These past few months, The Escapist has had an interesting tournament going on. March 2010 Mayhem: Developer’s Showdown was a tournament on the website comparing different developers in a bracket style tournament. Essentially it’s similar to the GameFAQs character battle except the winner isn’t automatically Mario, Link, Cloud, or Sephiroth. More than the opportunity for developer fans to show their support, this tournament presented a number of interesting insights onto the video game industry.
Zynga – Those of you who saw this developer may be thinking “Who?” Zynga is a huge developer of casual games, and while they may not have the reputation of a vetern company like Square-Enix, they represent just how far casual gaming like Mafia Wars and Farmville has come. This casual developer beat NCSoft, Infinity Ward, Rockstar North, and Square-Enix before finally being taken down by Valve. I could make a quip about how the Facebook invitations to join Farmville are ungodly annoying, but I’ll just applaud Zynga for making it so far despite stiff competition.
Rockstar North – You got beat by the maker of Farmville? Seriously? I hope you’ve got something big planned for Grand Theft Auto V!
Harmonix v. 2K Marin (Winner: 2K Marin) – This matchup was interesting because four years ago (around the time BioShock came out) I would have put bets on Harmonix for winning. Guitar Hero II was out and the Guitar Hero franchise was soaring on a wave of popularity. 2K Marin’s victory, beyond stemming from BioShock‘s popularity, further suggests what we all know about the music video game genre being saturated beyond belief. Harmonix was revered during the early glory days of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but there are only so many spin-offs and sequels we can take.
Rare v. BioWare (Winner: BioWare) – Any developer matched up with a powerhouse like BioWare in the first round has no chance, but to older gamers this will feel really nostalgic. Fifteen years ago or even ten Rare might have dominated a video game developer bracket: Donkey Kong, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, and Perfect Dark are just some of the classics that they developed during their peak. Sadly nothing lasts forever, and while Rare still makes good games like the Viva Pinata titles, Rare will never be quite the same. As we all know, founders Chris and Tim Stamper left the company in 2007, and two musicians, a designer, and a community manager left in 2009. Rare is still in business, but their legacy is rooted in older console generations.
Valve v. BioWare (Winner: Valve) – I don’t know how the hell somebody decides between Valve and BioWare, but they both deserved to be winners. These are both fantastic developers and every time I play one of their games, I see, feel, and understand the effort that went into making the title. I would say for me it’s a deadlocked tie normally, since both developers are great at what they do. Still, if you had to twist my arm and make me decide, Valve would barely edge out as the winner, if only because Valve’s technology runs more smoothly, so it gets a few more immersion points.
So how did your favorite (or least favorite) developer do? These sorts of tournaments are always skewed on some level, but this was an interesting look at where the video game industry is.
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