Game Companies who have made quality games as of now

[Harvey]

Title says it all. List game companies in your opinion who have made consistently good games as of now.

To me, It has always been Nintendo. Even the worst games that they have made have atleast finish feel in them and by finish I mean, a finished game with no bugs and patches day one kind of finished.

Then there's Falcom who have made good RPGs as of now. Can't wait to get the latest Ys game.

I want to say SEGA but.....I'm not sure If I can at this point.

 

[Sentacotus]

Nintendo is pretty good overall specifically with Zelda.  I can't think of one truly bad Zelda game yet not counting the CDi garbage not developed by them. 

Firaxis with Sid Meir is consistently pretty good with Civilization, Pirates, XCOM etc

Naughty Dog with Uncharted Series

Platinum Games knows what they are doing with action games (Bayonetta, DMC, and Nier I believe?)

 

Ljn (aka laughing jokin numnuts) seemed to consistently make bad games back in the NES days and hence gave James Rolfe a huge swath of material to work with lol.

[Ronnie]

Arc System Works because obvious reasons

[Slumber]

45 minutes ago, LordOTaco said:

Platinum Games knows what they are doing with action games (Bayonetta, DMC, and Nier I believe?)

Platinum proper didn't do DMC, but they are made up of a bunch of ex-Capcom employees who worked on the DMC franchise before they left and formed Platinum. They're also the same group of dudes who mostly made Okami(The best Zelda game of 2006 depending on who you ask) and Godhand(The best 3D beat 'em up ever made depending on who you ask). But, to add to their accomplishments as an independent company, they also have Vanquish(The best third person shooter ever made depending on who you ask) and Metal Gear Rising under their belt.  

Platinum's been pretty consistently great since their conception. Unfortunately, I think their first game(MadWorld) is far and away their worst game and ruins a pretty consistently solid library of games. 

[Nobody]

From Software and Atlus.

I can't list a single bad game from either of those developers (admitadly, I haven't played any of the non souls/BB games from From, but still, it's not like they have made any not Souls like game since 2009)

Edited July 26, 2017 by Nobody

[Slumber]

5 minutes ago, Nobody said:

From Software and Atlus.

I can't list a single bad game from either of those developers (admitadly, I haven't played any of the non souls/BB games from From, but still, it's not like they have made any not Souls like game since 2009)

Not true. From made Armored Core 5 in between their run of Souls games, and it was... An Armored Core game not on the PS1 or PS2. Aka pretty bland and not as arcadey as it should be. Their Tenchu games run from "alright" to "awful". But they also did Metal Wolf Chaos and Chromehounds, so that's awesome. 

I really want to see what they do now that they're done with the Souls games. The Souls franchise really changed that company. They changed upper management(The director of the Souls franchise is now president of the whole company) and I think they doubled or tripled in size. They're a proper big-name developer after 15 years of being relatively obscure and niche. 

[Tryhard]

Rockstar North

Blizzard Entertainment, though people would say that they deteriorated with World of Warcraft and Diablo III - personally I enjoyed both, though I would prefer other games in the series.

CD Projekt, even if they aren't the oldest and only really have the Witcher under their belt so far.

Naughty Dog.

[Sentacotus]

41 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Platinum proper didn't do DMC, but they are made up of a bunch of ex-Capcom employees who worked on the DMC franchise before they left and formed Platinum. They're also the same group of dudes who mostly made Okami(The best Zelda game of 2006 depending on who you ask) and Godhand(The best 3D beat 'em up ever made depending on who you ask). But, to add to their accomplishments as an independent company, they also have Vanquish(The best third person shooter ever made depending on who you ask) and Metal Gear Rising under their belt.  

Platinum's been pretty consistently great since their conception. Unfortunately, I think their first game(MadWorld) is far and away their worst game and ruins a pretty consistently solid library of games. 

While it might be their worst I don't think MadWorld is by any means terrible or bad.  The art style is definitely an acquired taste though.

[Ertrick36]

I'll say a good portion of AAA companies have consistently made "quality" games in that they're up to snuff from a technical standpoint and have good production values.  Only ones I can think of that aren't small name that have flubbed up technical quality are EA and Ubisoft, one of whom isn't even usually directly involved in a game's development.  Yeah, you could probably find some bits and bobs of glitches or whatever, but if we were to nitpick to that extent, then no company could qualify.

But if we're talking about consistently putting out games that are actually entertaining (and not in the ironic sense)... then none of them.  I don't believe a single VG company hasn't screwed up at some point in this regard.  Not even Nintendo.

This of course all comes from a limited amount of knowledge.  I am unfamiliar with companies like Firaxis or Platinum games for the most part.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Ertrick36

[Slumber]

34 minutes ago, LordOTaco said:

While it might be their worst I don't think MadWorld is by any means terrible or bad.  The art style is definitely an acquired taste though.

It's not even the art style that I have a problem with. If anything, that art style is something that is immediately appealing but becomes harder to deal with as the game goes on. 

It's more the content of the game and actual game play that I had problems with. It's basically 1 button beat 'em up where you spend most of the game luring and carrying enemies towards the same 5 traps over and over again. 

The game's only like 3 hours long, and I was fucking sick of it by the end. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Slumber

[Sentacotus]

1 minute ago, Slumber said:

It's not even the art style that I have a problem with. If anything, that art style is something that is immediately appealing but becomes harder to deal with as the game goes on. 

It's more the content of the game and actual game play that I had problems with. It's basically 1 button beat 'em up where you spend most of the game luring and carrying enemies towards the same 5 traps over and over again. 

The game's only like 3 hours long, and I was fucking sick of it by the end. 

Yeah definitely not a deep game at all. Maybe I don't feel to bad about it since I got it for my collection at about 10 bucks lol.

[EricaofRenais]

I am going to have to say Atlus as well,they are the only company I can name where every single game they have released that I have played I think has been from good to great.

[Punished Dayni]

Naughty Dog is an obvious mention, I've always had a bit of bias for Insomniac (though they certainly don't have a perfect track record), Rockstar North would be a strong candidate too. Hell, despite Game Freak being bound to one series for the most part, to say that it has as much prominence as is does speak to their basic system being strong in the first place (though they do not count in practice)

Can't really say Nintendo in and of itself because they're the kind of company big enough to have multiple dev teams who have varied output.

[Nobody]

Platinum also made a Korra, a Teenage Turtles aind a Transformers game, which were badly received.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Nobody

[Reality]

Shiny Entertainment- the 2D Earthworm Jims, the first MDK, and 3 other cult games Wild 9-  2d platformer which features throwing enemies into objects ala mischief makers/klonoa. Messiah, which honestly I think is passable although it does take a lot from REZ. and Sacrifice, a strategy game voiced by Tim Curry. In 2002 Shiny ended its life as an independent and was bought by Infogrames, so I don't consider the movie-tie in shovelware that they've made since then to be Shiny games. 

Reflections- Some amiga era stuff (decent but mostly of interest to enthusiasts) The Destruction Derby series in, and of course Driver and Stuntman. Granted Driver 3 exists....

Psygnosis- Psygnosis was once a very important European Publisher during the amiga-PS1 eras. However they did have a small Development group, which made many excellent games during the same time, my favorite being Colony Wars and G-Police. 

Factor 5 - They mostly did ports in their early history, but were a signifigant player in the release of Turrican. Their best games are undoubtedly Rogue Squadron, Battle for Naboo, and Rogue Leader. They also did the port of Indiana Jones and Infernal Machine from PC to N64, which should count to their credit as they fixed a HORRIBLE PC game and mostly due to control/camera changes, the N64 version is almost a completely different game. After the third Rogue Sqaudron game (admitedly the weakest), they basically disappeared.

Camelot - Shining Force Series, Mario Golf series, Mario Tennis Series, Golden Sun series. Maybe the third golden sun game and the 3DS mario tennis count as bad, but I'm more inclined to count them as "average". Regardless, most of their games still stand strong today.

Left Field- Kobe Bryant's courtside for n64 and gamecube, the wonderful excitebike 64,  and MTX motorax on PS2. Unfortunately, since 2004, they have made nothing worth buying. 

Bioware- I like them most for MDK 2, baldur's gate, neverwinter nights and Jade Empire. These days they are probbably better known for their star wars RPG work and Mass Effect. They have some duds in their history, but are still an overwhelmingly reliable development house.

Treasure- made a lot of excellant 5th gen games (radiant silvergun, mischeif makers, guardian heroes, sin and punishment  bangai-O) were still a pretty strong developer on PS2 and GBA in my opinion. They seem more at the mercy of their parent company these days and their latest games are all remakes / virtual console versions of their classics.

Retro- Metroid Prime trilogy and Donkey Kong Country Returns- really don't see any wrong here.

Crystal Dynamics- Gex series (bit subjective as to whether they are good, but I like them despite being inferior to the big 5th gen platformers). They also work on the Legacy of Kain series (I guess Blood Omen 2 counts as a bad game), and all Tomb Raider games since Legend. These are all given favorable receptions although personally I do feel like their first few TR games are too "safe" and the Square Enix led ones are closer to Uncharted than Tomb Raider.

Zed Two- only made five games Wetrix- a very good puzzle game if you like score attack. It's sequel Aqua Aqua. Future Tactics - A VERY interesting game that plays like Valkyria Chronlices in some ways, although instead of focusing on RPG and building up team members it focuses on deformable terrain. Worms Blast- not a great game, but loosely it plays like bust-a-move so it isn't terrible or anything. Finally their weakest game is Taz Express- which nevertheless has some good points- it's puzzles  do test your multitask ability, it's visibly a test-bed for the deformable terrain better used in Future Tactics, and the sound effects/landscapes are pretty accurate to the Warner Bros cartoon.

Parallax- Made the original Descent Games

Volition- split from above and made the Descent: Freespace games, Red Faction series, and now is best known for Saints Row. 

Hudson Soft- Best known for Mario Party and Bomberman. They have a really interesting history if you have the hardware though, their early history was spent porting NES games to Japanese disk-based home computers. But by the time of turbografx and PC-engine, they made some other interesting games besides their flagship bomberman- their is Neutopia 1 and 2- which play similiarly to stuff like Link to the Past/Alundra, the Bonk platformers, and so on. Most of their games are obscure to this day, but they've actually made other 2-D zelda style games (Elemental Gimmick Gear) and even Phantasy Star Online clones. It is true that Bomberman and Mario Party themselves are pretty much a shell of their former selfs though. They have a passing involvment with scores of other important  NES-Saturn games as a publisher. 

[Slumber]

3 minutes ago, Nobody said:

Platinum also made a Korra, a Teenage Turtles aind a Transformers game, which were badly received.

The Transformers game wasn't poorly received, and has a pretty strong fanbase.

The other two are true.

[Jedi]

Falcom, pretty much never makes bad games, just good & average ones. Already said, but its a really impressive track record, outside of like original Ys III, but we got Oath in Felghana. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Jedi

[SullyMcGully]

5 hours ago, Nobody said:

From Software and Atlus.

I can't list a single bad game from either of those developers (admitadly, I haven't played any of the non souls/BB games from From, but still, it's not like they have made any not Souls like game since 2009)

Sorry, but have you ever heard of Conception? I don't know if Atlus developed it or just published it, but that is a stupid game. In fact, you should get the demo just so you can be amazed at the sheer stupidity of it.

[Tryhard]

4 minutes ago, SullyMcGully said:

Sorry, but have you ever heard of Conception? I don't know if Atlus developed it or just published it, but that is a stupid game. In fact, you should get the demo just so you can be amazed at the sheer stupidity of it.

those games are not developed by Atlus, they are published by Atlus. i believe he means games developed in house

(if you go all the way back though Atlus made some very shitty games like Friday the 13th on the NES)

Edited July 27, 2017 by Tryhard

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I'm afraid if I took the time to look up a satisfactory answer, it would be a company with just two games in its history or is otherwise less than four years old and made from ex developers of an older company.

[ChibiToastExplosion]

58 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Falcom, pretty much never makes bad games, just good & average ones. Already said, but its a really impressive track record, outside of like original Ys III, but we got Oath in Felghana. 

Take that back! Original YS III is awesome, and I say that loving Oath!

Falcom, Atlus. Nintendo for the most part.

Back in the NES/SNES days, both Capcom/Konami were really solid bets. Now, not so much.

Also, Okami IS the best Zelda game I've ever played, thank you for mentioning that @Slumber

Edited July 27, 2017 by ChibiToastExplosion

[Jedi]

29 minutes ago, ChibiToastExplosion said:

Take that back! Original YS III is awesome, and I say that loving Oath!

Falcom, Atlus. Nintendo for the most part.

Back in the NES/SNES days, both Capcom/Konami were really solid bets. Now, not so much.

Also, Okami IS the best Zelda game I've ever played, thank you for mentioning that @Slumber

Oops, well I do really like Ys III's ost over Oath, I just find its kind of clunky is all, but its still pretty solid now that I think about it.

[TheWill]

Personally I don't think you'll ever find a company that has made only quality games, this becomes rather convoluted when you consider fan reception and game reviews, which can be vastly different. I think people should be looking at companies that have made primarily quality games, rather than only quality games.

I'm a bit surprised people are saying Nintendo here. Whilst they have their occasional blockbuster game, they've made an array of mediocre to downright awful games, a trend they continue tot his day. I suppose they consistently create a good game every now and then (so technically, you could argue they count?), but they have a pretty big library of bad games. From the top of my head Metroid: Federation Force, Other M, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, 1-2 Switch, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, etc.

[Tolvir]

CDProjektRed. They have made some great games in terms of quality. While Witcher III had some issues with glitches early on, it was nothing to the point of it being unplayable like Bethesda has had issues with in the past. Witcher III as a whole set a standard for open world games and story telling. That and they take their time with games to make sure it is good, something I dont see many companies willing to do. 

I think the biggest thing that sets them apart for me is that they are as much geeks and video game players as their customers, and it shows in what they do. The entire reason Cyberpunk 2077 is being made is because they used to play its tabletop predecesor Cyberpunk 2020. 

Nintendo is another that I have to mention. I have never sat down and 1, absolutely hated the game I was playing, and 2, had any issues with the game running. Every game I have played has been at least enjoyable at the core of its gameplay. Even if it was a Kirby game or a racing game like Mario Kart that I have never been a fan of, it was still at least enjoyable. As I said, I have also had no issues with a game running. There are cartridges for games that I own that are older than I am, but they still work just fine. It is the same with their systems too. Where my PS3 or Xbox 360 had issues from time to time from things like the Red Ring of Death or whatever, the first and only Wii I bought still works like I just bought it. Same with its controllers.

Another thing I will give Nintendo for is staying true to its franchises sometimes almost to a fault. Mario has seen no changes since its creation (not talking about the original Mario Bros). At its core it has stayed a platformer, and a good one at that. Zelda, outside of Zelda 2 which was like a weird black sheep that no one can explain, has stayed an exploration/rpg. Fire Emblem has stayed a tactical strategy RPG. They are dedicated to what made the series popular in the first place, and its one of the things I think Nintendo has over many other companies.

Atlus, they tend to put out good JRPGs. If you are looking for a good JRPG, Atlus will almost always be the best place to start. 

 

[Zera]

Nintendo: While the design of their games is not always perfect, the technical and artistic polish always is. When the design is perfect, well, there you have it.
Retro Studios: Their revivals of Metroid and Donkey Kong were thanks to consistently high quality. One of Nintendo's best developers IMO.
HAL Laboratory: Although they don't make much besides Kirby, they haven't produced any "bad" games. And Kirby is fun!
Treasure: With the Sin & Punishment and Bangai-O sequels surpassing most entertainment mediums, I would be inclined to put them higher, but they haven't really made any games since 2011.