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Fast Company Picks The Most Innovative Companies in Gaming
1. Nintendo: Serious gamers balk, but the mass-market embrace of Wii and DS has redefined gaming.
2. Ubisoft: With a 37% sales increase in its most recent quarter (at press time), Ubisoft has sidestepped recession with a mix of casual and hard-core games spread across platforms, including Shaun White Snowboarding and Tom Clancy’s EndWar.
3. Blizzard: Just when you think you’ve conquered every dungeon, Blizzard hits you with more irresistible battles. The company’s World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King shattered the record for one-day PC game sales with 8 million copies sold.
4. Media Molecule: Its LittleBigPlanet has received acclaim for breathing life into a tired genre with simple controls, an adorable mascot — and a function that lets players create and share their own levels.
5. Harmonix: The makers of Rock Band one-upped Guitar Hero with a deal to produce a game based on the Beatles catalog.
6. GarageGames: Its Web site InstantAction.com combines the best of 3-D console gaming with the best of the social Web.
7. Take-Two Interactive: Publisher of the controversial Grand Theft Auto, Take-Two fended off EA’s attempt at a hostile takeover and took home the Game of the Year award from the 2008 Video Game Awards for GTA IV.
8. Microsoft: Xbox 360 continues to outsell Sony’s PS3, thanks to exclusive big titles such as Gears of War 2 and a beefed-up Xbox Live with Netflix. And big price cuts.
9. Greystripe: Storming the mobile world with its ad-supported games, Greystripe boasts more than 110 million downloads of iPhone and Java games.
10. RealNetworks: By adapting its popular PC games for the iPhone and the Wii — and creating original titles for each platform — RealNetworks has reasserted its importance.