Game Developer's 5th Annual 'Top 20 Publishers' Sees Nintendo Best EA

Author: by Staff

Game Developer magazine’s highly-anticipated annual Top 20 Publishers report has debuted for 2007, revealing that the overall winner has changed hands for the first time since it began. The 5th annual countdown, which this year included a wide-ranging reputation survey alongside revenue, average review, and anonymous partner feedback, reveals a resurgent Nintendo taking the top spot from former four-time victor Electronic Arts. This year's winner Nintendo prevailed due to top marks for its game publishing in the reputation survey, alongside competitive revenue and average review score marks, leaving Electronic Arts in second place for the first time ever. After Nintendo and EA, completing the top five are: Activision, keeping its #3 spot for the second year running; Ubisoft, surging up four spots from #8 to #4,with the company’s early support for Nintendo’s DS and Wii apparently paying off; and THQ moving up two spots to #5, following historically high revenues and a more balanced slate of licensed titles and original games. Joining the 'Top 20 Publishers' list for the first time is import game publisher Atlus USA, which placed at #18 and helped contribute to publisher Atari dropping off the Top 20 in this year's countdown. The 2007 rankings were calculated by considering number of releases by SKU, average game review scores, and publisher revenue from August 2006 to July 2007. It also included the results of a survey conducted to gather opinions on the major video game software publishers. More than 300 industry professionals from all parts of the game production process were asked to give their opinions – including comments - on the reputations of each publisher in the survey. In addition, scores and commentary was gathered from respondents who had direct experience with the publishers in the recent past, either as workers or partners, including milestone, marketing and pay feedback. “Adding reputation-based feedback to our survey for the first time has brought an interesting, more well-rounded angle to the much-anticipated countdown,” said Simon Carless, publisher, Game Developer magazine and Game Developer Research series. “As we can see from the new rankings, the rise of casual gaming, coupled with these new reputational elements, has contributed markedly to ranking shifts, and we’re eager to see how these industry changes affect the report in subsequent years.” The full countdown overview of the Top 20 Publishers 2007 is available in the October 2007 edition of Game Developer Magazine, with a digital downloadable version, alongside digital and physical magazine subscriptions, available at the official magazine website. The 'Top 20 Publisher' article's release is also accompanied this year by a major 'Top 20 Publishers 2007' report from CMP Technology’s Game Developer Research Division. This detailed, more than 110-page long supplement lists the numerical reputation scores, written comments, and partner feedback for more than 25 publishers, alongside game release and review score specifics by platform, and is now available for purchase.