work more efficiently with more than 30 productivity enhancements. MotionBuilder 7.5 software is designed to tackle the challenges of creating advanced character animation. MotionBuilder features real-time productivity tools to realise ideas for sophisticated 3D characters in nextgeneration games pipelines. All of these packages are able to work together through Autodesk’s FBX file format, which makes it easier to move data between all of our software products. Additionally, FBX is the only third-party file format supported by Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express. Our most recent development is Autodesk HumanIK middleware. HumanIK is a customised development library that enables animated game characters to interact more realistically with digital environments. Dynamically and accurately porting animation data from the authoring environment into the game engine gives developers flexibility in animating the game with more realistic, realtime results. Believable, realistic in-game animation and gameplay are some of the differentiation points of a nextgen game. HumanIK helps game developers ensure that their characters move as beautifully as they look.

CONTACTS Autodesk – EMEA Ingeni Building 15-17 Broadwick Street London W1F 0DE

Autodesk Maya

Autodesk - Japan Harumi Island Triton Square Office Tower X Chou-ku Tokyo 104 -6024 Autodesk - Asia Pacific 159 Sin Mong Road #05-05 Amtech Building Singapore Autodesk - Americas The Landmark @ One Market Suite 500 San Francisco California CA 94105

Autodesk 3ds Max

Autodesk Motion Build

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

EA CANADA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 1 £118.97M

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, XB360, XB, PC, GC

SEP 06

£39.63m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

XB360, PS2, PSP XB, PC, Wii, GC

OCT 06

£26.85m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PSP, PS2, XB, DS GC

SEP 05

£13.87m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

XB, XB360, PSP, PS2, PC, GC, DS

NOV 05

£11.86m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2

APR 06

£10.24m

TOTAL:

£102.44m

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 FIFA 07

2 NEED FOR SPEED: CARBON

3 FIFA STREET 2

4 NEED FOR SPEED: MOST WANTED

5 FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY 2006

10

(86% of total revenues)

NO MOVE

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

CANADA

STUDIO PROFILE

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here’s no surprise as to who has scored Even EA Montreal, which EA Canada chief the top spot. With the largest Rory Armes also supervises , is forging a distinct development team, the best-selling identity for itself by creating unexpected titles brands, and backing from the biggest publisher, such as Army of Two and the Wii-only SSX Blur – it would be more of a surprise if EA Canada both are 2007 titles, however, so haven’t failed to make it to number one. impacted the figures printed here. (EA Redwood Key to its success has been, once again, sales Shores, at 9th, perhaps has the same problem as of the Need For Speed and FIFA games and back EA Canada – but more on that in their entry.) catalogue from those franchises. Coupled with It’s hard to tell exactly what that might EA’s aggressive multi-platform means for EAC and EAX – strategy those games have found New IP-based perhaps next year EA will want success on Xbox 360 as well as games counted separately game Skate will their the massmarket PS2, and will for individual entries – but we undoubtedly do just as well on help Electronic already know of one big PlayStation 3 for the 2008 book. challenge EAX has been charged Arts go toe to The Need For Speed games – with accepting: bringing to the revitalisation of which toe with rival market a new IP. EA Worldwide started with Underground and Studios boss Paul Lee has Activision has since iterated three more instructed that all the company’s times – has already created over software houses must help $2bn worth of revenue for EA, so another is a increase the amount of games produced with given, as are more FIFA games. It’s a no brainer. new or non-licenced IP, and the response in But that doesn’t mean EA Canada is big and Vancouver has been Skate. dumb. Instead, we expect to see the studio Taking EA in part back to its roots (it begin to develop the division’s two separate published Skate and Die in the ‘80s, after all), the teams, EA Canada (EAC) and EA Black Box new game sees Electronic Arts go toe-to-toe (EAX), towards having their distinct identities. with rival Activision and its Tony Hawk’s series This is something the other EA studios all with edgier, younger licenced stars and a fresher arguably boast which the Vancouver teams attitude. If the game succeeds, EA Canada will lack. Tiburon (position 53) is the trusted base be back on these pages next year – and even if for Madden, EA Chicago (34) EA UK-Criterion not… well, with FIFA and NFS, they’ll probably (13) the pioneers in current and next-gen tech. be back here anyway.

STATISTICS Owned by: EA Founded: 1992 Head count: 1,800 Revenue per capita: £66,094

CONTACTS Address: 4330 Sanderson Way, Burnaby, British Columbia V5G 4XI, Canada www.ea.com

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NINTENDO

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 2 £70.96M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS

NINTENDO

2

DS

JUN 06

£12.72m

NINTENDO

3

DS

MAR 06

£11.09m

NINTENDO

3

DS

JUN 06

£9.61m

NINTENDO

7

DS

JUN 06

£6.57m

NINTENDO

5

WII, GC

DEC 06

£6.42m

TOTAL:

£46.41m

2 ANIMAL CROSSING: WILD WORLD

3 DR KAWASHIMA’S BRAIN TRAINING

4 NINTENDOGS: DALMATIAN & FRIENDS

5 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS

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(65% of total revenues)

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS UP FROM

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

JAPAN

STUDIO PROFILE

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ne thing the Develop 100 has charted year’s releases which make up the other 45 in its three years is Nintendo’s per cent. startling trajectory. At the same time, Nintendo managed to No doubt about it, the period 2004 to 2006 almost triple its revenues from software sales has seen a spectacular turnaround at the in 2006 over 2005, up from £25.1m to £70.96. company, which cut off the dead weight of the Some of that will have, of course, been GameCube – and to some extent, the Game boosted by the roll-out of the Wii in December Boy – and revitalised its fortunes with new 2006 – our figures show Zelda alone made hardware that puts innovation first. almost £6.5m in just a month on sale – but its The touch-screen based DS has almost real impact probably won’t be felt until next single-handedly propelled the company’s year’s list, where the growing stable of software developers up the list Nintendo-made Wii games will from a miserable (for a format The DS has been make itself known courtesy of holder) 28th in 2005 to 5th last the machine’s fast-growing year and now second place, a runaway userbase. A place up high in next behind just EA. And the chart success of year’s top 10 no doubt beckons. opposite proves it – a runaway What’s going to be more success caused by IP and ideas ideas both old interesting, perhaps, is watching both old and new. how Nintendo’s proven successes and new While top dog of the year’s pushing new ideas and new IPs – sales is New Super Mario Bros, and old ones given a push thanks Animal Crossing: Wild World, Brain Training and to new hardware – will influence its rivals and a new Nintendogs are all worthy of praise too third party publishing and development as Nintendo’s success isn’t built on single hits partners. We’ve already seen EA aggresively – it’s the continued sales of its entire announce advanced support for the Wii, and catalogue of games. others like Disney have set up studios Unlike list winner EA Canada, which has 86 dedicated to making games purely for per cent of 2006’s sales taken up by five Nintendo formats – it seems that many games, Nintendo’s attribution is lower – the publishers are now rethinking how exactly to five games opposite only account for 65 per balance their portfolio between the cent of Nintendo’s 2006 UK software sales, production-hungry PS3/360/PC market and suggesting a long tail that stretches far back the more agile Wii/DS ones which also share into its backlist and other titles from the plenty of crossover with PS2 and PSP.

STATISTICS Owned by: Nintrndo Founded: 1963 Head count: 850 Revenue per capita: £83,482

CONTACTS Address: 11-1 Kamitoba-Hokatotae-Cho, Minami-Ku, Kyoto 601-8501, Japan Tel: +81-75-662-9600 Email: [email protected] www.nintendo.co.jp

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 3 £43.20m

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 6

KONAMI

1

PS2, XB360, PC, PSP

OCT 06

£28.57m

KONAMI

1

PSP, PC, PS2, XB

NOV 05

£9.91m

KONAMI

12

PS2

MAR 06

£1.04m

KONAMI

34

PS2

OCT 06

£0.51m

KONAMI

5

PSP

SEP 05

£0.49m

TOTAL:

£40.53m

2 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 5

3 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER MANAGEMENT

4 METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SUBSISTENCE

5 METAL GEAR AC!D

14

94% of total revenues)

NEW

ENTRY


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JAPAN

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onami holds firm at number three in football pitch is clearly divided between EA, this listing, the performance of its Konami and Sports Interactive – and in the UK internal development teams being at least, it’s clear the hardcore soccer year-on-year consistent. Not unspectacular, management is left to the latter, the casual but not surprising either. market to the former, and Konami with the The Pro Evolution Soccer series is the star of die-hards who like delicacy and finesse. the show once again, although surprisingly Perhaps Konami needs to see if it can get sales of the latest game, PES6, were only those two qualities passed on from its Pro Evo incrementally higher than PES5 (£28.57m in team to its other developers – while this place 2006 over £28.18m, and its SKUs had a little in the high echelons should be praised, you while extra on the shelves last year). That’s can’t help but feel that as a games developer hardly a disappointment, Konami is coasting, being fast however, and PES continues to Pro Evo may not outshone by Japanese be known as the game of choice ever beat FIFA contemporaries Nintendo and for the hardcore football fan. It’s Capcom. Of its personal 2006 unlikely to ever truly beat FIFA and its licence, top five, the other big sellers in the sales stakes due to that but it certainly were the year-old Metal Gear game’s licence, but it certainly Ac!d and the Metal Gear Solid 3 trounces it in the review stakes trounces it on re-release, which made £1m in and reputation. total. While the bigger Metal reputation Which makes the failure of Gear Solid 4 for PS3 will Pro Evolution Soccer Management a bit of a undoubtedly rake in lots of cash (although surprise. Despite six months on the shelves, creator Hideo Kojima’s new development the game only racked up £1.04m in sales – not outfit, Kojima Productions, may take the credit poor (indeed, studios at the bottom of this list in the listing), it seems Konami is in desperate would kill for such a revenue spinner), but need of new franchises – if it’s not happy with when compared with PES’ usual £40m annual being the PES/Metal Gear company, that is. Like turnover, a spin-off that can’t even make ten many others, Konami has benefitted from the per cent of that must cause some concern. 360 (almost a third of PES6’s sales were on the Still, as an experiment it may just end up a format), and the studio still has to find its feet write-off, much in the same way EA Canada on DS and Wii – the opportunities are out there, tried to add a management iteration to the Konami just has to make the games to take FIFA series in 2005. In truth, it seems the advantage of them.

STATISTICS Owned by: Konami Founded: 2005 (from a merger of Konami’s various KCE and Japan studio teams) Head count: 1,100 Revenue per capita: £39,372

CONTACTS Main contact: Akira Morita Address: Harumi Island, Triton Square Office TowerX 42F, Chuo-Ku Tokyo 104-6041, Japan Tel: +81-3-5144-0573 www.konamityo.co.jp

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TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 4 £41.74M

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

DS, PS2, PC, PSP GBA, GC, MAC

OCT 06

£16.08m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PC, PS2, PSP, XB MAC, GC

SEP 04

£10.67m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

PC, MAC

MAR 06

£3.54m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PC, MAC

SEP 05

£1.58m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

6

PC

APR 06

£1.26m

TOTAL:

£233.13m

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 THE SIMS 2: PETS

2 THE SIMS 2

3 THE SIMS 2: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

4 THE SIMS 2: NIGHTLIFE

5 THE SIMS 2: FAMILY FUN STUFF

16

(79% of total revenues)

NO MOVE

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USA

STUDIO PROFILE

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ith well over 70m different Sims Key titles for 2007 are The Sims Life Stories discs sold in the last seven years and My Sims. The former attempts to tackle (that’s about 27,397 discs selling the ‘laptop generation’, with story-based every day globally since the start of 2000), adventures using the game engine. It’s a noble Maxis’ continual success – even off the back of effort to bridge a gap between casual games countless expansion packs, once thought to be and the core parts of the industry where titles a derivative sales resource that tails off in the are driven by stories. With continued support, long term – is inevitable. it should find its feet beyond the previous Although only two full The Sims games have experiment The Urbz’ ill fated attempt to been released, over 14 make The Sims fit with edgy expansions have been released Spore is likely to youth culture. for The Sims and The Sims 2, and Perhaps more interesting is find the same the series has also branched out what a team at Maxis is with various console and slow-burn fastplanning to do for Nintendo handheld iterations. formats with My Sims. It sell audience The last year specifically saw deliberately favours a cutesy the introduction of The Sims 2: that The Sims ‘toy-like’ approach over the Pets, both an expansion and a exaggerated realism, and brings flourished with title in its own right, adding an Animal Crossing-like title to animals to the PC version and the EA stable. Given the providing an updated version of the game for explosion in the Wii and DS markets, this is a console owners. It’s been a massive success, sure-fire winner. feeding off the already bustling user-base and But let’s not forget Spore, Sims creator Will no doubt introducing new players. Other addWright’s project which lets players create a ons, such as item packs like Family Fun Stuff whole lifeform from scratch and then and entrepreneurial extensions Open For populate the universe with it, while sharing Business, have benefitted as well. content with other users. It’s been written For the Maxis brand and teams The Sims about by Wired and the New York Times, but offers a franchise that, while already long-inthe release date is still a bit of a question the-tooth when compared to other series, has mark. versitility and a great future ahead of it. Now Whenever it arrives the game is likely find the team plans to diversify the line beyond the same slow-burn fast-sell audience that things like man’s best friend. The Sims flourished with, so Maxis will have a

STATISTICS Owned by: EA Founded: 1987 Head count: Undisclosed

CONTACTS Address: 2 Theatre Square, Orinda, California, 94563-3346, USA Tel: 510 254-9700 www.maxis.com

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In association with

TRAVELLER’S TALES

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 5 £26.30M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY

LUCASARTS

1

PS2, XB360, PSP, XB, PC, GC

SEP 06

£15.89m

TT GAMES

1

PS2, XB, PC, GC

APR 05

£3.43m

DISNEY INTERACTIVE

7

PS2, XB, PC, GC

NOV 05

£2.53m

SEGA

47

PSP, GC, PS2

JUN 06

£0.95m

EIDOS

71

PS2, XB360, PC

NOV 06

£0.73m

TOTAL:

£123.54m

2 LEGO STAR WARS

3 NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH & WARDROBE

4 SUPER MONKEY BALL ADVENTURE

5 BIONICLE HEROES

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(98% of total revenues)

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STUDIO PROFILE

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he force is strong with this one. And with game. It barely sold as many copies as Bioncle two of the most successful and most Heroes, which only arrived in November 06 and praised Star Wars games of all time, not will arguably make itself known sales-wise in just in recent years, it’s little wonder. the next edition of the this listing. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy actually In the meantime, TT has been investing in its outperformed the original prequel-based title in future. First up has been another acquisition.The less time on shelves. Granted, it was available on studio bought its publisher partner Giant (which more formats (with retailers using the 360 handles the Lego licence via owner and MD Tom version in hardware bundles, for instance), but Stone, former Lego Interactive and EA UK exec) that’s nevertheless a mean feat in 2005, securing its for any sequel, no doubt aided by Will Lego independence, and in early 2007 the quirky representation of the snapped up Cheshire, UK-based Batman prove trilogy that more consumers Embryonic. The two have moved knew and loved more faithfully. that lightning into a new facility, the 20 extra And hey, in the video game becoming a Nintendocan strike a third staff version Han got to shoot first. dedicated unit (although the It was the success of this time for Embryonic name has been game, and the continued sales of that will adapt TT’s Traveller’s Tales? ditched) the first Lego Star Wars and TT’s GameCube engine to the Wii. 2005 Narnia title that assured its And in terms of next projects, ascent in the top 10 of the Develop 100 – it also Transformers: The Movie for Activision has been helped Traveller’s Tales get the Develop Awards’ announced, and is almost guaranteed a safe Best Independent Developer gong for the landing thanks to the film and toy line’s second year running, and a few BAFTA inevitable media blitz. Plus, there’s always the nominations. chatter about more Lego games – the team You can’t win every battle, however, and hasn’t confirmed it yet, but it’s a ‘widely Traveller’s Tale’s other 2006 releases didn’t fare accepted as true’ rumour that the next Lego line as well. Super Monkey Ball Adventures, made for to get the game treatment is Lego Batman. The Sega and based on the cult hit puzzle- studio proved you can merge games with platformer that originally arrived with the movies and toys for Lego Star Wars – will GameCube, released in June 06 but didn’t do the lightning strike for a third time when it tries to great numbers one might expect from a TT tie interactive software with comics and toys?

STATISTICS Owned by: TT Games Founded: 1989 Head count: 123 Revenue per capita: £213,821

CONTACTS Main contact: Jon Burton Address: Canute Court, Toft Road, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 0NL, UK Tel: 01565 757300 Email: [email protected] www.t-tales.com

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ROCKSTAR LEEDS

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 6 £25.28M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO: LIBERTY CITY STORIES

TAKE 2

1

PSP PS2

NOV 05 JUN 06

£15.82m

TAKE 2

6

PSP

NOV 06

£7.94m

TAKE 2

1

PSP

SEP 05

£1.49

TAKE 2

1

GBA

MAR 04

£0.03m

TOTAL:

£25.28m

2 GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES

3 MIDNIGHT CLUB 3: DUB EDITION

4 MAX PAYNE

20

(100% of total revenues)

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UK

STUDIO PROFILE

S

teep jump up into the Top 10 for Since joining the Rockstar stable and helping Rockstar’s now world-famous handheld provide more bestselling GTA games, the studio team , taking its place here thanks to the has been trusted with every single PSP game PSP Grand Theft Autos and the PS2 release of the Rockstar releases, from the original GTA first of those, Liberty City Stories. adventures to ports of Midnight Club 3, The Although the studio is walking in the IP Warriors and the upcoming Manhunt 2. footsteps of Rockstar North, which also firmed Also in the works is Beaterator, a PSP music up its value on first a Liberty City GTA title and title being put together with R&B producer then a Vice City one, the studio isn’t walking in its Timbaland. The project turns Rockstar’s shadow. Instead, the team has previously web-only Beaterator proven itself as possibly the Rockstar Leeds music mixer kit into fully fledged biggest masters of the games software – and is the first will reap the PlayStation Portable – outside of announced in a number of similar SCE, anyway. Its engine capably benefits of any applications heading to the compresses the previously portable that other developers are attempt by console-only cities down to producing. Whether Rockstar portable form, a talent reflected Sony to add succeeds in that space off its in sales figures and review scores. brand name remains to be seen. vigour to PSP And its games are so good that And there’s more on the way, they have been ported back to allegedly – although the PS2 to almost double the GTA roster on that company’s notoriously tight grip on exposure platform – now there’s a complement. leave us to speculate. San Andreas Stories? The studio originally started out as GBA Possibly. Or perhaps a portable version of the specialist Mobius Entertainment, founded by newer GTA IV heading for PS3 and 360. One Gordon Hall, which produced versions of Max thing’s for sure – Vice City Stories probably isn’t Payne and, shall we say, less important licence- it’s last GTA game. based such as Barbie Horse Adventures . Whatever comes next, given the overall fewer It was work on the former which piqued numbers of PSP games being commissioned it’s Rockstar’s interest, and an April 2004 acquisition likely that Rockstar Leeds will continue to reap saw the team renamed to Rockstar Leeds. the benefits of any potential attempt by Sony to By late 2005 their growing size meant a add vigor to its platform, whether that’s through relocation was in order with the teams settled the long-rumoured and expected hardware into bigger premises. revision or simply more marketing money.

STATISTICS Owned by: Take 2 Founded: 1997 Head count: 55 Revenue per capita: £459,636

CONTACTS Address: 2nd Floor, 2 The Boulevard, City West One Office Park, Gelderd Road, Leeds, LS126NU, UK www.rockstarleeds.com

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In association with

UBISOFT (FRANCE)

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 7 £24.25M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON: ADV WARFIGHTER

UBISOFT

2

XB360, PS2, XB

MAR 06

£11.28m

UBISOFT

1

PS2, PSP, XB360 XB, PC, GC

NOV 05

£6.07m

UBISOFT

19

Wii

DEC 06

£2.75m

UBISOFT

27

Wii, PS2, GBA

DEC 06

£2.16m

UBISOFT

108

PS2

SEP 06

£0.37m

2 KING KONG: OFFICIAL GAME OF THE MOVIE

3 RED STEEL

4 RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS

5 RAYMAN 10TH ANNIVERSARY PACK

TOTAL:

22

£22.62m

(93% of total revenues)

>

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FRANCE

STUDIO PROFILE

U

bisoft France actually consists of four Elsewhere, the Wii was also big news teams: Montpellier, Montreuil and amongst the Ubisoft Montpellier team, which Annecy, plus Tiwak which was acquired houses 80 staff lead by Ubisoft’s French in 2004 and is also based in Monpellier – and development producer Xavier Pox and creative it’s a jump into the top ten from last year’s 13th director Michel Ancel. And the team has come a for Ubisoft’s collection of French teams thanks long way since its 1994 establishment as a to two significant next-gen formats, 360 and Wii. graphic design team called Ubi Pictures. Two of Under the skillful watch of the UbisoftAncel’s titles helped affirm the Ubisoft France owned Red Storm team in the US, the 170- studio network its place in the 100 this year – strong Montreuil office lead 2005’s King Kong and 2006 ‘s production on Tom Clancy’s Ubisoft France Rayman Raving Rabbids. The Ghost Recon: Advanced latter’s Wii relevance (advocating leaps up the Warfighter, taking it from an short, accessible minigames over ambitious concept that existed charts thanks to the theatrics seen in something as a video demo (pre-production King Kong) meant that it sold significant work like was done at Tiwak) before the well at the hardware launch, 360 was even announced, on 360 and accounting for almost three through to a record-breaking quarters of the title’s overall Nintendo Wii retail hit. At press time, the sales. sequel had already rocketed to Surprisingly, given the the top of the charts, meaning that Ubisoft considerably smaller size of its workforce, France has another high place guaranteed in Ubisoft France this year beat’s Ubisoft Montreal next year’s listing, before any of its other in the Develop 100 – whether that situation will releases are taken into account. revert back to form next year isn’t yet clear, but Montreuil also led the charge on another with another GRAW on the way, more Red Steel, important next-gen game, Red Steel for the and conception work being done at Tiwak on a Nintendo Wii. A new IP exclusively devised for new Hollywood licence-based title, the the Wiimote, the game’s £2.75m sales say it Ubisoft France network of smaller teams benefitted hugely from the machine’s launch – certainly seems to have kept its fighting spirit, now the studio has set itself up for a sequel, regardless of whatever gets said about the having hired more staff to help the franchise be shrinking size of the French games continued and grown. development industry.

STATISTICS Owned by: Ubisoft Founded: 1986 Head count: 300 Revenue per capita: £80,833

CONTACTS

www.ubi.com

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YUKE’S

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 8 £22.48M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2007

THQ

2

PS2, XB360, PSP

NOV 06

£15.92m

THQ

1

PS2 PSP

NOV 05 DEC 05

£5.83m

THQ

3

PS2

NOV 04

£0.42m

KONAMI

68

XB360

MAY 06

£0.52m

THQ

11

GC

SEP 05

£0.03m

TOTAL:

£22.43m

2 WWE SMACKDOWN! VS RAW 2006

3 WWE SMACKDOWN! VS RAW

4 RUMBLE ROSES XX

5 WWE: DAY OF RECKONING 2

24

(100% of total revenues)

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JAPAN

STUDIO PROFILE

I

t’s easy to take a glance at this entry, think Well, almost perfect. In late 2006 publisher ‘THQ’, ‘licensed wrestling game’ and ‘easy THQ surprised many by canning the Yuke’ssell’ and then flip the page and go straight made PS3 version of Smackdown vs Raw 2007, to the next entry – but wait. an official statement citing quality control Yuke’s jump up 14 places is enviable and a concerns impacting the 360 and PS2 versions, reward for its long-running work on the WWE understandably the more viable options given series of wrestling games it has worked on the hardware installed bases. Of course, the with THQ since 1998. Benefitting from lack of PS3 roll-out in the UK in 2006 means continued sales of its 2005 release that the existence of the game is negligible, Smackdown vs Raw 2006 and but it proves that Yuke’s already then the Christmas crossover as has technology and experience Expansion into consumers switched over to the in place for new formats, hinting 2007 edition, the studio’s the US is proof that as the WWE series software generated an extra continues to spread across of a studio £7.22m in revenue over the formats, its producing studio previous year, underlining the brave to take a can expect to hold a highreputation it has passed on to spot in the Develop 100. gamble from its placing the WWE franchise. While Yuke’s In the meantime, Yuke’s name may not go on the front sure-fire hits continues to drive activity of the box, superseded by a big securing a future that isn’t brand and men with even bigger muscles, its dependent on WWE or THQ. deliberate focus on combat fighting games has In the middle of 2006 the company opened served it will in over 14 years of business. Yuke’s Company of America a US-based office Indeed, so well-tuned are its sensibilities it designed to help the company spread its is a majority stakeholder in the New Japan Pro publishing operation to North America, catering Wrestling League, and so well-known is its for PS3, PS2, PSP and 360. Its first release was reputation that fellow top 10 outfit Konami giving American audiences its D1 Grand Prix turned to the the team to help on the Xbox title from Japan. In the age of Burnout and 360 version of Rumble Roses. Project Gotham, press response was With Yuke’s self-professed attention to underwhelming to say the least – but the detail Rumble Roses proves that it isn’t a one- decision is evidence a company that’s brave to trick pony and that the studio is a perfect take a gamble when its sure-fire hits from the match for next-gen. Smackdown stable aren’t going anywhere.

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1993 Head count: 85 Revenue per capita: £264,470

CONTACTS Main contact: Yukinori Taniguchi, CEO Address: 4-45-1, Ebisjima, Sakai Osaka 5900985, Japan Tel: 81-72-224-5155 www.yukes.co.jp

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 9 £22.02M

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, XB, XB360

MAR 06

£22.02m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

XB360, PSP, XB

OCT 06

£5.40m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

2

PS2, XB360, PSP XB, GC

OCT 05

£3.92m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

16

PS2, XB, GC

NOV 05

£1.75

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

PS2, XB, GC

SEP 04

£0.23m

TOTAL:

£21.63m

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 THE GODFATHER

2 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 07

3 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 06

4 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

5 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2005

26

(89% of total revenues)

>

EA REDWOOD SHORES

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A

nother year, another step down the list editions are heading out (called The Don’s Edition for the development team at EA’s and The Blackhand Edition respectively), but corporate HQ (it was number four in given the many well-documented battles the the 2005 edition, and at eight last year). development team went through to get the As to what’s causing the slip, it seems mixed game out in the first place (it slipped between EA fortunes in the world of entertainment financial years – a big no no) it will be little licencing seems to be the biggest point of wonder if they don’t want to repeat the journey umbrage – in 2006, it turned out the 2005- for games two and three. released From Russia With Love would be the Even that game outselling EA Redwood last EA-made Bond game as the Shores’ signature title, Tiger publisher handed over the Woods, is a bit of a hollow The Simpsons licence to rival Activision. The victory as the team only news came off the back of EA’s game alone focused on the 360, PSP and publically-expressed sentiments Xbox versions of the game, the should further that it wanted to broaden its ports to PS2 and PC handled by portfolio away from the quick- prove Redwood Headgate Studios, which EA term fix that licensed IP towards the end of Shores’ money- acquired provided and create more 2006 (and is at number 40). making ability franchises it owned. However, it’s extremely likely In the meantime, EA RS was that 2007 will be the year still committed to bringing The Godfather to Redwood Shores could strike back and reclaim consoles, which it did – the game was released a position higher up the charts. Woods sold in March 2006 and is Redwood Shore’s biggest well on 360 in just a few weeks, setting it up seller. The specialist press’ typically sneery well for the inevitable PS3 version (Headgate attitude means that the game itself has a bit remains in control of the Wii one). of a mixed reputation, although a mid-70 And while licences are less of a priority at Metacritic average suggests a solid game. EA, Redwood Shores still has to show its hand Whether the series has the long-term legs EA on The Simpsons licence, secured in 2005 with hoped for is not known – the plan had been to the first game tipped for release with the July make a game from each episode in The 2007 movie of the cartoon TV show. It’s one of Godfather movie trilogy, but whether that works the biggest merchandising lines on the planet with the publisher’s new originality-focused – the game alone should further prove RS’ mandate isn’t clear. While PS3 and Wii tailored money-making ability.

STATISTICS Owned by: Electronic Arts Founded: 1982 Head count: undiscclosed

CONTACTS Address: 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, California, 90465, USA Tel: 1 650 628 1500 www.ea.com

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 10 £21.64M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS

UBISOFT

10

XB360, PC

NOV 06

£5.87m

UBISOFT

5

PS2, XB, PC ,Wii GC

OCT 06

£2.91m

UBISOFT

8

XB360

MAR 06

£2.37m

UBISOFT

4

PS2, XB, PC, GC

DEC 05

£2.05m

UBISOFT

18

PSP

APR 06

£1.94

TOTAL:

£15.14m

2 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT

3 FAR CRY: INSTINCTS PREDATOR

4 PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE TWO THRONES

5 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: ESSENTIALS

30

(70% of total revenues)

>

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CANADA

STUDIO PROFILE

N

ext-gen seems to be the big priority at Persia) are two of the top titles when it comes to Ubisoft Montreal, whose maintaining of Ubisoft’s attempts to succeed in the licenced its place in the top 10 – although, not the game arena – last year’s Ubisoft France same place, as it falls from last year’s six – comes production King Kong needs to be proven as in part from two 360 titles, Rainbow Six: Vegas more than a fluke if the publisher part of the Ubi and Far Cry: Instincts Predator. brain wants to be taken seriously next to Together having made almost £8m from a property magnets Activision, THQ and Vivendi. userbase of over one million, the two games are However the big hope to come out of Ubisoft key examples of how much Ubisoft understands Montreal in 2007 is Assassin’s Creed, produced by the investment in software the series behind Prince of Persia: development (as we’ve also of Time. It’s a brand new IP, Local tax breaks Sands discussed in Ubisoft France’s and an ambitious multi-format entry). Identifying the toll make the project for next-gen, the creation transition would take, it ramped of which is also helping inform frightening scale up production and staff across all the studio’s tools pipeline. its studios and made sure that it of next-gen a What will also work in Ubisoft had key games ready at crucial Montreal’s favour for these and less-worrying moments – so from Montreal the other projects is its very location. new Far Cry was ready for Easter prospect Its Quebec basing means it has sales, and Vegas out for been privvy to the generous tax Christmas. breaks implemented by the local government for Even with such aggresive development - at a number of years, which makes the otherwise one point the Rainbow Six game reportedly had frightening economies of scale next-gen has the 200 staff working on it – 2006 was arguably potential to demand a less worrying prospect. more of a year of behind-the-scenes activity for Most recently, Ubisoft and the government the Ubisoft studios based in Quebec (as well as announced a deal that sees the company get an the big operation in the city of Montreal, there’s extra cash boost to help staff up its studios also a 200-strong team in Quebec City), because further with another 1,000 hirings – half for its teams’ biggest projects are due this year. game production roles, the other half for a new Lost: The Video Game (based on the TV show) animation studio. At the latter, the first project and the adaptation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja will be an animated short of Assassin’s Creed, Turtles movie (which by all reports take cues proving just how serious the company is taking from other Montreal hits Far Cry and Prince of the construction of a new games property.

STATISTICS Owned by: Ubisoft Founded: 1997 Head count: 1,600 Revenue per capita: £13,525

CONTACTS

www.ubi.com

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AMAZE ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

29

STATISTICS Owned by: Foundation 9 Founded: 1996

1 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:DEAD MAN’S CHEST

UP FROM

USA

NO. 11 £21.58M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Head count: 300 DISNEY INTERACTIVE 4

PSP, DS, GBA

ELECTRONIC ARTS

DS, GBA

JUL 06

£3.95m

Revenue per capita: £71,933

NOV 04

£3.33m

CONTACTS

2 THE SIMS 2

1

Address: 12421 Willows Road, NE

3 LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY

2000, Kirkland, Washington 98034, USA LUCASARTS

1

DS, GBA

SEP 06

£2.66m www.amazeent.com

4 ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN

VIVENDI GAMES

2

DS, GBA

MAR 06

£2.41m

DISNEY INTERACTIVE 7

DS, GBA

NOV 05

£2.18m

TOTAL:

£14.53m

5 NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH & WARDROBE

A substantial improvement from its placing in previous years (position 29 in 2006 and 35 in 2005) Amaze is clearly going from strength to strength by focussing on what it knows best: porting highprofile licences to handheld platforms. Based in the suburbs of Washington, Amaze has also underlined its success over the last 12 months by expanding its staff roster from 200 to 270.

32

And that’s not all. At the close of 2006 Amaze signed a deal to merge forces with Foundation 9. Amaze’s labels – KnowWonder, Griptonite, Monsoon and Fizz Factor – will continue to focus on bringing titles such as Shrek the Third and the Pirates of the Caribbean series to handheld platforms. Significantly, the combined forces of the two companies, which include studios The Collective,

(67% of total revenues)

Backbone Entertainment, Pipeworks, Digital Eclipse and Shiny Entertainment now makes it the largest independent dev in the world (with some 750 staff). But the new super-developer is keen to keep the brands separate for now and foster their own identities – hence why stablemates Backbone and The Collective can be found elsewhere in the 100 at positions 55 and 67.


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TREYARCH

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

17

2

STATISTICS Owned by: Activision Founded: 1996

1 CALL OF DUTY 3

UP FROM

USA

NO. 12 £20.41M TOP TITLES

>

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Head count: 150 ACTIVISION

3

XB360, PS2, Wii XB

NOV 06

£16.10m

ACTIVISION

3

PS2, XB, GC

NOV 05

£2.26m

ACTIVISION

4

PS2, XB, GBA, DS OCT 05 GC, PC

£1.64m

ACTIVISION

1

PS2, XB, GC

JUL 04

£0.32m

ACTIVISION

2

PS2, GC, XB

JUN 02

£0.08m

Revenue per capita: £136,006

2 CALL OF DUTY 2: BIG RED ONE

3 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN

CONTACTS

www.treyarch.com

4 SPIDER-MAN 2

5 SPIDER-MAN THE MOVIE

When Call of Duty 2 became the best-selling Xbox 360 launch title it was clear why Treyarch had gone from obscure PC developer to industry heavyweight in the space of eight years. Known mainly for doing a sterling job freshening up the Spider-Man licence for a new generation of kids and consoles, Activision’s decision to give the Santa Monica-based developer its massive WWII IP was hardly a risk. Now with the

recently released Call of Duty 3 doing big numbers on 360, PS3, Wii, PS2 and Xbox Treyarch has gained a reputation not only for quality but also consistency and reliability. And the future is looking rosy, too. Although not officially announced Treyarch is currently recruiting for its next big project: cross-platform development on the next Bond title (a licence which Activision

ofatotal secured(100% from EA year revenues) ago). With Treyarch’s ability to hit the ground running with new technology, cool as a cucumber project management and design ideas in abundance we can expect Bond to be back on form after a few slender years – just like the recent film. But all this movie-based licence activity means one thing: don’t expect any original IP to emerge from a developer with a nose this close to the grindstone.

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In association with

EA UK - CRITERION

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

24

STATISTICS Owned by: Electronic Arts Founded: 2006 (formed from

1 BLACK

UP FROM

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NO. 13 £19.10M TOP TITLES

>

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Criterion, EA Chertsey and EA NW) ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, XB

FEB 06

£7.16m

Head count: 450 Revenue per capita: £42,444

2 BATTLEFIELD 2: MODERN COMBAT

ELECTRONIC ARTS

10

XB360, PS2, XB

NOV 05

£3.35m

Address: Onslow House, Onslow Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4TL,

3 BURNOUT REVENGE

UK ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

XB360, PS2, XB

SEP 05

£3.34m

www.ea.com

4 HARRY POTTER & GOBLET OF FIRE

CONTACTS

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, PSP, XB, PC GC

ELECTRONIC ARTS

2

PSP

NOV 05

£3.30m

SEP 05

£1.34m

TOTAL:

£12.11m

5 BURNOUT LEGENDS

Taking into account the 2006 amalgamation of EA Chertsey and Criterion into a new base in Guildford (and the closure of EA North West), this entry rolls the EA UK teams into one consolidated entry. The bulk of its success, however, comes from the Criterion label (which was 24th last year) and its Burnout titles. Since being acquired in 2004, Criterion has reaped the benefits of aligning itself with EA. Many developers

34

may produce one popular franchise – the test of greatness is surely coming up with another. Black went straight to the top of the charts. Its focus on destructible environments, excessive visual and auditory feedback and weapons of small-scale mass destruction gave it the appellation 'gun porn' and is only the first step in another visceral franchise. But Burnout and Black aren't just million-selling

(100% of total revenues)

blockbusters – they laugh in the face of narrow demographics, appealing to gamers of all tastes. While activity behind its RenderWare tech has quitened, Criterion has become focused – an ethos EA UK GM Fiona Sperry (the former head of Criterion) wants to roll out to all Electronic Arts’ UK games. This also appears to be a part of the Burnout 5 ethos – creative director Alex Ward says it reinvents the series.


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HIGHEST UK CHART

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UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1993 Head count: 280

SONY

23

PS2

OCT 06

£2.17m

Revenue per capita: £62,929

SONY

13

PS2

APR 06

£2.15m

CONTACTS

2 SINGSTAR ROCKS!

10

Owned by: Sony

1 SINGSTAR LEGENDS

DOWN FROM

UK

NO. 14 £17.62M TOP TITLES

>

14

LONDON STUDIO

Main contact: Nancy Gatehouse Address: 15 Great Marlborough

3 GANGS OF LONDON

Street, London W1F 7HR, UK SONY

11

PSP

AUG 06

£2.18m Tel: 020 7859 0000 Email: [email protected]

4 SINGSTAR ANTHEMS

www.scee.com SONY

11

PS2

AUG 06

£2.89m

SONY

7

PS2

MAY 05

£2.01m

TOTAL:

£10.52m

5 SINGSTAR POPWORLD

On the surface Sony's London Studio seems to be slipping (it was at number six in 2005 and 10th last year) but there's a multitude of ideas and projects bubbling under the surface. Its R&D department pioneered the excellent EyeToy and SingStar concepts and this year another all-new project is in the works – Home. The PS3’s online social virtual world, it’s been almost three years in the

making, and is a fairly solid example of the thorough gestation process its ideas go through. It’s not the studio’s only online endeavour, however. The next milestone will be the introduction of networked commerce (downloadable songs) and community functions (uploadable videos) via SingStar for PS3. In terms of other software the World Tour Soccer brand has been a surprise success on PSP and further

(60% of total revenues)

iterations on both PSP and PS3 appear imminent. Plus, The Getaway is currently receiving a next-generation makeover and could easily surpass the 3.5m units the original attained when it was released on PS2. Other exciting developments include Eight Days, a hoodlum adventure set in sun-scorched Arizona with high-impact vehicle chases and guns-blazing action.

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CRYSTAL DYNAMICS

CANADA PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 15 £16.48M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1992 Head count: Undisclosed EIDOS

1

PS2, XB360, PSP XB, PC, GC

APR 06

£16.33m

EIDOS

38

PS2, XB, PC

FEB 05

£0.13m

2 PROJECT: SNOWBLIND

CONTACTS Address: 64 Willow Place, Menlo Park, 94025, California, USA

3 LEGACY OF KAIN: DEFIANCE

STATISTICS Owned by: Eidos

1 TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND

NEW

ENTRY

EIDOS

10

PC, PS2, XB

FEB 04

TOTAL: Crystal Dynamics didn't even make the list last year, but one game changed everything: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Legend. After the debacle that was Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness Eidos swiftly changed tack and passed development duties away from Derbybased Core Design and to Crystal before you could say ‘badly implemented Parisian sewer level’. It could have been a poisoned chalice, but the San Francisco-

£0.02m

£16.48m

based developer transformed and revitalised Lara, winning over consumers and press alike. In fact, sales of Tomb Raider: Legend exceeded 2.6 million within five weeks of release. Crystal Dynamics came to prominence on the back of titles such as Gex, Pandemonium and the Legacy of Kain series so it knows a thing or two about extracting the most from a franchise.The company is

www.crystald.com

(100% of total revenues)

currently polishing off cross-platform development of Tomb Raider: Anniversary (a re-working of Lara's original outing on PSone, Saturn and PC back in 1996) and is likely to lead to more Crystal Lara titles for at least another decade. There's no official news on any other games coming out of the studio but a new Kain title or fresh IP shouldn't be ruled out.

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16

EPIC GAMES

USA PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 16 £15.81M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1991 Head count: 80 MICROSOFT

1

XB360

NOV 06

£15.61m

MIDWAY

25

XB

APR 05

£0.12m

2 UNREAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2: LIANDRI CONFLICT

Revenue per capita: £197,625

CONTACTS Main contact: Mark Rein Address: [email protected]

3 UNREAL ANTHOLOGY

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent

1 GEARS OF WAR

NEW

ENTRY

MIDWAY

607

PC

NOV 06

£0.04m

ATARI

4

XB

APR 04

£0.02m

ATARI

6

PS2

APR 01

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£15.81m

www.epicgames.com

4 UNREAL II - THE AWAKENING

5 UNREAL TOURNAMENT

What a year it's been for Epic. Known mainly for its Unreal series of games, Epic has now created a second multi-million selling franchise in Gears of War. Although sequels are unannounced, this brand isn't going anywhere – any game that gets 3m unit sales in 10 weeks is sure to be exploited for all it's worth. With programming supremo Tim Sweeney as founder, the plain-speaking Mark Rein as vice

president and loquacious Cliff Bleszinski as lead designer – not to mention a loyal team behind them – it's difficult to see how Epic can drop the ball. But even more impressive than the resplendent games they've released in the last couple of years is the technology that drives everything. Unreal Engine 3 is fast becoming something of an industry standard, with a number of publishers licensing the engine.

(100% of total revenues)

While the company is currently finishing work on Unreal Tournament III for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, you can expect to see it offering further support for its tech and licensing partnerss. Which leaves just one question – with a must have technology, best-selling IP, and an established history, what’s the chance of Epic and Unreal being bought, like Criterion and Renderware waas?

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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Head count: 800 CAPCOM

1

XB360

CAPCOM

5

GC PS2

SEP 06

£6.68m

Revenue per capita: £19,475

MAR 05 NOV 05

£1.73m

CONTACTS UK address: 9th Floor, 26-28 Hammersmith Grove, London,

3 MONSTER HUNTER: FREEDOM

W67 HA CAPCOM

20

PSP

MAY 06

£1.26m Tel: 0208 846 2550

4 ONIMUSHA: DAWN OF DREAMS

STATISTICS Founded: 1979

2 RESIDENT EVIL 4

12

Owned by: Capcom Co. Ltd

1 DEAD RISING

DOWN FROM

JAPAN

NO. 17 £15.58M TOP TITLES

>

17

CAPCOM

www.capcom-euro.com CAPCOM

26

PS2

MAR 06

£0.62m

CAPCOM

28

PSP

MAR 06

£0.61m

TOTAL:

£10.91m

5 STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 MAX

Surely one of the biggest surprises of 2006 was Dead Rising – not so much for the (nevertheless impressive) sales it achieved, but for the way it transmogrified from button-mashing tech demo to multi-layered action adventure in just a few months. Elsewhere in the Capcom stable, the magnificent Resident Evil 4 continued to sell into 2006, and deservedly so, while Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and

40

Monster Hunter: Freedom managed to notch up relatively healthy sales. So what's next for one of the industry's most creative companies? If the likes of the recentlyreleased Lost Planet are anything to go by, then more innovation, left-field thinking and high review scores. And the big franchises – including Resident Evil and Devil May Cry 4 – are all getting next-gen treatment.

(70% of total revenues)

There is a bittersweet tinge to some of the company’s activity to chase better-selling product, however. In 2006 it announced its Clover studio was to close. The team had produced a number of iconic games that didn’t really fulfil their sales potential, such as Viewtiful Joe, but found strong core audiences. Ironically one of its final games (Okami, released in Feb 2007) rocketed to the top of the PS2 chart.


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18

In association with

SPORTS INTERACTIVE

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1994 Head count: 38

SEGA

1

PC, PSP, XB360

OCT 06

£9.28m

Revenue per capita: £407,631

SEGA

2

PC, PSP, XB360

SEP 05

£5.83m

CONTACTS

2

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2006

26

Owned by: Sega

1 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2007

UP FROM

UK

NO. 18 £15.49M TOP TITLES

>

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Address: PO Box 60255, London EC1P 1GG, UK

3 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2005

SEGA

3

PC

NOV 04

£0.19m

EIDOS

1

PC, XB

OCT 01

£0.06m

EIDOS

1

PC, MAC

MAR 03

£0.05m

TOTAL:

£15.42m

www.sigames.com

4

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: SEASON 01/02

5 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 4

The last couple of years at Sports Interactive has been eventful to say the least. First it severed ties with previous publisher Eidos, found friends at a newly resurgent Sega Europe, and was finally acquired by Sega in 2006 for an estimated £30m. In terms of output it hasn’t been shirking responsibility, either – developing a 2006 and 2007

42

iteration of the excellent Football Manager on Xbox 360, PC and PSP. Sega took a calculated risk going head to head against Eidos' own Championship Manager brand, but if sales – and Metacritic – are anything to go by then Sports Interactive is way in front on points and with two games in hand. But enough of the terrace puns, SI has also been introducing its addictive number-crunching skills to

(100% of total revenues)

other sports including Ice Hockey, with the NHL East Side Hockey Manager series, and Baseball, with the Out of the Park Baseball titles. However the former struggled via its digital distribution only sales in the US, its target market, due to piracy – according to Sports Interactive – and development has been halted. But that’s just a blip: Football Manager is its asset and continues to do well, whatever the weather.


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19

RADICAL ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Head count: 230 VIVENDI GAMES

2

PS2, XB, PC

OCT 06

£7.77m

Revenue per capita: £65,455

VIVENDI GAMES

2

PS2, XB, PC, GC

NOV 03

£3.19m

CONTACTS Address: 8th Floor, 369 Terminal Avenue, Vancouver, British

3 CRASH TAG TEAM RACING

STATISTICS Founded: 1991

2 THE SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN

21

Owned by: Vivdeni Games

1 SCARFACE: THE WORLD IS YOURS

UP FROM

CANADA

NO. 19 £15.05M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Columbia, V6A 4C4, Canada VIVENDI GAMES

19

PSP, PS2, XB, GC

NOV 05

£2.44m

Tel: +1 604 688 0606 www.radical.ca

4

INCREDIBLE HULK: ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION

VIVENDI GAMES

5

PS2, XB, GC

SEP 05

£0.47m

PC

DEC 06

£0.32m

TOTAL:

£14.19m

5 THE COMPLETE CSI

UBISOFT

To some extent Radical is still living off the kudos, not to mention royalties, from the runaway success of The Simpsons: Hit & Run which is still selling bucket loads a full three years after its original release. It must be noted, however, that the money from that game for publisher-owner Vivendi is starting to run out. So Scarface: The World is Yours was a big game for Radical – if only to prove it could achieve success with

44

188

something other than a Simpson's inspired title. The resulting game on Xbox, PS2 and PC was met with some critical plaudits but slipped numerous times before its eventual release. Still, the numbers don't lie; £8m worth of sales (predominantly on PS2, we might add) in the UK must have settled a few nerves at the company. Resurrecting old movie property is never an easy task, but while Scarface did garner moderate to

(94% of total revenues)

good review scores Vivendi is unlikely to say hello to a sequel – especially given it was itself a sequel to the iconic Al Pacino movie. There’s little firm information on what the studio is currently developing but since kid-friendly Vivendi calls the shots you can expect a stream of bestselling, if predictable, character-based licensed titles to pour out of its doors over the next couple of years.


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RELENTLESS STUDIOS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

43

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2003

1 BUZZ! THE BIG QUIZ

UP FROM

UK

NO. 20 £14.05M TOP TITLES

>

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Head count: 45 SONY

3

PS2

MAR 06

£9.41m

Revenue per capita: £312,223

SONY

13

PS2

OCT 05

£4.64m

CONTACTS

2 BUZZ! THE MUSIC QUIZ

Main contact: David Amor & Andrew Eades

3 DJ - DECKS & FX

Address: One Air Street SONY

842

PS2

SEP 04

£0.01m

Brighton, BN1 3FB, UK Email: [email protected] www.relentless.co.uk

TOTAL: This Brighton-based outfit makes games that can be picked up and played by anyone, and is proud of it. Its first title DJ Decks & FX didn't sell particularly well, but showed the kind of cultural savvy Sony had secured with a first-party publishing deal. And after careful collaboration the two devised the superb Buzz! series Buzz! The Music Quiz and Buzz! The Big Quiz have introduced games to plenty of people who would

£14.05m

otherwise ignore them, as well as getting the party started at many a Christmas gathering. The series has also helped the team win both Develop awards and BAFTAs. Buzz! for now remains the studio’s focus in the short-term, with Buzz! The Mega Quiz imminent and interesting spin-off Buzz! The Schools Quiz currently in development. This latter is backed by the UK’s

(100% of total revenues)

Department for Education and Skills and, if taken seriously by schools, could prove to be a winner over the next few years. Although unlikely to take over from exams, we look forward to the day school lessons revolve around pressing big red buttons. And the long-term? The studio is currently recruiting for staff to support an unannounced new Sony first-party title it describes as ‘cartoon like’.

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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 2001 Head count: 152

SEGA

26

DS

NOV 05

£4.01m

Revenue per capita: £84,802

SEGA

17

PS2, XB, GC, PC

MAR 06

£2.28m

CONTACTS

2 SONIC RIDERS

19

Owned by: Sega

1 SONIC RUSH

DOWN FROM

JAPAN

NO. 21 £12.89M TOP TITLES

>

21

SONIC TEAM

Address: 1-2-12 Haneda, Ota-Ku, Tokyo 144-8531

3 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

SEGA

45

XB360

NOV 06

£2.27m

Tel: 81-72-224-5155 www.sonicteam.com

4 SONIC HEROES

SEGA

1

PS2, XB, PC, GC

FEB 04

£1.50m

SEGA

1

XB, PS2, PC

FEB 05

£1.41m

TOTAL:

£11.47m

5

SONIC MEGA COLLECTION PLUS

The history of Sonic Team is not the most straightforward. It originally started out as AM8 (one of Sega’s blandly named subsidiary companies before the demise of Dreamcast). After Sega’s major restructuring of 2001 the studio morphed into Sonic Team to deal with everything Sonic-related. It was headed up by Yuji Naka and in 2003 eventually subsumed United Game Artists (formerly Sega AM9).

But in a shift which surprised many, Naka left the company with ten other employees to set up Prope in April 2006. Whatever difficulties this team is going through, behind the scenes one thing is constant: Sonic The Hedgehog's huge popularity. While the blue erinaceinae has not been on best form of late any game bearing his brand sells a million effortlessly. Just

(89% of total revenues)

look at the recently released Wii-exclusive Sonic and the Secret Rings, which will help Sonic Team secure another high place next year. However, other previous Sonic Team titles – such as Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg and The Rub Rabbits – show the team’s desire to innovate and break out of their boundary, so don't rule out fresh IP to complement more Sonic shenanigans later this year.

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22

In association with

BETHESDA

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 22 £11.11M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1986 Head count: Undisclosed TAKE 2

1

XB360, PC

MAR 06

£10.58m

UBISOFT

48

XB, PC

NOV 03

£0.28m

2 MORROWIND: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION

CONTACTS Main Contact: Pete Hines Address: Bethesda Softworks LLC

3 THE ELDER SCROLLS IV KNIGHTS OF THE

STATISTICS Owned by: ZeniMax

1 THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION

NEW

ENTRY

1370 Piccard Drive, Suite 120 UBISOFT

163

PC

NOV 06

£0.18m

Rockville, MD 20850, USA

NINE Email:[email protected]

4 ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND

www.bethsoft.com UBISOFT

10

XB, PC

MAY 02

£0.06m

AVALON

116

PC

MAY 01

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£11.11m

5 F-16 AGGRESSOR

This is the first time on the list for Bethesda – but what a way to do it. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has picked up a multitude of awards since it was released on Xbox 360 and PC and racked up an impressive sales value. The game shows an astonishing level of detail and openness that puts even the Grand Theft Auto titles to shame. Sure, critics have noted the quirks, the

50

occasional bug and a kind of dead feel to some of the towns and cities, but with so much to see, do and experiment with this one title catapulted the company straight into the top league for next-gen. Bethesda Softworks, which is actually a division of larger media company Zenimax Media, is not shy to try other things and among its copious softography you can find property as diverse as Pirates of the

(100% of total revenues)

Caribbean, Call of Cthulhu, IHRA Professional Drag Racing and a host of Star Trek licensed games. Although the company is unlikely to focus solely on Elder Scrolls it’s clear the studio knows that this is where the money is. Expansions have sold well both at retail and via Xbox Live – despite some controversy on the latter regarding price – proving that this is one cashcow that isn’t dying off any time soon.


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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1955 Head count: 1,000

SONY

12

PSP

SEP 06

£2.61m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

25

XB360

JAN 06

£0.93m

2 RIDGE RACER 6

14

Owned by: Bandai Namco Games

1 TEKKEN: DARK RESURRECTION

DOWN FROM

JAPAN

NO. 13 £13.68M TOP TITLES

>

23

NAMCO

Revenue per capita: £13,680

CONTACTS Address: 5th Floor Panton House, 25 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4EN, UK

3 RIDGE RACER

SONY

1

PSP

SEP 05

£0.84m

Tel: 0207 484 3350 Email: [email protected] www.namco.com

4 ACE COMBAT: THE BELKAN WAR

SONY

21

PS2

SEP 06

£0.73m

SONY

49

PS2

NOV 05

£0.65m

TOTAL:

£13.67 m

4 SOULCALIBUR III

Though Namco merged with Bandai to form Namco Bandai holdings back in 2005 the fruits of that relationship have yet to be harvested. And looking at the raw data it would appear that Namco is happy to rest on its laurels for the time being, producing yet more Tekken, Ace Combat and Ridge Racer sequels. Early 2006 saw the opening of a US subsidiary to deal with e-commerce and mobile game, although

this has mostly resulted in the porting of arcade stalwarts such as Pac-Man and Galaxian. The only glimmer of originality of late was Keita Takahashi's strange and enchanting Katamari Damacy, which reaped few rewards in terms of global sales, even when EA Partners pushed it in Europe. Takahashi’s reluctance to let the game be iterated and sequelised was at odds with the Namco

(100% of total revenues)

ethos, and seems to have limited the series’ outings to just two PS2 games and a PSP title. Currently, Ridge Racer 7 for PS3 is racking up decent sales and a next-gen revamp of Ace Combat is inevitable, if only because Namco seems to hold on to its franchises, and its past, so valiantly. Still, this is a company that consistently hits the top 30 grade every year, so something is clearly working.

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A2M

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1992 Head count: 380 MIDWAY

7

DS, PS2, GBA, PC NOV 06 Wii

£4.92m

Revenue per capita: £28,684

THQ

51

DS, PS2, GBA, XB GC

£1.59m

CONTACTS

2 SCOOBY DOO: UNMASKED

SEP 05

Main contact: Remi Racine Address: 416 Maissonneuve West,

3 MONSTER HOUSE

Suite 600, Montreal, Quebec, H3A THQ

12

PS2, DS, GBA, GC AUG 06

£1.58m

1LA, Canada Email: [email protected]

4 SCOOBY-DOO! MYSTERY MAYHEM

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent

1 HAPPY FEET

UP FROM

55

CANADA

NO. 24 £10.90M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

www.a2m.com THQ

12

GBA, PS2, XB, GC NOV 03

£1.01m

GBA

£0.53m

5 CHICKEN LITTLE

DISNEY INTERACTIVE 9

FEB 06

TOTAL: The big leap up the charts for A2M (from position 55 last year) is largely down to the phenomenal success of movie tie-in Happy Feet. This is the company's biggest hit to date and although it has achieved superb sales by churning out annual Scooby-Doo titles, Happy Feet ensures a future developing games based on kid-friendly cartoon and movie properties for a very long time. Disney is currently on board with

52

£9.64m

the soon to be released Kim Possible: Global Gemini, THQ has had relative success with Monster House and if Happy Feet is anything to go by Midway will no doubt be coming back for more A2M (which stands for Artificial Mind & Movement) is based in Montreal and prides itself on team spirit, diversity and creativity.Yes, it is known for cartoon games but its past is also peppered with

(88% of total revenues)

chancy, though ultimately disappointing, urban games including Get on Da Mic and Flow: Urban Dance. Regardless, publishers with satchels full of totfocused licences can't stop knocking on its door, knowing that it is a studio to trust. And with the studio promising that it has its own new handheld and console games in the works, there’s every chance it will be back here next year.


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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1995 Head count: 500 ELECTRONIC ARTS

5

PC, XB360

JUL 06

£5.49m

Revenue per capita: £19,180

ELECTRONIC ARTS

53

PC

FEB 06

£1.34m

CONTACTS

2

COMMAND & CONQUER: THE FIRST DECADE

Address: 5510 Lincoln Boulevard, Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California

3 MEDAL OF HONOR: EUROPEAN ASSAULT

STATISTICS Owned by: Electronic Arts

1 LOTR: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH II

20

USA

NO. 25 £9.59M TOP TITLES

>

25

EA LA

DOWN FROM

90094, USA ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, XB, GC

JUN 05

£1.11m www.eala.com

4

LOTR: BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH II: THE WITCH-KING

ELECTRONIC ARTS

81

PC

DEC 06

£0.52m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

15

PC

DEC 04

£0.42m

TOTAL:

£8.87m

4 LOTR: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH

Look at EA LA's recent product list and there's an air of predictability about it: Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, Command & Conquer: Generals, Command & Conquer: The First Decade, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II. It doesn't take a soothsayer to tell you what's coming next. Which isn’t to denigrate the studio for delivering what the public wants –

quality updates of very popular franchises. The numbers are still impressive when you consider there's been considerable upheaval (DreamWorks, EA Pacific and Westwood studios all merged to form this new EA hub) with a 2003 relocation to the new campus at the Play Vista complex in West LA. Now numbering over 500 staff EA LA looks like it has settled down after a bout of 'internal balancing' –

(93% of total revenues)

one Lord of the Rings game, The Grey Council, is now on hold as EA lessens is focus on licences. Medal of Honor:Airborne and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars are due in 2007, but the studio has assigned some of its top designers to work on three titles co-devised with Steven Spielberg. It would certainly be refreshing to see all those Hollywood resources used to generate something truly original.

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HB STUDIOS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 2000 Head count: 60 ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PSP

MAR 06

£3.57m

Revenue per capita: £137,834

ELECTRONIC ARTS

4

PS2, XB, PC

FEB 06

£2.59m

CONTACTS

2 RUGBY 06

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent

1 FIFA STREET 2

UP FROM

32

CANADA

NO. 28 £8.27M TOP TITLES

>

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Main contact: Melanie Williams Address: The Hive Box, 725

3 CRICKET 07

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, B0J 2CO, ELECTRONIC ARTS

33

PS2, PC

NOV 06

£2.28m

Email: [email protected]

4 CRICKET 2005

Canada

ELECTRONIC ARTS

4

PS2, PC, XB

JUN 05

£0.31m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

6

PS2, XB, PC

MAR 05

£0.23m

TOTAL:

£7.78m

5 RUGBY 2005

HB Studios keeps going from strength to strength and improves considerably from its already-impressive 32nd place in last year’s Develop 100 list. The independent developer has released three hit titles in the last 12 months – FIFA Street 2 (PSP only), Rugby 06 and Cricket 07 – and continues to impress with its ability to deliver very British sports from its Canadian HQ.

Now numbering 60 staff the future continues to look rosy with UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 (PS2, PC and PSP) already released. The only question mark hanging over HB Studios is its ability to move up to next-generation development. Although the company is likely to continue on existing platforms for a while, the move will need to be made very soon if it is to keep pace in

(94% of total revenues)

an ever-changing industry. There are encouraging signs this is on the cards however and a codevelopment deal with EA Canada to bring Madden NFL 07 to Wii will no doubt pave the way. Other than this HB Studios boast four other projects in development but no firm announcements have been made as we go to print. In all likelihood they will all include a sports ball of some kind.

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PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Codemasters Founded: 1986

1 TOCA RACE DRIVER 3

31

UK

NO. 27 £8.83M TOP TITLES

<

27

CODEMASTERS

UP FROM

Head count: 250 CODEMASTERS

2

PS2, XB, PC

FEB 06

£3.60m

Revenue per capita: £35,320

CODEMASTERS

4

PS2, XB360, PC

SEP 06

£2.82m

CONTACTS

2 LMA MANAGER 2007

Main contact: Gavin Cheshire, VP of Studos

3 LMA MANAGER 2006

Address: CODEMASTERS

13

PS2, XB

NOV 05

£1.40m

Stoneythorpe, Southam, Warwickshire, CV47 2DL, UK

4 COLIN MCRAE RALLY 2005

Tel: +44 (0)1926 814 132 CODEMASTERS

10

PS2, XB, PC

SEP 04

£0.54m www.codemasters.com www.thenewbreed.info

5 COLIN MCRAE RALLY 3

CODEMASTERS

Codemasters has never been afraid to try new things and while 2006’s output hardly reads like a catalogue of originality, the future couldn't be more different. In external development a vast amount of cash is being injected into MMO ventures Archlord, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, the latter being the big hope of establishing an online presence to rival Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. And

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3

XB, PS2 PC

OCT 02

£0.09m

TOTAL:

£8.45m

internally the TOCA, Brian Lara, LMA Manager, Operation Flashpoint and Colin McRae lines deliver solid sales. Fresh updates of all are due out this year, with Colin McRae: Dirt shaping up particularly well. The biggest step, however, is the introduction and creation of a game currently known only as Project Strike Team. A new IP and a new genre reputedly beckon – but following on from the creation of in-

(96% of total revenues)

house next-gen engine Neon, the team seems perfectly poised to take on the challenge. From a corporate point of view, Codemasters is continually strengthening; its third party publishing sister division boasts a varied portfolion that no doubt owes something to the appointments back in 2005 of Rod Cousins (CEO) and Chris Deering as chairman. Everything points to a vibrant, forward-looking studio.


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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1998 Head count: 305 LUCASARTS

1

PS2, XB, PC

OCT 05

£4.30m

Revenue per capita: £27,279

THQ

19

PS2, XB

OCT 06

£2.07m

CONTACTS

2 DESTROY ALL HUMANS! 2

Main contact: Josh Resnick Address: 1100 Glendon Ave,

3 DESTROY ALL HUMANS!

19th Floor, Los Angeles, California THQ

2

PS2, XB

JUN 05

£0.65m

90024, USA Tel: +1 310 450 5199

4 STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT

STATISTICS Owned by: Bioware-Pandemic

1 STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II

2

USA

NO. 28 £8.32M TOP TITLES

>

28

PANDEMIC STUDIOS

DOWN FROM

LUCASARTS

1

PS2, XB, PC

OCT 04

£0.61m

LUCASARTS

1

PS2, XB

FEB 05

£0.25m

TOTAL:

£7.89m

www.pandemicstudios.com

5 MERCENARIES

Sure, it's quite a climb down from second place last year to 27 in the 2007 edition but we all know that last year was one of consolidation for Pandemic after its merger with Bioware (both have retained their brands and identities since the deal, however). With Mercenaries 2:World in Flames due out from Pandemic later this year, thanks to a publishing deal with EA, no one expects anything else but a stellar

year for the studio and its holding company as their first big multi-format project arrives. But that's not all – both Pandemic and sister studio Bioware are extolling the virtue of offering exciting fresh IP. At Pandemic this takes the form of three prospects still cloaked under the monikers Project X, Y and Z. There’s also a good chance that THQ may

(95% of total revenues)

be looking to place more work with Pandemic judging by the reception its two Destroy All Humans games have received, although the company is likely to be among the more expensive to commission given its growing reputation. It may be asking too much to expect the company to return to its second place next year, but it's unlikely to be this far down the list.

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RAINBOW STUDIOS

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 29 £8.25M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1986 Head count: 200 THQ

1

PS2, XB, GC

JUN 06

£7.82m

Revenue per capita: £41,250

THQ

79

PSP

MAR 06

£0.93m

CONTACTS

2 MX VS ATV ON THE EDGE

Address: 4722 N 24th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016, USA

3 MX VS ATV UNLEASHED

STATISTICS Owned by: THQ

1 CARS

NEW

ENTRY

THQ

22

XB, PS2, PC

JUN 05

£0.24m

Tel: +1 602 230 1300 [email protected]

4 MOTOCROSS MADNESS 2

EMPIRE

103

PC

OCT 02

£0.03m

THQ

90

PS2, XB

MAR 06

£0.02m

TOTAL:

£8.24m

5 MX UNLEASHED

An inaugural listing for a developer that largely focuses on games based on vehicular extreme sports. But it was the Disney Pixar blockbuster Cars that brought it to the attention of the world. Released on practically every platform, the game has notched up over £7m in sales and was one of THQs biggest success stories of 2006. Although none of the SKUs

garnered particularly favourable review scores this is a studio clearly capable of shipping licensed product on time and on budget. Other notable 2006 achievements were the rollout of the box-ticking Motocross titles. Now wholly owned by THQ and based in Phoenix, Arizona, Rainbow Studios is likely to see a lot of work

(100% of total revenues)

coming its way involving existing THQ properties (but let’s hope there’s not a glut of games involving WWE characters driving karts). Just like A2M (positioned at number 24) Rainbow’s success this year is largely – no, wholly – down to the potency of a licence, so it’s anyone’s guess if it will get in the top 100 next year.

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CLIMAX

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1988 Head count: 220

EIDOS

14

PS2, PSP, PC

NOV 06

£3.00m

Revenue per capita: £37,136

THQ

4

XB360

JUN 06

£2.47m

CONTACTS

2 MOTO GP 06

77

Owned by: Independent

1

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: PARTY ED.

UP FROM

UK

NO. 30 £8.17M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Main contact: Karl Jeffery, CEO Address: Climax, 7-10 Somerville

3 ATV: OFFROAD FURY 3

Office, North Promenade Building, SOUTH PEAK

59

PS2, PSP

FEB 06

£0.81m

Hamps PO1 3TT, UK

4 SPONGEBOB: SUPER SPONGE

Gunhawf Quays, Portsmouth,

Tel: 02392 863675 THQ

47

GBA, PSX

NOV 05

£0.65m

FEB 06

£0.18m

TOTAL:

£7.11m

www.climaxgroup.com

5 DISNEY’S W.I.T.C.H.

DISNEY INTERACTIVE 312

A significant jump up the charts from 77 for one of the UK’s largest developers, Climax has a big studio mentality but still hasn’t delivered that triple-A title to send it into the super league. Although the superb MotoGP series on Xbox and Xbox 360 came closest, other ambitious projects (such as the RPG Sudeki) eventually took the company two steps back rather than one step forward.

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GBA,

So, at the back end of 2006 Climax restructured to meet the new demands of next-gen development. It sold its Brighton studio to BVG and expanded its Portsmouth and London offices to take on 70 extra staff. Its development teams in Santa Monica have also been shut down. This should set the company up for good things going forward. Recent activity has focused around

(87% of total revenues)

the release of Ghost Rider and other work for hire exercises. One of those is responsible for Climax’s vault up the listing this year – Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Party Edition. But those are just bread and butter titles.The meat is in its next stab at a triple-A game, The Fixer. designed for 360 and PS3, it’s an action adventure with a few twists, and is one to watch out for.


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TEAM 17

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1990 Head count: 75

THQ

13

PSP, DS

MAR 06

£3.77m

Revenue per capita: £108,666

SONY

12

PSP

MAR 06

£2.63m

CONTACTS

2 LEMMINGS

83

Owned by: Independent

1 WORMS: OPEN WARFARE

UP FROM

UK

NO. 31 £8.15M TOP TITLES

>

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Main contact: Martyn Brown Address: Longlands House,

3 WORMS 4: MAYHEM

Wakefield Rd, Osset, West Yorks CODEMASTERS

11

PS2, XB, PC

JUL 05

£0.64m

Tel: +44 1924 267 776

4 LEMMINGS

WF5 9JS, UK

Email: [email protected] SONY

66

PS2

OCT 06

£0.38m

SEGA

66

PS2, PC, XB

NOV 04

£0.21m

TOTAL:

£7.63m

www.team17.com

5 WORMS FORTS: UNDER SIEGE

If there’s one common factor among developers down past the 30 mark it’s that they often rely on one property to keep them cash rich. Not so for Team 17, a company that can boast two major franchises to milk over the next few years While Lemmings may be getting old in the tooth for some, there’s no doubting that Team 17’s PSP version was fantastically well done and a welcome

antidote to all the racing and action games that greeted the system around the time of launch. The studio also married the series and the PlayStation brand for an EyeToy-compatible PS2 release, and has produced a downloadable version for the PlayStation Store. However it’s the company’s own Worms IP which continues to generate the most income – the

(94% of total revenues)

simplicity, humour and OTT weapons proving as popular now as they did when the series first arrived in 1996. The company is one of the oldest Britsoft survivors and there’s a feeling that it will regularly find ways to use Worms to its advantage – after a long run on consoles and PC, and a great turn on DS and PSP, the latest version is for Xbox Live Arcade.

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BIZARRE CREATIONS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1994 Head count: 125 MICROSOFT

9

XB360

DEC 05

£7.25m

Revenue per capita: £64,400

MICROSOFT

17

XB

DEC 03

£0.75m

CONTACTS

2 PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 2

Main contact: Martin Chudley Address: 1 Abbots Quay, Monks Ferry,

3 PROJECT GOTHAM RACING

Berkenhead, CH41 5LH, UK MICROSOFT

5

XB

MAR 02

£0.03m Email: [email protected] www.bizarrecreations.com

4 TREASURE PLANET

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent

1 PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 3

UP FROM

73

UK

NO. 32 £8.05M TOP TITLES

>

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UBISOFT

For a developer that’s only recognised for one property, Bizarre Creations has an interesting back catalogue. From platform puzzler and combat titles Fatal Rewind and Gun Crazy through to its first breakthrough Formula 1 title back in 1996, Bizarre has always had a democratic air and kept its teams happy with games they want to work on. It even stopped off for some cartoon adventures with Fur Fighters and

16

GBA, PS2, PSX

FEB 03

£0.02m

TOTAL:

£8.7m

Treasure Planet back when Dreamcast and PS2 were still fighting it out. But it’s the Project Gotham games that have sealed the company’s reputation, the latest on Xbox 360 generating the most revenue to date by far. Major titles in the pipeline include Project Gotham 4 and The Club, the former published by Microsoft, the latter by Sega. The Club is by far the most interesting,

(100% of total revenues)

reputedly redefining the third-person action genre with a focus on high-impact gun play. Of other interest is Bizarre’s commitment to Xbox Live Arcade, with soon to be released Boom Boom Rocket (made for EA) and the ever-popular Geometry Wars having been made available for Vista as well. Bizarre is now recognised as a big player and not likely to drop out of this chart in a hurry.

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VICARIOUS VISIONS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1992 Head count: Undisclosed

ACTIVISION

3

DS, GBA

JUN 06

£2.27m

ACTIVISION

1

DS, GBA

JUN 05

£1.70m

2 MADAGASCAR

23

Owned by: Activision

1 OVER THE HEDGE

DOWN FROM

USA

NO. 33 £8.04M TOP TITLES

>

33

In association with

CONTACTS Address: 150 Broadway, Suite 205, Albany, New York, 12204, USA

3 SPIDER-MAN 2

ACTIVISION

1

PSP, DS

MAR 05

£0.55m

Tel: +1 518-701-2500 www.vvisions.com

4 MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE

ACTIVISION

24

PSP, WII

NOV 06

£0.52m

ACTIVISION

11

PSP

NOV 06

£0.48m

TOTAL:

£5.52m

5 X-MEN LEGENDS II: RISE OF APOCALYPSE

Known mainly for producing robust and supremely playable handheld games, Vicarious Visions is now beginning to feel its way on next-generation consoles. But the meat of its sales stilll come from handheld, with revenue last year largely made by Over the Hedge and Madagascar. That said, the recently released Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will no doubt add to the tally once sales bed

66

in. Other handheld projects it is currently working on include Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3, both due for release this year. Vicarious is a developer with a great reputation for delivering games on time and with a design spark often missing from licensed conversions. The recent Tony Hawks Downhill Jam on DS perfectly reflects the company’s commitment to fun

(69% of total revenues)

and innovation and generally reviewed much higher than its Wii counterpart (developed by Toys For Bob). Given that the studio is now wholly owned by Activision we’re unlikely to see the company given the responsibility of fresh IP but its forthcoming PS3 version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Wii interpretation of Spider-Man 3 will indicate if it’s ready to step up to the big league.


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34

EA CHICAGO

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1990 (as NuFX) Head count: 150

ELECTRONIC ARTS

2

XB360, PS2, PSP XB

MAR 06

£7.77m

Revenue per capita: £52,600

ELECTRONIC ARTS

11

PS2, XB, GC

MAR 05

£0.12m

CONTACTS

2 FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 2

74

Owned by: Electronic Arts

1 FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3

UP FROM

USA

NO. 34 £7.89M TOP TITLES

>

58-89 Dev100_v3

Address: 2353 Hassell Road, Suite 115 Hoffman Estates, Illnois, 60195, USA www.ea.com

TOTAL: Just three years ago EA Chicago was formed out of NuFX (the studio responsible for NBA Street, NBA Street 2 and Fight Night 2004). There were just 38 staff when its first project, Fight Night Round 2, got underway but now the studio employs 150 people in two main offices in the heart of Chicago. Though Fight Night Round 2 set the bar relatively high it was the recently released Fight Night Round

£7.89m

3 that brought EA Chicago global attention. With superbly implemented analogue control, glistening detail and punches that connected with a wincing force, the title picked up accolades across the board and became a rare sales success for a sport that has not often connected with a wide audience. Though not officially announced, a Fight Night Round 4 is inevitably limbering up and taking shape

(100% of total revenues)

at the Chicago studio and it’s hard not to foresee the franchise being an EA staple for years to come. The studio also recently finished rhythm-action and beat ‘em up fusion Def Jam: Icon. Key to all its work, however, has been technology. Its teams are prolific early adopters of next-gen, and have perfected pipleines through a mix of homemade third-parties.

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35

VOLITION

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1993 (as Parallax) Head count: 200

THQ

1

XB360

AUG 06

£7.60m

Revenue per capita: £39,400

THQ

7

PS2, XB, PC

MAR 05

£0.24m

CONTACTS

2 THE PUNISHER

86

Owned by: THQ

1 SAINT’S ROW

UP FROM

USA

NO. 35 £7.88M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Address: One Main Plaza, Suite 300 Champaign IL, 61820, USA

3 RED FACTION

THQ

2

PS2, PC

JUN 01

£0.02m

Tel: +1 217 355 0320 www.volition-inc.com

4 RED FACTION II

THQ

17

PS2

NOV 02

£0.01m

THQ

21

PC, PS2

APR 01

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£7.88m

5 SUMMONER

The first free-roaming, open-world title on nextgeneration hardware, Volition’s Saint’s Row has been a huge success and helped the team move up a massive 51 places in our chart. The game’s ability to unashamedly cash-in on GTA’s gangland premise and sand-box aspirations has to be admired, at least from a commercial perspective. While criticised for crude language, and often cruder mission objectives, the title

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nevertheless gave the company a chance to prove its mettle on next-gen hardware long before many developers had even received Xbox 360 devkits. Indeed this is a developer used to success and although certain games like The Punisher failed to ignite the gaming firmament, its track record, which includes Red Faction, Red Faction 2 and the FreeSpace series, speaks for itself. Engine innovations such as Geo-

(100% of total revenues)

Mod’s terrain deformation showed it could coin a clever press-baiting attention-capturing buzzword even though the eventual feature proved limited. Based in Champaign, Illinois, Volition is currently working on ‘several’ as yet unannounced nextgeneration titles – one of which is a Red Faction sequel. And the team is likely to retain its high rank if the forthcoming PS3 version of Saint’s Row sells well.


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IO INTERACTIVE

DENMARK PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 36 £7.81M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1998 Head count: 150 EIDOS

1

PS2, XB360, PC, XB

MAY 06

£7.54m

Revenue per capita: £52,066

EIDOS

1

PC, PS2, XB

MAY 04

£0.14m

CONTACTS

2 HITMAN: CONTRACTS

Kalvebod Brygge 35-37 1560 Copenhagen V, Denmark

3 HITMAN 2: SILENT ASSASSIN

STATISTICS Owned by: Eidos

1 HITMAN: BLOOD MONEY

NEW

ENTRY

EIDOS

1

PC, XB, PS2, GC

JUN 03

£0.10m

EIDOS

46

PC

DEC 00

£0.02m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

8

XB, PC, PS2, GC

SEP 03

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£7.81m

www.ioi.dk

4 HITMAN: CODENAME 47

5 FREEDOM FIGHTERS

While IO achieved fantastic success with the superbly dark and atmospheric Hitman series it was the brilliant, if commercially lacking, Freedom Fighters that really proved it could design great games with great ideas. Perhaps it was the postmodern ‘Reds under the bed’ setting that turned off mass-market punters, but whatever the case this title proved IO to be a developer capable of delivering stealth, action, strategy

and fun (often all in the same level) with aplomb. Hitman: Blood Money arrived late, but its development can’t have been helped by the turbulence caused by the transition of Eidos into Eidos/SCi. Though there’s now greater stability at the publisher this is a developer that prides itself on perfection so it will be interesting to see if its forthcoming Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (for PC and Xbox 360) will make it

(100% of total revenues)

this year, though understandably Eidos is yet to confirm a release date. Other than this, another Hitman game is surely in development – the company is actively recruiting for at least two more nextgeneration projects. IO Interactive is fast becoming one of the world’s most recognised studios but may miss the list next year due to of its attention to detail and quality.

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CREATIVE ASSEMBLY

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1987 Head count: 146 SEGA

9

PC

NOV 06

£2.90m

Revenue per capita: £49,383

SEGA

39

PC

SEP 06

£1.47m

CONTACTS

£1.87m

Main contact: Mike Simpson Address: Weald House, Southwater Business Park, Southwater Nr. Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 9JB, UK

2 ROME: TOTAL WAR GOLD EDITION

3 SPARTAN: TOTAL WARRIOR

SEGA

3

PS2, XB, GC

OCT 05

Tel: 01403 734473 [email protected] www.creative-assembly.co.uk

4 ROME: TOTAL WAR

STATISTICS Owned by: Sega

1 MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR

UP FROM

38

UK

NO. 37 £7.21M TOP TITLES

>

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SEGA

6

PC

OCT 04

£0.56m

SEGA

110

PC

JUN 06

£0.55m

TOTAL:

£6.37m

5 TOTAL WAR: ERAS

Though Creative Assembly released Spartan: Total Warrior at the back end of 2005 on PS2, Xbox and GameCube, its focus still remains on PC development, where you get the impression it feels most comfortable. Though far from a disaster, with a UK All Formats chart position as high as number three, Spartan didn’t stick around for long and there must have

been some disappointment that it wasn’t as well received as its PC counterparts – all of which continue to do sterling sales years after release. The recently released Medieval II: Total War has been one of Creative Assembly’s best reviewed games, averaging an impressive 88 on Metacritic. In time, it’s hoped that the series will connect with consumers as strongly as the Rome: Total War

( 88% of total revenues)

franchise has. How the series expands and grow will be something studio and owner Sega will be carefully considering right now. In the meantime, Creative Assembly is working on several as yet unannounced next-generation projects at both its Sussex and Brisbane offices. It will certainly be interesting to see if it can expand on the modest console success it has enjoyed.

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HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1994 Head count: Undisclosed ACTIVISION

9

XB360, PS2, XB, PC, GC

NOV 05

£2.67m

ACTIVISION

15

XB360

NOV 06

£2.15m

2 TONY HAWK’S PROJECT 8

320, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, 91364, USA ACTIVISION

6

PS2, XB360, XB, GC, PC

OCT 05

£1.75m Tel: +1 818 610 4100 Email: [email protected]

4 TONY HAWK’S UNDERGROUND 2

CONTACTS Address: 20335 Boulevard, Suite

3 TONY HAWK’S AMERICAN WASTELAND

STATISTICS Owned by: Activision

1 GUN

16

USA

NO. 38 £7.06M TOP TITLES

>

38

NEVERSOFT

DOWN FROM

www.neversoft.com ACTIVISION

3

PS2, XB, GC

OCT 04

£0.29m

ACTIVISION

5

PS2, XB, GC

NOV 03

£0.15m

TOTAL:

£7.01m

5 TONY HAWK’S UNDERGROUND

Neversoft is surely at a critical point in its history. In short, there’s a feeling that the Tony Hawk’s franchise has deviated. No matter how many new ideas the studio injects into the formula it’s feeling a bit tired. The latest, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, introduced slowmo effects and the ability to nail flamboyant tricks by moving your character’s feet on the board. It’s all very clever and beautiful but the raw numbers tell a

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different story: the games are failing to seduce gamers in the same way they did four or five years ago. And with EA Canada prepping Skate, it’s now got competition for hte first time in its eight year history. Don’t expect the Hawk games to disappear overnight, however: the older pro skater is contracted until 2015. Instead of Hawk, however, it was Gun that has given Neversoft reason to be cheerful. Hardly a

(99% of total revenues)

runaway success, it was still the biggest selling new IP in the US in 2005 and showed enough class to ensure more original projects are in the company’s future. In the meantime, the team has been entrusted with taking over the reigns on Guitar Hero following Activision’s acquisition of publisher Red Octane. It will be interesting to see if Neversoft can better Harmonix in the rhythm-action genre.


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ROCKSTAR VANCOUVER

CANADA PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 39 £7.02M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Rockstar Games Founded: 1998 (as Barking Dog)

1 CANIS CANEM EDIT

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: 75 TAKE 2

5

PS2

OCT 06

£7.02m

Revenue per capita: £93,600

CONTACTS Address: 800-858 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada Tel: +1 604-632-9663 www.rockstargames.com

TOTAL: An impressive debut for the team responsible for Canis Canem Edit (aka Bully outside of PAL regions). Rockstar Vancouver was formed out Barking Dog Studios back in 2002 and this is its first game. Controversial from the moment it was announced, Canis Canem Edit’s representation of preparatory school life was nevertheless one of Rockstar’s tamest titles, with egg-throwing being among its naughtiest

£7.02m

pleasures. Just how much one of the industry’s most powerful labels added to sales is impossible to say but there’s no question it would have still been a critical and commercial success under any other name. Yet, by all accounts, its development was rocky to say the least, repeated delays punctuated its evolution and the game was a year late, even by conservative estimates.

(100% of total revenues)

Taking this into account, plus the fact there’s no official news on its next project, it seems unlikely we’ll see Rockstar Vancouver back in this chart next year. But Rockstar has never been interested in impressing the pundits so a sequel to Bully, or a similar cultural masterpiece can’t be ruled out. Then again, it may end up doing something as equally unexpected as Rockstar San Diego’s Table Tennis.

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In association with

HEADGATE STUDIOS

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 40 £6.81M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Electronic Arts Founded: 1992

1 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 07

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: Undisclosed THQ

1

PS2, XB, PC

OCT 06

£7.45m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PC

MAR 06

£0.66m

2 THE GODFATHER

CONTACTS Address: 1551 South Renaissance Towne Drive, Suite 500,

3 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 06

Bountiful, Utah, 84010, USA ELECTRONIC ARTS

2

PC

OCT 05

£0.37m Tel: +1 801 298 3800 (ext. 211) www.headgatestudios.com

4 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2005

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

PC

OCT 04

£0.09m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

15

PC

AUG 06

£0.05m

5 MADDEN NFL 07

TOTAL: Formed in 1992 to develop sports simulations, Headgate has never altered focus in its 15 year lifespan, except to develop last year’s PC conversion of The Godfather. Largely known for developing the Tiger Woods and NFL series since 2001, the Utah-based company was fully bought out by EA in November 2006 and has been renamed EA Salt Lake. Such brief history notes

74

£6.79m

don’t tell the full story, however, of a company that has consistently helped evolve the golf genre from a basic mouse clicking game into a nuanced and dynamic simulation of one of the world’s most popular sports. Innovations including realistic golf swings, ball physics and stance control have made it accessible to all yet deep enough to keep golf nuts absorbed. EA will certainly be pleased that Woods himself has overcome

(100% of total revenues)

a rare blip in form and is currently ranked world number one again. His name continues to shift units and £5.5m for just the PC and PS2 versions of the game are creditable achievements for the studio. While the team may still develop the odd PC title, Nintendo’s Wii is the main focus with Tiger Woods the most obvious candidate for adaptation to the Wiimote.


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SQUARE ENIX

JAPAN PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 41 £6.52M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Square Enix Founded: 1975

1 KINGDOM HEARTS II

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: 1,455 SQUARE ENIX EUROPE

5

PS2

SEP 06

£3.99m

Revenue per capita: £4,481

SQUARE ENIX EUROPE

28

PS2

NOV 06

£1.28m

CONTACTS

2 FINAL FANTASY VII: DIRGE OF CERBERUS

Main contact: Alex Huhtala Address: Castle House, 37-45 Paul

3 FINAL FANTASY XI ONLINE

Street, London, EC2A 4LS, UK UBISOFT

25

XB360, PC

SEP 04

£0.38m Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 5200 [email protected]

4 FINAL FANTASY IV ADVANCE

www.square-enix-europe.com NINTENDO

179

GBA

JUN 06

£0.16m

UBISOFT

47

PC

APR 06

£0.14m

TOTAL:

£6.14m

5 FINAL FANTASY XI TREASURES OF AHT URHGAN

No one really knew if a collaboration between hardcore Final Fantasy developer Square Enix and kid friendly Disney would really work, but when the original Kingdom Hearts shot to the top of the charts doubts were instantly put to bed. Unsurprisingly Kingdom Hearts II has achieved a similar level of success despite the incongruity of seeing Goofy and Mikey Mouse battling in movie and

cartoon worlds as diverse as Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron. But it’s the Final Fantasy games that continue to bring in the most money with Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy XI Online, Final Fantasy IV: Advance and Final Fantasy XI: Tresures af Aht Urhgan boosting the coffers. With Final Fantasy XII just topping charts in Europe, a massive influx of sales can be assured for

(94% of total revenues)

next year’s tally – and a good position in the Develop 100. And there’s Final Fantasy XIII on the way to PS3 – although judging by Square Enix’s usual ‘ready when-it’s ready’ philosophy there’s no guarantee it will make it out in the forthcoming year. Nevertheless, with such a powerful brand and profoundly deep RPG system, the studio’s position in the 100 nexy year is without question.

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AVALANCHE STUDIOS

SWEDEN PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 42 £6.46M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2003

1 JUST CAUSE

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: 100 EIDOS

2

XB360, PS2, XB, PC

SEPT 06

£6.46m

Revenue per capita: £64,600

CONTACTS Address: Åsögatan 108 S118 29 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: +46 8 442 76 70 [email protected]

TOTAL: Swedish developer Avalanche Studios has some of the most impressive next-generation technology in Europe, if not the world. The Avalanche Engine is capable of procedurally generating vast worlds governed by naturalistic weather conditions and with their own real-time ecosystems. It also helps that anything the engine creates looks stunning. Sure, that’s just another tech

£6.46m

demo pitch, but the company’s first game, Just Cause, proved it could deliver on the gameplay front as well. Originally developed for just the Xbox and PC, the release was put back to accommodate further Xbox 360 and PS2 versions. Although lacking the cultural savvy of Rockstar’s GTA games, for a debut title Just Cause was mightily impressive, especially when you consider the company was only founded in 2003.

(100% of total revenues)

The company is currently being very coy about future projects but recruiting hard to notch staff numbers beyond the 100-mark. Just Cause 2 for Eidos and a yet to be confirmed next-gen title are priorities. In total, the team has to be one of the hottest independent developers in Europe – it wouldn’t come as a surprise at all if it were acquired in the next couple of years.

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INFINITY WARD

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Head count: Undisclosed ACTIVISION

7

ACTIVISION

162

XB360, PC, MAC

DEC 05

£5.13m

XB360, PC

JUN 06

£0.75m

CONTACTS Address: 15821 Ventura Blvd. Suite 220, Encino, CA 91436, USA

3 CALL OF DUTY: DELUXE EDITION

STATISTICS Founded: 2002

2 CALL OF DUTY 2: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION

40

Owned by: Activision

1 CALL OF DUTY 2

DOWN FROM

USA

NO. 43 £6.41M TOP TITLES

>

43

In association with

ACTIVISION

91

PC, MAC

OCT 04

£0.29m

ACTIVISION

127

PC

JUN 04

£0.23m

ACTIVISION

9

PC, MAC

NOV 03

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£6.41m

www.infinityward.com

4 CALL OF DUTY: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION

5 CALL OF DUTY

A solid year for Infinity Ward with only a movement downwards of two places, which is even more impressive when you consider it has produced no new games under its label bar the Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year Edition. But when you’ve got a brand as powerful as Call of Duty you can expect revenues to keep ticking over while other projects are in the fire. And the second game just doesn’t

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stop shifting units: on 360 alone it is the biggest selling game (behind Gears of War) and a reputed 77 per cent of the console’s launch buyers took a copy of the game home, too. But here’s the puzzle: everything at Infinity Ward has gone quiet since the game was released in 2005. With development duties for Call of Duty 3 being passed over to Treyarch there’s confusion over the

(100% of total revenues)

exactly how Activision is divvying up the duties. One rumour is that the Treyarch and Infinity Ward are taking ‘one on, one off’ duties to allow for yearly releases but decent production cycles. And further speculation suggests that Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4 (if indeed they are working on it) might bring the battle to a more modern setting. Either way, it’s sure to sell buy the bucketload.


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44

RELIC

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Founded: 1997 Head count: 130

THQ

7

PC

SEP 06

£1.92m

Revenues per capita: £48,538

THQ

13

XB360

MAR 06

£1.48m

CONTACTS

2 THE OUTFIT

85

Owned by: THQ

1 COMPANY OF HEROES

UP FROM

RELIC

NO. 44 £6.31M TOP TITLES

>

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Address: 1500 - 550 Burrard Street Vancouver, BC, V6C 2C1, Canada

3

WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR DARK CRUSADE

THQ

9

PC

NOV 06

£1.29m

Tel: +1 604 801 6577 wwwrelic.com

4 WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR GOLD

THQ

28

PC

SEP 05

£0.41m

THQ

118

PC

NOV 06

£0.37m

TOTAL:

£5.47m

4

WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR ANTHOLOGY

Relic is a company with a great reputation, but until 2006 it never had the status to match. Its back catalogue, which includes the excellent Homeworld titles, is impressive but a breakout hit had not yet materialised until Company of Heroes, widelyregarded as one of the best PC releases of 2006. With its focus on gritty realism the RTS managed to represent the carnage of war with a shocking visceral

intensity and is likely to remain a classic for a very long time. However, although sales were healthy it charted no higher than seventh in the UK charts and slipped down soon afterwards. Early 2006 release The Outfit was a similarly impressive console debut for the developer and while it received mixed reviews, showed a technical expertise that will stand the company in good stead.

(87% of total revenues)

It’s next project remains a secret, but it’s likely that the THQ-owned Vancouver-based company is working on at least two projects: sticking to what it knows best with a strategy title on PC, while building on the moderate success of The Outfit on console. Its two big 2006 games were clear statments of intent, but now it’s up to the development teams to take that momentum to the next level.

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KUJU ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Founded: 1998 Head count: 220 SONY

31

PS2

NOV 06

£2.25m

Revenue per capita: £27,590

CODEMASTERS

6

PS2, XB, PC

JUN 06

£1.09m

CONTACTS

2 SENSIBLE SOCCER 2006

Main contact: Ian Baverstock Address: Unit 10, Woodside Park, Catteshall Lane, Godalming, GU7 1LG, UK

3 EYE TOY: PLAY 3

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent

1 BUZZ! THE SPORTS QUIZ

UP FROM

98

UK

NO. 45 £6.07M TOP TITLES

>

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SONY

34

PS2

NOV 05

£0.83m Email: [email protected] www.kuju.com

4 EYE TOY: PLAY SPORTS

SONY

83

PS2

NOV 06

£0.42m

UBISOFT

34

PC

OCT 06

£0.31m

TOTAL:

£4.91m

5 DARK MESSIAH OF MIGHT AND MAGIC

A significant jump up the chart for Kuju, from 98 last year to the top 50 in the 2007 ranking. It’s just a pity that its greatest achievement doesn’t make the list. Battalion Wars, was an excellent GameCube interpretation of Advance Wars. Made by its London studio, the title is one of the only game productions Nintendo has entrusted to a Western developer. With Kuju now putting the final touches to

the sequel for Wii there’s optimism that Nintendo will push the title into the limelight harder this time round. Overall, Kuju is nothing if not diverse thanks to studios in Sheffield, Brighton, Surrey and London. From Dungeons & Dragons Tactics to Rail Simulator this is a company with 16 years of experience and capable of making games in every genre, including sports with the entertaining Sensible Soccer 2006.

(81% of total revenues)

It’s family games that have served Kuju best. Buzz! The Sports Quiz, SingStar: Rocks, SingStar:Anthems and EyeToy: Play 3 have all boosted the bottom line. Mostly responsible for these are its 100-strong Brighton team, which recently rebranded to Zoe Mode and is working on a variety of games for PlayStation formats. Still, while Kuju impresses, a triple-A title has yet to emerge from its doors – that’s the next challenge.

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RARE

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

48

STATISTICS Owned by: Microsoft Founded: 1995

1 PERFECT DARK ZERO

UP FROM

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NO. 46 £6.05M TOP TITLES

>

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Head count: Undisclosed MICROSOFT

12

XB360

DEC 05

£2.85m

MICROSOFT

64

XB360

NOV 06

£1.59m

2 VIVA PINATA

Address: Manor Farmhouse, Church Street, Twycross, Warcs CV9 3PJ, UK

3 KAMEO: ELEMENTS OF POWER

CONTACTS

MICROSOFT

46

XB360

DEC 05

£1.27m www.rareware.com

4 CONKER: LIVE AND RELOADED

MICROSOFT

10

XB

JUN 05

£0.14m

NINTENDO

6

GBA

NOV 06

£0.06m

TOTAL:

£5.93m

5 DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 3

While Rare has started to deliver a flurry of software (six games in two years) after a post-acquisition drought, sales of those titles must still be making Microsoft wonder about the $377m it paid for the studio. Perfect Dark Zero sold on brand recognition alone, with critical opinion generally decrying the game’s inability to match up with current generation FPSs, never mind its six year-old predecessor.

Meanwhile Viva Pinata was by far the company’s most interesting and brilliant title since the N64 era,but only managed to chart at position 64. So there’s a little sense that the once worldfamous brand has lost some of its relevance. However the team at its Twycross base isn’t stupid – Viva is designed as a slow starter and will hopefully build momentum as its associated TV

(98% of total revenues)

series and the 360 gain a bigger audience. Plus, it’s cleverly diversifying its talents, complementing new next-gen games with an XBLA Jetpac remake and handheld remakes of older Nintendo titles. So those wondering what happened to the company responsible for GoldenEye and Donkey Kong Country should bear in mind that the best may still be to come.

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47

HELIXE

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

87

STATISTICS Owned by: THQ Founded: 1989

1 CARS

UP FROM

USA

NO. 47 £5.91M TOP TITLES

>

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

Head count: 31 THQ

1

DS, GBA

JUL 06

£4.36m

Revenue per capita: £190,645

THQ

25

DS, GBA

NOV 04

£1.07m

CONTACTS

2

THE INCREDIBLES: RISE OF THE UNDERMINER

Address: 131 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA, 01803, USA

3 THE INCREDIBLES

THQ

3

GBA

NOV 04

£0.48m

Email: [email protected] www.helixe.com

4 TAK AND THE POWER OF JUJU

THQ

An impressive 40 place rise up the chart from last year’s position 87 for Helixe, a company tasked with developing much of THQ’s kid-friendly licensed property on Nintendo handheld systems. Cars did extraordinarily well and is the main reason for the jump, although its previously released Incredibles and Tak and the Power of Juju games continue to sell well, which in reality is more a

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63

GBA

MAR 04

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£5.91m

reflection on the strength of brands rather than the quality of the games. While the specialist press rarely looks favourably on pre-teen software, reviews of its games have been mediocre at best. Employing just 31 staff this Boston-based developer is certainly capable of churning out games on budget and on time. Indeed, since its inception in July 2000 it has brought 15 GBA and DS titles to market and

(100% of total revenues)

achieved over 4m unit sales. Previous titles include Scooby Doo: The Movie and Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin’ Da Rules. Helixe is currently working on both DS and GBA versions of Pixar’s forthcoming movie Ratatouille and the continued association with such a high-profile movie studio is likely to reap good returns. Hardly the most exciting company in the gaming firmament, but its publisher owner will be happy with Helixe’s output.


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UBISOFT (SHANGHAI)

CHINA PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 48 £5.67M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Ubisoft Founded: 1996

1 TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: 500 UBISOFT

5

XB360

OCT 06

£5.12m

Revenue per capita: £11,340

UBISOFT

115

PSP

DEC 06

£0.53m

CONTACTS

UBISOFT

8

PS2

MAR 04

£0.02m

TOTAL:

£5.67m

2 BROTHERS IN ARMS: D-DAY

3 TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX 3

While many publishers have only just caught on to the fact that China is a hotbed of creative energy (and, let’s face it, cheaper production costs) Ubisoft was there as far back as 1996 by establishing this flourishing arm of its empire. Now with 500 staff Ubisoft Shanghai is the largest game company in China and one of the publisher’s most respected studios.

While it began life modestly developing titles with an Eastern flavour, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it has now been entrusted with some of the publisher’s most valuable properties. Its Xbox 360 version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent was next to immaculate and a UK All Formats chart position of five plus sales in excess of £5m to date is an impressive debut for the team on a new platform.

www.ubi.com

(100% of total revenues)

Now developing on multiple platforms the studio is likely to continue taking existing franchises and porting them seamlessly to Xbox 360, PSP and PC. Indeed its recently-released Brothers in Arms: D-Day on PSP may not have made an impact at retail, but it was a creditable interpretation of Gearbox’s sophisticated tactical WWII series and even had an excellent co-operative mode thrown in.

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EUROCOM

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

33

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1988

1 ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN

DOWN FROM

UK

NO. 49 £5.51M TOP TITLES

>

49

In association with

Head count: 230 VIVENDI GAMES

2

PS2, XB, GC, PC Wii

MAR 06

£3.44m

Revenue per capita: £23,956

ELECTRONIC ARTS

6

PS2, XB, GC

JUN 05

£0.64m

CONTACTS

2 BATMAN BEGINS

Main contact: Hugh Binns Address: Eurocom House,

2 SPYRO: A HERO’S TAIL

Ashbourne Road, Derby, VIVENDI GAMES

22

PS2, XB, GC

JUN 04

£0.49m

Tel: +44 1332 825100

2 PREDATOR: CONCRETE JUNGLE

Derbyshire, DE22 4NB, UK

www.eurocom.co.uk VIVENDI GAMES

11

PS2, XB

MAR 05

£0.36m

JUL 04

£0.29m

TOTAL:

£5.21m

2 ATHENS 2004

SONY

Last year we predicted that Eurocom (then positioned at 33) was unlikely to budge out of the top 50 and it proved to be so – although it was a close run thing. Established in Derby in 1988, Eurocom quickly became a licence specialist working on SNES, Saturn and GameBoy and while hardware has changed, its focus on movie, TV and comic book properties has remained rock solid and served it well in its 18 years.

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1

PS2

Older titles Batman Begins, Predator: Concrete Jungle, Spyro: A Hero’s Tail and Athens 2004 are still clocking up minor sales but it was Ice Age 2: The Meltdown that kept the company within touching distance of the elite in 2006. From the figures above you might think Eurocom is steadily slipping, but the company has been around long enough to know that it only takes one popular

(95% of total revenues)

licence to boost revenue and hit the big time again. And a recent investment in an in-house mocap and audio suite proves the company is ready for the future. That Eurocom is currently developing Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on PC, PS2, PS3, PSP,Wii and Xbox 360 will give anyone associated with the company cause for optimism. If this title doesn’t help it to a higher position next year then we’ll walk the plank.


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EXIENT

UK

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 50 £5.40M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2001

1 FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY 2006

NEW

ENTRY

Head count: 35 ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PSP, DS, GBA

MAY 06

£2.54m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

DS, GBA

SEP 06

£1.48m

Revenue per capita: £154,285

2 FIFA 07

CONTACTS

3 FIFA 06

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

DS, GBA

SEP 05

£0.71m

Main contact: David Hawkins Address: 2/3 Cambridge Terrace, Oxford, OX1 1RR, UK Email: [email protected]

4 NEED FOR SPEED: CARBON

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

DS

NOV 05

£0.64m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

15

DS

AUG 06

£0.04m

TOTAL:

£5.34m

5 MADDEN NFL 07

Creeping in at position 50 is Oxford-based Exient Entertainment, an impressive chart debut for the sports specialist. Formed out of LiveMedia UK in 2001, the company is gaining a growing reputation for taking popular sports titles and expertly porting them to handheld systems including DS, GBA and PSP. Its David O’Leary Total Soccer games were easily among the best on GBA (despite the dodgy licence) and

review scores for its games have, for the most part, been healthy. Yet there’s no denying it’s the firm relationship with the world’s largest and most powerful publisher that’s given the company a massive boost. When you have strong franchises like FIFA World Cup Germany 06, FIFA 06, FIFA 07 and Madden NFL 07 on your books then big revenue is almost assured. A recent dalliance in the

(95% of total revenues)

driving genre with Need For Speed Carbon may also indicate a more diverse range of titles coming out of the studio in the future. Even though its biggest grossing game was based on the commercial extravaganza that is the World Cup, meaning it’s difficult to see Exient being this high up in 12 months time, you can expect the rest of its output from this company to be reliably cosnsistent.

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In association with

CHUNSOFT

JAPAN

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 51 £5.39M

TOP TITLES

NEW

ENTRY

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: BLUE

NINTENDO

12

DS

NOV 06

£3.72m

2 POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: RED

NINTENDO

34

GBA

NOV 06

£1.66m

TOTAL:

£5.39m

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1984

CONTACTS Address: Welship Higashi-Shinjuku 10F 6 24 20 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160 0022, Japan Tel +81 35272 1711 Web: www.chunsoft.co.jp

(100% of total revenues)

52

SUMO DIGITAL

>

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UP FROM

69

UK

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 52 £5.19M

FORMATS

1 OUTRUN 2006: COAST 2 COAST

SEGA

16

PSP, PS2, XB, PC

MAR 06

£3.01m

2 VIRTUA TENNIS: WORLD TOUR

CONTACTS

SEGA

4

PSP

SEP 05

£1.36m

3

TOCA RACE DRIVER 2

CODEMASTERS

1

PSP

SEP 05

£1.64m

4

GO! SUDOKU

SONY

215

PSP

DEC 05

£0.16m

OUTRUN 2

SEGA

21

XB

OCT 04

£0.03m

Main contact: James North-Hearn Address: 1 Arena Court, Sheffield, S9 2LF, UK Email: [email protected] Web: www.valvesoftware.com

TOP TITLES

5

PUBLISHER

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

TOTAL:

90

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2002

£5.19m

(100% of total revenues)


19/3/07

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

53

EA TIBURON

>

90-111 Dev100_v3

UP FROM

81

USA

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 53 £5.04M

FORMATS

1 MADDEN NFL 07

ELECTRONIC ARTS

15

PS2, XB360, XB

AUG 06

£1.77m

CONTACTS

2

SUPERMAN RETURNS

ELECTRONIC ARTS

36

PS2, XB360, XB

SEP 06

£1.76m

3

MADDEN NFL 06

ELECTRONIC ARTS

9

XB360, PSP, PS2

SEP 05

£0.99m

4

NASCAR 07

ELECTRONIC ARTS

121

PS2, PSP

OCT 06

£0.22m

5

Main contact: Trudy Miller Address: 1950 Summit Park Drive, Orlando, Florida 32810, USA Email: [email protected] Web: www.ea.com

GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT

ELECTRONIC ARTS

7

DS

JUN 05

£0.09m

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

TOTAL:

Owned by: Electronic Arts Founded: 1998

£4.95m

(98% of total revenues)

54

BLUE FANG

NEW

ENTRY

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 54 £5.03M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1998

1 ZOO TYCOON DS

THQ

29

DS

NOV 05

£3.28m

2

CONTACTS

ZOO TYCOON 2

MICROSOFT

82

PC, MAC

DEC 04

£0.44m

3

ZOO TYCOON: COMPLETE COLLECTION

MICROSOFT

171

PC, MAC

SEP 05

£0.38m

4

ZOO TYCOON 2: ENDANGERED SPECIES

MICROSOFT

239

PC

NOV 05

£0.25m

5

ZOO TYCOON

EMPIRE INTERACTIVE 18

PC

NOV 01

£0.19m

Address: 1601 Trapelo Road, Ste. 12 Waltham, MA, 02451 7333, USA Tel: +1 781 547 5475 Email: [email protected] Web: www.bluefang.com

TOTAL:

£4.55m

(90% of total revenues)

91


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

55

BACKBONE

NEW

ENTRY

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 51 £5.03M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS

Owned by: Foundation 9 Ent. Founded: 1992

CONTACTS

1 SONIC RIVALS

SEGA

35

PSP

NOV 06

£1.67m

2 CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

TAKE 2

2

GBA, PC

AUG 05

£1.05m

3

MIDWAY ARCADE TREASURES: EXTEND

MIDWAY

23

PSP

FEB 06

£1.03m

Address: Backbone Entertainment (Emeryville), 1375 55th St., Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA

4

CAPCOM CLASSICS COLLECTION

CAPCOM

98

PS2, XB

NOV 05

£0.38m

Web: www.backb.com

5

AGE OF EMPIRES: THE AGE OF KINGS

THQ

DS

NOV 06

£0.35m

153

TOTAL:

£4.52m

56

SONY JAPAN

NEW

ENTRY

JAPAN

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 52 £4.98M

TOP TITLES

(90% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Sony Founded: 1993

1 SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS

SONY

1

PS2

FEB 06

£2.00m

2 LOCOROCO

CONTACTS

SONY

19

PSP

JUN 06

£1.45m

3

ICO

SONY

12

PS2

MAR 06

£0.48m

Address: 2621 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 107 0062, Japan Web: www.scei.co.jp

4

TALKMAN

SONY

113

PSP

JUN 06

£0.48m

5

APE ESCAPE P

SONY

228

PSP

MAY 06

£0.21m

TOTAL:

92

£4.37m

(88% of total revenues)


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Take 2 Founded: 1999

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS

TAKE 2

1

PS2, XB, PC

NOV 04

£3.82m

CONTACTS

2

GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY

TAKE 2

1

PS2, PC

NOV 02

£0.47m

3

GRAND THEFT AUTO 3

TAKE 2

1

PS2, PC

OCT 01

£0.24m

4

GRAND THEFT AUTO: THE TRILOGY

TAKE 2

434

XB

NOV 06

£0.18m

5

Address: Carlton Square, 1 Greenside road, Edingburgh, EH1 3AP, UK Tel: 0131 524 7800 Web: www.rockstarnorth.com

MANHUNT

TAKE 2

14

PS2, PC, XB

NOV 03

£0.14m

TOTAL:

£4.86m

> DOWN FROM

39

SWEDEN PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 54 £4.92M FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

ELECTRONIC ARTS

7

PC

OCT 06

£2.18m

2

BATTLEFIELD 2

ELECTRONIC ARTS

2

PC

JUN 05

£1.17m

3

BATTLEFIELD 2 DELUXE EDITION

ELECTRONIC ARTS

115

PC

JUN 06

£0.56m

4

BATTLEFIELD 2: SPECIAL FORCES

ELECTRONIC ARTS

24

PC

NOV 05

£0.54m

BATTLEFIELD 1942: WWII ANTHOLOGY

ELECTRONIC ARTS

125

PC

SEP 04

£0.26m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: Electronic Arts Founded: 1992

1 BATTLEFIELD 2142

5

(98% of total revenues)

58

DIGITAL ILLUSIONS

TOP TITLES

11

UK

NO. 53 £4.96M

TOP TITLES

>

57

ROCKSTAR NORTH

DOWN FROM

£4.69m

CONTACTS Address: Maria Skolgata 83, Stokholm, 118 53, Sweden Web: www.dice.se

(95% of total revenues)

93


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

59

HARMONIX

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 55 £5.26M

TOP TITLES

NEW

ENTRY

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: MTV Founded: 1995

1 GUITAR HERO II

ACTIVISION

16

PS2

NOV 06

£3.02m

2

CONTACTS

GUITAR HERO

ACTIVISION

28

PS2

APR 06

£1.84m

3

EYE TOY: ANTIGRAV

SONY

426

PS2

MAR 05

£0.03m

Address: 675 Massachusetts Avenue, 6th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

4

KARAOKE STAGE

KONAMI

339

PS2

APR 05

£0.01m

£4.95m

60

7 STUDIOS

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 56 £5.14M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

UBISOFT

4

PS2, PC

JUL 06

£3.80m

2

FANTASTIC 4

ACTIVISION

3

PS2, XB, GC

JUL 05

£0.52m

3

THE SOPRANOS: ROAD TO RESPECT

THQ

PS2

NOV 06

£0.58m

128

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1999

1 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: J. SPARROW

94

(94% of total revenues)

>

TOTAL:

Email: [email protected] www.harmonixmusic.com

£5.14m

CONTACTS Email: [email protected] www.sevenstudios.com

(100% of total revenues)

UP FROM

62


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Project1

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

61

MTO

JAPAN

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 57 £4.41M

TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

UBISOFT

41

GBA

DEC 05

£1.36m

2

UBISOFT

45

GBA

MAR 06

£1.05m

3 CATZ 2006

UBISOFT

63

DS, PC

DEC 06

£0.71m

4

DOGZ 2006

UBISOFT

55

DS, PC

DEC 06

£0.70m

5

GT PRO SERIES

UBISOFT

207

WII

DEC 06

£0.23m

TOTAL:

£4.04m

(92% of total revenues)

>

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

DOWN FROM

57

EIDOS

3

PS2, PSP, XB

MAY 06

£2.39m

2

EIDOS

36

PSP

DEC 05

£1.14m

3 PROSTROKE GOLF WORLD TOUR 2007

OXYGEN

43

PS2, PC, XB, PSP

AUG 06

£0.55m

4

EIDOS

2

PS2, XB

MAY 05

£0.32m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2003

1 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 2006

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 5

Email: [email protected] Web: www.mto-power.com

UK

NO. 58 £4.40M

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER

CONTACTS

62

GUSTO GAMES

TOP TITLES

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1996

1 DOGZ CATZ

NEW

ENTRY

£4.40m

CONTACTS Main contact: Simon Phillips Address: Bloxham Mill, Bradford Road, Bloxham, OX15 4FF, UK Email: [email protected] (100% of total revenues)

97


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Page 10

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

MICROSOFT

12

PC, MAC

NOV 05

£2.73m

2

AGE OF EMPIRES III: WAR CHIEFS

MICROSOFT

82

PC

OCT 06

£0.47m

3

AGE OF EMPIRES II GOLD

MICROSOFT

84

PC

OCT 01

£0.31m

4

AGE OF MYTHOLOGY

MICROSOFT

9

PC, MAC

NOV 02

£0.23m

5

AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: GOLD EDITION

MICROSOFT

184

PC

OCT 04

£0.14m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: Microsoft Founded: 1995

1 AGE OF EMPIRES III

£3.92m

CONTACTS Main contact: Stephen McGill Address: Thames Valley Park, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 1WG, UK Email: [email protected] Web: www.microsoft.com

(91% of total revenues)

>

64

ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO

DOWN FROM

45

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

NO. 62 £4.01M TOP TITLES

49

USA

NO. 61 £4.33M TOP TITLES

>

63

ENSEMBLE STUDIOS

DOWN FROM

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Take 2 Founded: 1984

1 ROCKSTAR GAMES TABLE TENNIS

TAKE 2

4

XB360

MAY 06

£2.43m

2

CONTACTS

MIDNIGHT CLUB 3: DUB EDIT. REMIX

TAKE 2

47

PS2, XB

MAR 06

£1.01m

3

MIDNIGHT CLUB 3: DUB EDITION

TAKE 2

1

XB, PS2

MAR 05

£0.34m

Address: 5966 La Place Court, Suite 170, Carlsbad, USA

4

RED DEAD REVOLVER

TAKE 2

3

PS2, XB

JUN 04

£0.09m

Web: www.rockstarsandiego.com

5

MIDNIGHT CLUB II

TAKE 2

2

XB, PS2, PSP

MAY 03

£0.09m

TOTAL:

£3.96m

(99% of total revenues)

99


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4:37 pm

Page 11

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

RAVEN SOFTWARE NO. 65 £3.96M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1 QUAKE 4

ACTIVISION

10

XB360, PC, MAC

OCT 05

£1.81m

2

MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE

ACTIVISION

24

PS2, XB360, XB

NOV 06

£1.38m

3 4 5

X-MEN LEGENDS II: APOCALYPSE

ACTIVISION

11

PS2, XB, PC, GC

OCT 05

£0.65m

X-MEN LEGENDS

ACTIVISION

18

XB, PS2, GC

OCT 04

£0.07m

STAR WARS: JEDI ACADEMY

ACTIVISION

6

PC, XB

SEP 03

£0.04m

TOTAL:

£3.95m

1 WORLD OF WARCRAFT 2 WARCRAFT III: REIGN OF CHAOS 3 WARCRAFT III: FROZEN THRONE 4 DIABLO II 5 DIABLO II - LORDS OF DESTRUCTION

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

VIVENDI GAMES

2

PC

FEB 05

£3.01m

VIVENDI GAMES VIVENDI GAMES

4 13

PC PC, MAC

JUL 02 JUL 03

£0.28m £0.21m

VIVENDI GAMES VIVENDI GAMES

3 5

PC PC

JUN 02 JUN 01

£0.16m £0.13m

TOTAL:

£3.78m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

(% of total revenues)

STATISTICS

Owned by: Vivendi Games Founded: 1994

CONTACTS Address: PO Box 18979, Irvine, California, 92623, USA Web: www.blizzard.co.uk

(98% of total revenues)

8

PS2, PC, XB

MAY 06

£1.76m

15

PS2, XB, PC

FEB 06

£1.21m

3 STAR WARS EP III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

LUCASARTS

1

PS2, XB

MAY 05

£0.88m

4 INDIANA JONES & EMPEROR'S TOMB

LUCASARTS

13

XB, PS2, MAC, PC APR 03

£0.01m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: Foundation 9 Ent. Founded: 1997

1 THE DA VINCI CODE TAKE 2 2 GETTING UP: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE ATARI

100

Main Contact: Brian Raffel Address: 8496 Greenway Boulevard, Middleton, W1, 53562-3538, USA Web: www.ravensoft.com

USA

THE COLLECTIVE NO. 67 £3.86M

TOP TITLES

CONTACTS

USA

BLIZZARD NO. 66 £3.87M

TOP TITLES

STATISTICS Owned by: Activision Founded: 1990

£3.86m

CONTACTS Main contact: Douglas Hare Address: 1900 Quail Street, Newport Beach, CA, 92660, USA Tel: 949 255 1900 Email: [email protected]

(100% of total revenues)


90-111 Dev100_v3

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Page 12

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

MAGENTA NO. 68 £3.85M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1994

1 BUZZ! JUNIOR: JUNGLE PARTY 2 STUART LITTLE 3: BIG PHOTO

SONY

21

PS2

OCT 06

£3.56m

SONY

156

PS2

OCT 05

£0.29m

3 THE CAT IN THE HAT

VIVENDI GAMES

9

PS2

APR 03

£0.01m

CONTACTS Address: Unit 34, The Colonnades, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AA, UK www.magentasoftware.com

TOTAL:

£3.85m

USA

1 TONY HAWK'S PROJECT 8 2 SHREK SUPER SLAM

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

SHABA NO. 69 £3.83M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

15

PS2, XB

NOV 06

£2.26m

ACTIVISION

22

PS2, XB, GC

NOV 05

£1.07m

3 TONY HAWK'S UNDERGROUND 2: REMIX ACTIVISION

9

PSP

SEP 05

£0.50m

TOTAL:

£3.83m

CONTACTS Address: 501 Falsam street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA Email: [email protected] Tel: 510-547-6101 Web: www.shaba.com (66% of total revenues)

UK HIGHEST UK CHART

BLITZ GAMES NO. 70 £3.81M PUBLISHER

STATISTICS Owned by: Actvision Founded: 1997

ACTIVISION

TOP TITLES

(78% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1990

1 BRATZ: FOREVER DIAMONDZ

THQ

9

PS2, GC

MAR 06

£1.40m

2 SPONGEBOB: KRUSTY KRAB

THQ

49

PS2, WII, GC

NOV 06

£0.94m

3 BRATZ: ROCK ANGELZ 4 PACMAN WORLD 3 5 STITCH EXPERIMENT 626

THQ

1

PS2, GC

OCT 05

£0.81m

PS2, PSP, GC, PC, XB

MAY 06 OCT 02

£0.34m £0.25m

TOTAL:

£3.74m

ELECTRONIC ARTS 178 DISNEY INTERACTIVE 159

PS2

STATISTICS CONTACTS Address: Bedford Court, Beford Street, Leamington Spa, Warks CV32 5DY, UK [email protected] (98% of total revenues)

101


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

BARKING LIZARDS NO. 71 £3.75M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2001

1 BRATZ: FOREVER DIAMONDZ 2 BRATZ: BABYZ

THQ

9

DS, GBA

NOV 06

£3.63m

THQ

409

GBA

NOV 06

£0.11m

3 MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE

ACTIVISION

24

GBA

NOV 06

£0.01m

CONTACTS Address:1751 International Pkwy Suite 131 Richardson, Texas, 75081, USA www.barkinglizards.com

TOTAL:

£3.75m

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

LIONHEAD STUDIOS NO. 72 £3.73M TOP TITLES

(100% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Microsoft Founded: 1997

1 THE MOVIES 2 FABLE: THE LOST CHAPTERS

ACTIVISION

28

PC

NOV 05

£1.00m

MICROSOFT

27

PC, XB

SEP 05

£0.86m

3 BLACK & WHITE 2

ELECTRONIC ARTS

6

PC

OCT 05

£0.76m

4 FABLE

MICROSOFT

2

XB

OCT 04

£0.51m

5 THE MOVIES: STUNTS & EFFECTS

ACTIVISION

50

PC

JUN 06

£0.24m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£3.37m

CONTACTS Address: 1 Occam Court, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7YQ, UK Tel: 01483 401 000 Web: www.lionhead.com (90% of total revenues)

UK

TOP TITLES

1 DRIVER: PARALLEL LINES 2 DRIV3R 3 STUNTMAN 4 DRIVER

102

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

REFLECTIONS NO. 73 £3.65M FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Ubisoft Founded: 1996

ATARI ATARI

7 1

PS2, XB XB, PS2, PC

MAR 06 JUN 04

£3.30m £0.30m

CONTACTS

ATARI

1

PS2

SEP 02

£0.02m

www.ubi.com

ATARI

1

PC, PL, MAC

JUN 99

£0.02m

TOTAL:

£3.65m

(100% of total revenues)


90-111 Dev100_v3

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

BEAUTIFUL GAME STUDIOS NO. 74 £3.65M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Eidos Founded: 2003

1 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 2006 2 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 2007

EIDOS

3

PC

MAR 06

£2.12m

EIDOS

9

PC

OCT 06

£1.33m

3 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 5

EIDOS

2

PC

MAR 05

£0.12m

TOTAL:

£3.65m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Address: United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7609 8191 www.bgstudios.co.uk

(100% of total revenues)

THQ

12

GBA

JUN 03

£1.68m

THQ

1

GBA

OCT 05

£0.96m

3 ALEX RIDER: STORMBREAKER

THQ

49

DS

JUL 06

£0.52m

4 FINDING NEMO: ESCAPE TO BIG BLUE

THQ

348

DS

MAR 06

£0.21m

5 FLUSHED AWAY

D3P

21

GBA

NOV 06

£0.12m

TOTAL:

£3.50m

CONTACTS www.altron.co.jp

(96% of total revenues)

JAPAN HIGHEST UK CHART

TEAM NINJA NO. 76 £3.61M PUBLISHER

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1983

1 SIMPSONS: ROAD RAGE 2 BRATZ: ROCK ANGELZ

TOP TITLES

CONTACTS

JAPAN

ALTRON NO. 75 £3.63M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Tecmo Founded: 1967

1 DEAD OR ALIVE 4 2 DEAD OR ALIVE XTREME 2

MICROSOFT

1

XB360

JAN 06

£3.09m

MICROSOFT

237

XB360

DEC 06

£0.22m

3 NINJA GAIDEN: BLACK

MICROSOFT

161

XB

OCT 05

£0.12m

4 DEAD OR ALIVE ULTIMATE

MICROSOFT

4

XB

FEB 05

£0.04m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£3.54m

CONTACTS Address: Tecmo, PO Box 5553 21213-B Hwthorne Blvd, Torrance, California 90503, USA :www.tecmogames.com (98% of total revenues)

103


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

UK

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

REBELLION NO. 77 £3.58M

1 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 2 MIAMI VICE: THE GAME

ELECTRONIC ARTS

16

VIVENDI GAMES

25

3 ROGUE TROOPER

EIDOS

4 SNIPER ELITE 5 GUN: SHOWDOWN

TOP TITLES

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

PSP

APR 06

£1.01m

PSP

JUL 06

£0.79m

38

XB, PS2, PC

APR 06

£0.66m

UBISOFT

15

PC, PS2, XB

SEP 06

£0.50m

ACTIVISION

277

PSP

NOV 06

£0.25m

FORMATS

TOTAL:

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1992

£3.21m

1 TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED

ATARI

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

CONTACTS Main contact: Jason Kingsley, CEO Address: The Studio, Brewer Street, Oxford, OX1 1QN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1865 792201 Email: [email protected] www.rebellion.co.uk (89% of total revenues)

FRANCE

EDEN STUDIOS NO. 78 £3.58M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

4

FORMATS

XB360

UK RELEASE DATE SEP 06

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Atari Founded: 1992

£3.58m

CONTACTS Address: Immeuble ‘Le Part-Dieu Vivier Merle’ 83 – 85 Boulevard Vivier Merle 69487 Lyon Cedex 03, France www.eden-studios.fr

TOTAL:

£3.58m

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

HEAVY IRON STUDIOS NO. 79 £3.56M TOP TITLES

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

THQ

25

PS2, XB, PC, GC

NOV 05

£1.07m

2 SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE 3 THE INCREDIBLES 4 SPONGEBOB: BIKINI BOTTOM 5 SCOOBY-DOO: NIGHT OF 100 FRIGHTS

THQ

1

PS2, PC, XB, GC

FEB 05

£0.96m

THQ

3

GC, XB, PS2

NOV 04

£0.78m

THQ

5

XB, PC, PS2

DEC 03

£0.34m

THQ

14

PS2, GC

AUG 02

£0.32m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS Owned by: THQ Founded: 1999

1 THE INCREDIBLES: THE UNDERMINER

104

(100% of total revenues)

£3.48m

CONTACTS Address: 6601 Center Drive, West Suite 400, Los Angeles, California 90045, USA

(98% of total revenues)


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

ARENANET NO. 80 £3.41M

1 GUILD WARS: FACTIONS 2 GUILD WARS

NCSOFT EUROPE

7

NCSOFT EUROPE

8

3 GUILD WARS: NIGHTFALL

NCSOFT EUROPE

15

TOP TITLES

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

PC

APR 06

£1.59m

PC

APR 05

£0.93m

PC

OCT 06

£0.89m

FORMATS

STATISTICS Owned by: NCSoft Founded: 2000

CONTACTS Address: 10020 Main St. 164 Bellevue, WA, 98004, USA www.arena.net

TOTAL:

£3.41m

USA

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

EDGE OF REALITY NO. 81 £3.24M TOP TITLES

(100% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1998

1 OVER THE HEDGE 2 SHARK TALE

ACTIVISION

3

PS2, XB, GC

JUN 06

£2.85m

ACTIVISION

8

PS2, XB, GC

OCT 04

£0.25m

3 THE SIMS

ELECTRONIC ARTS

1

PS2, XB, GC

FEB 03

£0.14m

CONTACTS Address: 6101 W Courtyard Drive, Building 1, Suite 200. Austin, Texas 78730, USA www.edgeofreality.com

TOTAL:

£3.24m

USA PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

VALVE NO. 82 £3.421M TOP TITLES

(100% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1996

1 HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE ONE

ELECTRONIC ARTS

8

PC

JUN 06

£1.00m

2 HALF-LIFE 2: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION 3 COUNTER-STRIKE: SOURCE 4 HALF-LIFE 2 5 DAY OF DEFEAT: SOURCE

ELECTRONIC ARTS

139

PC

SEP 05

£0.95m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

196

PC

OCT 05

£0.46m

XB, PC

NOV 04

£0.45m

FEB 06

£0.13m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

3

ELECTRONIC ARTS

299

PC

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.99m

CONTACTS Main contact: Doug Lombardi Address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 1000, Bellevue King 98009, USA www.valavesoftware.com (93% of total revenues)

105


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS NO. 83 £3.16M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1994

1 WALLACE & GROMIT: WERE-RABBIT 2 ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON 3: GOLD

KONAMI

12

PS2, XB

OCT 05

£0.83m

ATARI

173

PC

NOV 05

£0.63m

3 ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON 3

ATARI

26

PC, MAC

NOV 04

£0.55m

4 DOG'S LIFE

SONY

76

PS2

NOV 03

£0.35m

5 THRILLVILLE

ATARI

162

PS2

NOV 05

£0.31m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.67m

CONTACTS Main contact: David Walsh Address: 306 Cabridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridgeshire, CB4 0WG, UK Email: [email protected] Web: www.frontier.co.uk (84% of total revenues)

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

STUDIO LIVERPOOL NO. 84 £3.13M FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Sony Founded: 1992

1 FORMULA 1 06 2 WIPEOUT PURE

SONY

10

PS2, PSP

JUL 06

£2.11m

SONY

3

PSP

SEP 05

£0.73m

3 FORMULA 1 05

SONY

16

PS2

JUN 05

£0.24m

4 FORMULA 1 04

SONY

8

PS2

AUG 04

£0.03m

5 FORMULA ONE 2002

SONY

26

PS2

NOV 02

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£2.67m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

CONTACTS Main contact: Clemens Wangerin (Development Director) Address: Wavertree Technology Park, Stephenson Way, Napier Court, Liverpool, L13 1HD, UK Tel: +44 (0) 151 282 3000 (84% of total revenues)

JAPAN

GAME FREAK NO. 85 £3.10M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Nintendo Founded: 1989

1 POKEMON EMERALD

NINTENDO

5

GBA

OCT 05

£2.66m

2 POKEMON FIRE RED 3 POKEMON LEAF GREEN 4 POKEMON SAPPHIRE 5 POKEMON RUBY

NINTENDO

3

GBA

OCT 04

£0.20m

CONTACTS

NINTENDO

7

GBA

OCT 04

£0.16m

www.gamefreak.co.jp

NINTENDO

2

GBA

JUL 03

£0.05m

NINTENDO

1

GBA

JUL 03

£0.03m

TOTAL:

£3.10m

106

(100% of total revenues)


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

MIDWAY NO. 86 £3.07M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Midway Founded: 1974

1 RISE & FALL: CIVILIZATIONS AT WAR 2 MORTAL KOMBAT: ARMAGEDDON

MIDWAY

8

PC

JUN 06

£1.19m

MIDWAY

27

PS2

OCT 06

£0.93m

3 GAUNTLET: SEVEN SORROWS

MIDWAY

71

PS2, XB

MAR 06

£0.41m

Address: 10110 Mesa Rim Road, San Diego, 92121, USA

4 AREA 51

MIDWAY

3

PS2, XB, PC

MAY 05

£0.32m

www.midway.com

5 MORTAL KOMBAT: DECEPTION

MIDWAY

12

PS2, XB

NOV 04

£0.13m

TOTAL:

£2.97m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

(97% of total revenues)

USA

PETROGLYPH NO. 87 £2.98M TOP TITLES

CONTACTS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 2003

1 STAR WARS: EMPIRE AT WAR

LUCASARTS

2

PC

FEB 06

£2.66m

2 STAR WARS: FORCES OF CORRUPTION

LUCASARTS

65

PC

OCT 06

£2.32m

CONTACTS www.petroglyphgames.com

TOTAL:

£2.98m

USA

1 CARS

PUBLISHER

THQ

HIGHEST UK CHART

LOCOMOTIVE GAMES NO. 88 £2.97M TOP TITLES

1

(100% of total revenues)

FORMATS

PSP

UK RELEASE DATE JUL 06

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: THQ Founded: 1998

£2.97m

CONTACTS www.locomotivegames.com

TOTAL:

£2.97m

(100% of total revenues)

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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS NO. 89 £2.83M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Microsoft Founded: 1974

1 MS FLIGHT SIM 2004: CENTURY OF FLIGHT MICROSOFT 2 FORZA MOTORSPORT MICROSOFT

19

PC

MAY 03

£0.98m

2

XB

MAY 05

£0.97m

3 XBOX 360 LIVE ARCADE UNPLUGGED

MICROSOFT

24

XB360

SEP 06

£0.64m

4 FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2002

MICROSOFT

97

PC

NOV 01

£0.10m

5 LINKS 2003

EMPIRE INTERACTIVE 100

PC

OCT 02

£0.03m

TOTAL:

£2.73m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

CONTACTS Main contact: Stephen McGill Address: Thames Valley Park, Reading, Berkshire RG6 1WG, UK Email: [email protected] wwwmicrosoft.com (97% of total revenues)

JAPAN

POLYPHONY DIGITAL NO. 90 £2.82M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Sony Founded: 1998

1 GRAN TURISMO 4 2 TOURIST TROPHY

SONY

1

PS2

MAR 05

£1.50m

SONY

12

PS2

JUN 06

£1.24m

3 GRAN TURISMO 3

SONY

1

PS2

JUL 01

£0.06m

4 GRAN TURISMO: CONCEPT

SONY

1

PS2

JUL 02

£0.02m

CONTACTS Main contact: Kazunori Yamauchi Address: 2-6-21, Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0062 Japan www.polyphony.co.jp

TOTAL:

£2.82m

JAPAN

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

AMUSEMENT VISION NO. 91 £2.82M TOP TITLES

(100% of total revenues)

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

STATISTICS Owned by: Sega Founded: 2000

1 SUPER MONKEY BALL: TOUCH & ROLL

SEGA

40

DS

FEB 06

£1.47m

2 SUPER MONKEY BALL DELUXE 3 YAKUZA 4 F-ZERO GX 5 SUPER MONKEY BALL

SEGA

10

PS2, XB

AUG 05

£0.46m

CONTACTS

SEGA

20

PS2

SEP 06

£0.60m

www.amusementvision.com

NINTENDO

9

GC

NOV 03

£0.01m

ATARI

4

GC, N-G

MAY 02

£0.01m

TOTAL:

£2.81m

108

(100% of total revenues)


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

LUXOFLUX NO. 92 £2.78M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Activision Founded: 1997

1 TRUE CRIME: NEW YORK CITY 2 SHREK 2

ACTIVISION

7

PS2, XB, GC, PC

NOV 05

£2.05m

ACTIVISION

2

PS2, XB, GBA, GC JUN 04

£0.59m

3 TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF LA

ACTIVISION

2

XB, PS2, PC, GC

£0.14m

NOV 03

TOTAL:

£2.78m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

SEGA

18

XB360, PC

DEC 05

£1.85m

VIVENDI GAMES

6

PC

OCT 05

£0.87m

3 THE MATRIX ONLINE

SEGA

21

PC

APR 05

£0.03m

TOTAL:

£2.75m

(100% of total revenues)

STATISTICS CONTACTS Email: [email protected] www.lith.com

(100% of total revenues)

AUSTRALIA HIGHEST UK CHART

KROME STUDIOS NO. 94 £2.73M PUBLISHER

Main contact: Peter Moraweic Address: 3420 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 1000, Santa Monica, California 90405, USA Email: [email protected] www.luxoflux.com

Owned by: Warner Bros Entertainment Founded: 1994

1 CONDEMNED: CRIMINAL ORIGINS 2 F.E.A.R.

TOP TITLES

CONTACTS

USA

MONOLITH NO. 93 £2.76M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1999

1 THE LEGEND OF SPYRO: A NEW BEGINNING VIVENDI GAMES

16

PS2, XB, GBA, GC OCT 06

£2.62m

2 TY TASMANIAN TIGER 2: BUSH RESCUE 3 KING ARTHUR 4 TY THE TASMANIAN TIGER

ELECTRONIC ARTS

52

PS2, XB, GC, GBA NOV 04

£0.08m

KONAMI

115

PS2, XB, GC

FEB 05

£0.02m

ELECTRONIC ARTS

33

PS2, XB, GC

DEC 02

£0.01m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.73m

CONTACTS Address: PO Box 1639, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia www.kromestudios.com (100% of total revenues)

109


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

In association with

JAPAN

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

OMEGA FORCE NO. 95 £2.73M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Koei Founded: 1988

1 DYNASTY WARRIORS 5: EMPIRES KOEI 2 DYNASTY WARRIORS 5: XTREME LEGENDS KOEI

14

XB360, PS2

JUN 06

£0.88m

63

PS2

FEB 06

£0.43m

3 DYNASTY WARRIORS 5

KOEI

15

PS2, XB

JUN 05

£0.39m

4 DYNASTY WARRIORS

KOEI

39

PSP

SEP 05

£0.36m

5 SAMURAI WARRIORS 2

KOEI

79

PS2, XB360

SEP 06

£0.29m

TOTAL:

£2.36m

HIGHEST UK CHART

PUBLISHER

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

TAKE 2

2

PS2, XB, GC

JUL 05

£1.00m

TAKE 2

43

PS2, PSP, XB

OCT 06

£0.70m

3 ZATHURA

TAKE 2

76

PS2, XB

JAN 06

£0.37m

4 50 CENT: BULLETPROOF

VIVENDI GAMES

5

PSP

OCT 06

£0.33m

5 CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR

TAKE 2

PS2, XB, GC

DEC 05

£0.17m

389

TOTAL:

£2.57m

HIGHEST UK CHART

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

1

PSP

NOV 05

£2.16m

62

PSP

NOV 06

£0.35m

3 HE-MAN: DEFENDER OF GRAYSKULL

38

PS2

FEB 05

£0.13m

TOTAL:

110

STATISTICS CONTACTS Address: 2345 Pembroke Ave, Hoffman Estates, Illinois 60195, USA www.high-voltage.com (95% of total revenues)

STATISTICS Owned by: Independent Founded: 1998

1 STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II LUCASARTS 2 SCOOBY-DOO WHO'S WATCHING WHO? THQ MIDAS INTERACTIVE

(86% of total revenues)

USA

SAVAGE ENTERTAINMENT NO. 97 £2.64M PUBLISHER

Main contact: Mr Tomoike Address: 1-18-12 Minowa, Kouhoku, Yokahoma 223-8503, Japan www.koei.com

Owned by: Independent Founded: 1993

1 CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 2 FAMILY GUY

TOP TITLES

CONTACTS

USA

HIGH VOLTAGE NO. 96 £2.71M TOP TITLES

STATISTICS

£2.64m

CONTACTS Address: 4079C Redwood Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90066, USA www.lsavageentertainment.com

(100% of total revenues)


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

UK

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

STUDIO CAMBRIDGE NO. 98 £2.56M

FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Sony Founded: 1997

1 24: THE GAME 2 MEDIEVIL RESURRECTION

SONY

5

PS2

MAR 06

£2.22m

SONY

16

PSP

SEP 05

£0.32m

3 GHOSTHUNTER

SONY

112

PS2

DEC 03

£0.03m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.57m

CONTACTS Main contact: James Shepherd Address: City House, 126-130 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1RE, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1223 341 800

(100% of total revenues)

USA

TOP TITLES

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

UBISOFT (ROMANIA) NO. 99 £2.51M FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: Ubisoft Founded: 1992

1 BLAZING ANGELS: SQUADRONS OF WWII UBISOFT 2 SILENT HUNTER III UBISOFT

12

XB360

MAR 06

£2.23m

29

PC

MAR 05

£0.20m

3 CHESSMASTER 10TH EDITION

381

PC

SEP 04

£0.08m

UBISOFT

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.51m

CONTACTS www.ubi.com

(100% of total revenues)

UK

TOP TITLES

1 JUICED 2 JUICED: ELIMINATOR

PUBLISHER

HIGHEST UK CHART

JUICE GAMES NO. 100 £2.51M FORMATS

UK RELEASE DATE

REVENUE

Owned by: THQ Founded: 2003

THQ

1

PS2

JUN 05

£1.41m

THQ

38

PSP

JUL 06

£1.10m

TOTAL:

STATISTICS

£2.51m

CONTACTS Main contact: Colin Bell Address: 84 Sankey Street, Warrington, Chesire, WA1 SF, UK Web: www.juicegames.com (100% of total revenues)

111


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

1-100 POSITION

112

STUDIO

1

EA Canada

2 3

REVENUES

PAGE

POSITION

STUDIO

REVENUES

PAGE

£115,513,113

10

26

HB Studios

£9,111,031

55

Nintendo

£70,964,597

12

27

Codemasters

£8,830,012

56

Konami

£43,203,751

14

28

Pandemic Studios

£8,320,951

57

4

Maxis

£41,741,243

16

29

Rainbow Studios

£8,251,713

59

5

Traveller’s Tales

£26,295,661

18

30

Climax

£8,174,333

60

6

Rockstar Leeds

£25,279,940

20

31

Team 17

£8,151,210

61

7

Ubisoft France

£24,254,627

22

32

Bizarre Creations

£8,048,645

65

8

Yuke’s

£22,483,268

24

33

Vicarious Creations

£8,042,114

66

9

EA Redwood Shores

£22,023,924

26

34

EA Chicago

£7,885,606

67

10

Ubisoft Montreal

£21,638,640

30

35

Volition

£7,876,322

68

11

Amaze Entertainment

£21,576,114

32

36

IO Interactive

£7,808,578

69

12

Treyarch

£20,407,760

33

37

Creative Assembly

£7,210,676

71

13

EA UK-Criterion

£19,097,069

34

38

Neversoft

£7,061,681

72

14

London Studio

£17,615,818

35

39

Rockstar Vancouver

£7,020,400

73

15

Crystal Dynamics

£16,477,320

37

40

Headgate Studios

£6,806,657

74

16

Epic Games

£15,806,225

39

41

Square Enix

£6,518,697

75

17

Capcom

£15,579,971

40

42

Avalanche Studios

£6,459,304

77

18

Sports Interactive

£15,488,116

42

43

Infinity Ward

£6,409,958

78

19

Radical Entertainment

£15,051,442

44

44

Relic

£6,308,794

79

20

Relentless Studios

£14,053,572

47

45

Kuju Entertainment

£6,074,156

81

21

Sonic Team

£12,890,825

49

46

Rare

£6,049,010

83

22

Bethesda

£11,112,740

50

47

Helixe

£5,913,330

84

23

Namco

£11,023,757

51

48

Ubisoft Shanghai

£5,673,165

85

24

A2M

£10,899,305

52

49

Eurocom Entertainment

£5,513,061

86

25

EA LA

£9,588,304

53

50

Exient

£5,397,124

89


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

POSITION

REVENUES

PAGE

Chunsoft

£5,385,766

90

76

52

Sumo Digital

£5,194,784

90

53

EA Tiburon

£5,041,482

91

54

Blue Fang

£5,030,504

55

Backbone

£5,028,377

56

Sony Japan

57

Rockstar North

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

51

STUDIO

POSITION

STUDIO

REVENUES

PAGE

Team Ninja

£3,609,606

103

77

Rebellion

£3,584,633

104

78

Eden Studios

£3,584,555

104

91

79

Heavy Iron Studios

£3,562,208

104

92

80

Arenanet

£3,412,672

105

£4,981,030

92

81

Edge Of Reality

£3,239,507

105

£4,960,840

93

82

Valve

£3,211,818

105

Digital Illusions

£4,922,110

93

83

Frontier Developments

£3,164,593

106

Harmonix

£4,907,146

94

84

Studio Liverpool

£3,126,856

106

7 Studios

£4,831,254

94

85

Game Freak

£3,102,480

106

MTO

£4,405,041

97

86

Midway

£3,071,720

107

Gusto Games

£4,401,277

97

87

Petroglyph

£2,981,154

107

Ensemble Studios

£4,332,362

63

88

Locomotive Games

£2,968,167

107

Rockstar San Diego

£4,012,495

64

89

Microsoft

£2,828,763

108

Raven Software

£3,958,920

100

90

Polyphony Digital

£2,824,646

108

66

Blizzard Entertainment

£3,874,146

100

91

Amusement Vision

£2,820,567

108

67

The Collective

£3,862,491

100

92

Luxoflux

£2,782,155

109

68

Magenta

£3,853,433

101

93

Monolith

£2,756,940

109

69

Shaba

£3,829,021

101

94

Krome Studios

£2,733,956

109

70

Blitz Games

£3,809,307

101

95

Omega Fource

£2,732,514

110

71

Barking Lizards

£3,754,580

102

96

High Voltage

£2,707,112

110

72

Lionhead Studios

£3,731,638

102

97

Savage Entertainment

£2,641,492

110

73

Reflections

£3,650,954

102

98

Studio Cambridge

£2,564,611

111

74

Beautiful Game Studios

£3,647,736

103

99

Ubisoft Romania

£2,511,273

111

75

Altron

£3,629,147

103

100

Juice Games

£2,510,047

111

113


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In association with

THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

A-Z INDEX STUDIO

POSITION

REVENUES

PAGE

STUDIO

POSITION

REVENUES

7 Studios

60

£4,831,254

94

A2M

24

£10,899,305

Altron

75

£3,629,147

Amaze Entertainment

11

Amusement Vision

91

Arenanet Avalanche Studios Backbone Barking Lizards Beautiful Game Studios Bethesda

EA Redwood Shores

9

£22,023,924

26

52

EA Tiburon

53

£5,041,482

91

103

EA UK-Criterion

13

£19,097,069

34

£21,576,114

32

Eden Studios

78

£3,584,555

104

£2,820,567

108

Edge Of Reality

81

£3,239,507

105

80

£3,412,672

105

Ensemble Studios

63

£4,332,362

63

42

£6,459,304

77

Epic Games

16

£15,806,225

39

55

£5,028,377

92

Eurocom Entertainment

49

£5,513,061

86

71

£3,754,580

102

Exient

50

£5,397,124

89

74

£3,647,736

103

Frontier Developments

83

£3,164,593

106

22

£11,112,740

50

Game Freak

85

£3,102,480

106

Bizarre Creations

32

£8,048,645

65

Gusto Games

62

£4,401,277

97

Blitz Games

70

£3,809,307

101

Harmonix

59

£4,907,146

94

Blizzard Entertainment

66

£3,874,146

100

HB Studios

26

£9,111,031

55

Blue Fang

54

£5,030,504

91

Headgate Studios

40

£6,806,657

74

Capcom

17

£15,579,971

40

Heavy Iron Studios

79

£3,562,208

104

Chunsoft

51

£5,385,766

90

Helixe

47

£5,913,330

84

Climax

30

£8,174,333

60

High Voltage

96

£2,707,112

110

Codemasters

27

£8,830,012

56

Infinity Ward

43

£6,409,958

78

Creative Assembly

37

£7,210,676

71

IO Interactive

36

£7,808,578

69

Crystal Dynamics

15

£16,477,320

37

Juice Games

100

£2,510,047

111

Digital Illusions

58

EA Canada

1

EA Chicago EA La

114

PAGE

£4,922,110

93

Konami

3

£43,203,751

14

£115,513,113

10

Krome Studios

94

£2,733,956

109

34

£7,885,606

67

Kuju Entertainment

45

£6,074,156

81

25

£9,588,304

53

Lionhead Studios

72

£3,731,638

102


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

STUDIO

POSITION

REVENUES

PAGE

STUDIO

88

£2,968,167

107

London Studio

14

£17,615,818

Luxoflux

92

£2,782,155

Magenta

68

Maxis

4

Microsoft

89

£2,828,763

Midway

86

£3,071,720

Monolith

93

£2,756,940

109

MTO

61

£4,405,041

97

Namco

23

£11,023,757

51

Neversoft

38

£7,061,681

72

Nintendo

2

£70,964,597

Omega Force

95

£2,732,514

Pandemic Studios

28

Petroglyph

87

Locomotive Games

POSITION

REVENUES

PAGE

Rockstar North

57

£4,960,840

93

35

Rockstar San Diego

64

£4,012,495

64

109

Rockstar Vancouver

39

£7,020,400

73

£3,853,433

101

Savage Entertainment

97

£2,641,492

110

£41,741,243

16

Shaba

69

£3,829,021

101

108

Sonic Team

21

£12,890,825

49

107

Sony Japan

56

£4,981,030

92

Sports Interactive

18

£15,488,116

42

Square Enix

41

£6,518,697

75

Studio Cambridge

98

£2,564,611

111

Studio Liverpool

84

£3,126,856

106

11

Sumo Digital

52

£5,194,784

90

110

Team 17

31

£8,151,210

61

£8,320,951

57

Team Ninja

76

£3,609,606

103

£2,981,154

107

The Collective

67

£3,862,491

100

Polyphony Digital

90

£2,824,646

108

Traveller's Tales

5

£26,295,661

18

Radical Entertainment

19

£15,051,442

44

Treyarch

12

£20,407,760

33

Rainbow Studios

29

£8,251,713

59

Ubisoft France

7

£24,254,627

22

Rare

46

£8,049,010

83

Ubisoft Montreal

10

£21,638,640

30

Raven Software

65

£3,958,920

100

Ubisoft Romania

99

£2,511,273

111

Rebellion

77

£3,584,633

104

Ubisoft Shanghai

48

£5,673,165

85

Reflections

73

£3,650,954

102

Valve

82

£3,211,818

105

Relentless Studios

20

£14,053,572

47

Vicarious Visions

33

£8,042,114

66

Relic

44

£6,308,794

79

Volition

35

£7,876,322

68

Rockstar Leeds

6

£25,279,940

20

Yuke's

8

£22,483,268

24

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TRACKING SYSTEM

The Develop 100 wouldn’t exist without the thorough data provided by the games business’ best research company, ChartTrack. Director Dorian Bloch gives a background to the figures which make this book possible… fter the initial daunting task of coding (with 63 per cent being publisher-owned). This indie/publisher-owned thousands of games with the correct split has remained static over two years so although it seems like developer details, we certainly feel we’ve independent studios are being snapped up at an ever-increasing rate, in learnt about developers from the ground up. terms of sales, their titles have held their own against publisher-owned I would like to mention Adam Davis and Chris studios. In fact, the number of indie studios is up to from 37 to 39 inside Poole here at ChartTrack – both have spent the Top 100 for 2006. The top four territories accounted for 91 per cent literally hundreds of hours researching games on of all value generated – and in descending order they are USA with 35 per release, often a difficult and thankless task. cent, UK on 24 per cent, Japan on 19 per cent and Canada on 13 per cent. Of course work is now on-going every week, Within the UK (i.e. of the 24 per cent generated by UK studios), indie so that every video game and PC game title released during 2006 was studios accounted for 51 per cent, publisher-owned 49 per cent. In identified with the correct developer – and this also includes their Canada it’s a huge 87 per cent publisher-owned, the most top-heavy of ownership status (indie/publisher owned) and the country of origin. all four territories, but something that will come as no surprise given the That’s another 1,748 titles on top of the thousands that were investment announced over the last year by EA, Ubisoft, Eidos and others. identified as a one-off in order to give us complete Last year I singled out Criterion for special mention accuracy on every developer’s portfolio of products. and for 2005 the studio was listed separately from what “Independent Some publishers and developers are now reaping EA Chertsey. developers’ titles have wasForthen the benefits with the monthly syndicated reports that 2006 we have combined both and changed the rank developers according to their on-going held their own against name to EA UK-Criterion (since geographically speaking performance in the UK charts. And of course it would EA now works under one roof in the UK). The astuteness publishers’ studios. be churlish of me not to plug my own data. Feel free of the purchase is there for all to see, as the team now to get in touch if you might enjoy more regular ranks No. 13 for 2006 – more impressive still is that the In fact the number of updates – you’ll even receive a full monthly report for Criterion-made brands Black (released early 2006 on indies in the list is up free, to give you an idea of what’s on offer (the PS2/XB) and Burnout Revenge (360 version early 2006, monthly ranking of publisher-owned and independent to 39…” PS2/XB were 2005) accounted for 55 per cent of EA UKstudios, the top titles by format and even a sales Criterion revenue (up from 50 per cent in 2005). breakdown by territory). Ad-hoc reports are available at any time on a Also of note this year is Amaze, up from 29th to number 11 thanks to developer’s own titles – or its competitors’. the astute handling of (and in descending order of revenue generated) DS, The great thing about on-going research is that it nurtures a GBA and PSP titles, to such a degree that the top five games only account relationship between ChartTrack and developer. So, for example, we now for 67 per cent of studio turnover – there is strength in depth here. In fact have studios telling us which games they are working on, sometimes all of its top five titles were developed for GBA and DS – only Pirates of more than a year before the game comes out. And of course we enjoy the Carribean gained PSP dev status from Amaze. giving credit where credit is due – every week we list the developer For us Brits it is heartening to see that the purchase by Eidos/SCI of against each title in our standard weekly report, as seen on our website Crystal Dynamics and the subsequent handing over of all things Lara and as subscribed to by just about every publisher active in this market. proved to be a ‘safe-hands’ manoeuvre. The multi-format Tomb Raider: The international profile of the charts is higher than ever. Legends, released at various stages during 2006, propelled the studio from Here are some stats that you won’t find in the rest of this book: nowhere to number 15. Of all the games titles that we tracked and their revenue generated in And right behind it at 16 and also a first-timer within this report is Epic 2006, the average across all developers turned out to be PS2 with 37 per Games, thanks to one Xbox 360 title that needs little introduction, Gears cent (but down from 48 per cent of revenues in 2005), Xbox 360 with 16 Of War. The game only hit the UK market in November 2006. per cent (up hugely from two per cent), PC still right up there on 14 per In conclusion, this is a fascinating report and the analysis within these cent (down marginally from 15 per cent), followed by the handhelds PSP pages has, I’m sure, been a great read for all of you developers and and DS both on 12 per cent (PSP up from eight per cent but DS rising publishers. Here’s to next year’s Develop 100. from four per cent). Dorian Bloch Director, ChartTrack When looking at the revenue generated by every single product in Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 8741 7585 2006 the value accounted for by independent studios was 37 per cent

A


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

BREAKOUT CHARTS UK

USA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STUDIO

REVENUE

Maxis EA Redwood Shores Amaze Entertainment Treyarch Crystal Dynamics Epic Games Bethesda EA LA Pandemic Studios Rainbow Studios

£41,741,243 £22,023,924 £21,576,114 £20,407,760 £16,477,320 £15,806,225 £11,112,740 £9,588,304 £8,320,951 £8,251,713

TOTAL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Travellers Tales Rockstar Leeds EA UK-Criterion London Studio Sports Interactive Relentless Codemasters Climax Team 17 Bizarre Creations

£26,295,661 £25,279,940 £19,097,069 £17,615,818 £15,488,116 £14,053,572 £8,830,012 £8,174,333 £8,151,210 £8,048,645

TOTAL

£151,034,376

JAPAN

STUDIO

REVENUE

EA Canada Ubisoft Montreal Radical Entertainment A2M HB Studios Rockstar Vancouver Relic

£115,513,113 £21,638,640 £15,051,442 £10,899,305 £9,111,031 £7,020,400 £6,308,794

TOTAL

119

REVENUE

£175,303,294

CANADA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

STUDIO

£185,542,725

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STUDIO

REVENUE

Nintendo Konami Yuke’s Capcom Sonic Team Namco Square Enix Chunsoft Sony Japan MTO

£70,964,597 £43,203,751 £22,483,268 £15,579,971 £12,890,825 £11,023,757 £6,518,697 £5,385,766 £4,981,030 £4,405,041 TOTAL

£197,436,703


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

BREAKOUT CHARTS MAINLAND EUROPE

1 2 3 4 5 6

REVENUES BY OWNERSHIP STATUS

STUDIO

REVENUE

Ubisoft France (France) IO Interactive (Denmark) Avalanche Studios (Sweden) Digital Illusions (Sweden) Eden Studios (France) Ubisoft (Romania)

£24,254,627 £7,808,578 £6,459,304 £4,922,110 £3,584,555 £2,511,273

TOTAL

(CONTINUED)

Independent £263,055,253 (74%) Internal £739,998,263 (26%)

£49,540,447

REVENUES BY TERRITORY

NORTH AMERICA - £499,471,173 (50%) ASIA - £221,828,828 (22%) UK - £229,479,112 (23%) AUSTRALIA - £2,733,956 (1%)(4%) Mainland Europe - £49,540,447 (4%)

120


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

BREAKOUT CHARTS UK

USA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STUDIO

REVENUE

Maxis EA Redwood Shores Amaze Entertainment Treyarch Crystal Dynamics Epic Games Bethesda EA LA Pandemic Studios Rainbow Studios

£41,741,243 £22,023,924 £21,576,114 £20,407,760 £16,477,320 £15,806,225 £11,112,740 £9,588,304 £8,320,951 £8,251,713

TOTAL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Travellers Tales Rockstar Leeds EA UK-Criterion London Studio Sports Interactive Relentless Codemasters Climax Team 17 Bizarre Creations

£26,295,661 £25,279,940 £19,097,069 £17,615,818 £15,488,116 £14,053,572 £8,830,012 £8,174,333 £8,151,210 £8,048,645

TOTAL

£151,034,376

JAPAN

STUDIO

REVENUE

EA Canada Ubisoft Montreal Radical Entertainment A2M HB Studios Rockstar Vancouver Relic

£115,513,113 £21,638,640 £15,051,442 £10,899,305 £9,111,031 £7,020,400 £6,308,794

TOTAL

119

REVENUE

£175,303,294

CANADA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

STUDIO

£185,542,725

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STUDIO

REVENUE

Nintendo Konami Yuke’s Capcom Sonic Team Namco Square Enix Chunsoft Sony Japan MTO

£70,964,597 £43,203,751 £22,483,268 £15,579,971 £12,890,825 £11,023,757 £6,518,697 £5,385,766 £4,981,030 £4,405,041 TOTAL

£197,436,703


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

BREAKOUT CHARTS MAINLAND EUROPE

1 2 3 4 5 6

REVENUES BY OWNERSHIP STATUS

STUDIO

REVENUE

Ubisoft France (France) IO Interactive (Denmark) Avalanche Studios (Sweden) Digital Illusions (Sweden) Eden Studios (France) Ubisoft (Romania)

£24,254,627 £7,808,578 £6,459,304 £4,922,110 £3,584,555 £2,511,273

TOTAL

(CONTINUED)

Independent £263,055,253 (74%) Internal £739,998,263 (26%)

£49,540,447

REVENUES BY TERRITORY

NORTH AMERICA - £499,471,173 (50%) ASIA - £221,828,828 (22%) UK - £229,479,112 (23%) AUSTRALIA - £2,733,956 (1%)(4%) Mainland Europe - £49,540,447 (4%)

120


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THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAME STUDIOS

BREAKOUT CHARTS

(CONTINUED)

INDEPENDENT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

INTERNAL

STUDIO

REVENUE

Traveller’s Tales Yuke’s Amaze Entertainment Epic Games Relentless Bethesda A2M HB Studios Pandemic Studios Climax

£26,295,661 £22,483,268 £21,576,114 £15,806,225 £14,053,572 £11,112,740 £10,899,305 £9,111,031 £8,320,951 £8,174,333

TOTAL

£147,833,200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STUDIO

REVENUE

EA Canada Nintendo Konami Maxis Rockstar Leeds Ubisoft France EA Redwood Shores Ubisoft Montreal Treyarch EA UK-Criterion

£115,513,113 £70,964,597 £43,203,751 £41,741,243 £25,279,940 £24,254,627 £22,023,924 £21,638,640 £20,407,760 £19,097,069

TOTAL

£404,124,664

REVENUES BY CHART POSITION

Top 10: £413,398,764 (41%)

11-50: £405,584,866 (40%) 51-100: £184,069,886 (19%)

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