Nintendo Ousts EA Canada In Develop 100 List

UK-based industry trade magazine Develop has released its fourth annual Chart-Track supported list of the top 100 developers in the world, which ranks the world’s games development studios according to the sales of their games at UK retail. Topping the list for the last three years was EA Canada, makers of the FIFA series of soccer titles, amongst others. This year, Nintendo’s internal studios have taken the number one spot, with titles ranging from Brain Training to Super Mario Galaxy generating £129.83 million ($257m) in revenue – up nearly 200 percent year-on-year. The overall conclusion of the top developer list - with Nintendo Japan atop it - concurred with Game Developer magazine's own Top 50 Developer list, which uses a combination of factors including charts, reviews, and reputation, and also had Nintendo in the top spot. Nintendo’s revenue title dwarfed that of EA Canada in second place on £68.78 million ($136m). In third place was Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft Montreal on £52.17 million ($103m), followed by Pro Evolution Soccer publisher and developer Konami on £41.67 million ($82.2m) and Call of Duty 4 developer Infinity Ward on £39.6 million ($78.1m). Need for Speed developer EA Black Box was sixth on the list on £37.31 million ($73.6m), with The Sims creator Maxis next on £36.84 million ($72.7m), followed by Halo creators Bungie on £31.45 million ($62.1m), Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Games developer Sega Studios Japan on £27.7 million ($54.7m) and Lego Star Wars developer Traveller’s Tales on £27.06 million ($53.4m). Despite concern, within the UK industry in particular, of the increasing dominance of low cost development centers in Canada the list features thirty-six teams from Europe, generating a combined £284 million ($562m) at retail. This compares to twelve Canadian studios with revenues of £221 million ($438m). "While the success of the Wii and DS has helped a number of Japanese firms triumph, it’s good to also see developers in the UK and mainland Europe punching above their weight to claim a huge chunk of the credit for some of last year’s best-selling games," claimed Develop editor Michael French.