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Game companies you can't believe still exist

Phediuk

Member
Did you know that Team 17 not only survived the death of the Amiga scene, but has been making Worms games for 19 years straight without interruption? It's true. They have released a Worms game every year since 1995. I have no idea how they have maintained their sanity, or who still buys their games, but hey, they're still around.

A publisher example would be Codemasters. They're so closely associated with the British home computer scene of the late 80-early 90s that they feel like a giant anachronism now. They are the only British publisher who still releases games outside the UK; all of the other ones like Ocean, US Gold, Virgin Interactive, Gremlin, Psygnosis, GT Interactive, and Eidos are all defunct. Pretty much the only they've made for the last decade is F1 games.

There have to be other examples; what are ones that have made you go "wait, they still make games?"
 

Comandr

Member
Team 17

It's remarkable they're still around. I mean, good for them I guess. I have no idea how they have lasted this long though.
 

Vibranium

Banned
Yukes. And the rumour is they're still fucking doing WWE2K15, dammit 2K.

I wonder if they're self aware of the internet/wrasslin' fans' hatred of them haha.
 

AkIRA_22

Member
Team 17

It's remarkable they're still around. I mean, good for them I guess. I have no idea how they have lasted this long though.

They have released a worms game every year bar one for 2 decades...

Worms (1995)
Worms Reinforcements (1996)
Worms: The Director's Cut (1997)
Worms 2 (1997)
Worms Armageddon (1999)
Worms World Party (2001)
Worms Blast (2002)
Worms 3D (2003)
Worms Forts: Under Siege (2004)
Worms 4: Mayhem (2005)
Worms: Open Warfare (2006)
Worms (2007)
Worms: Open Warfare 2 (2007)
Worms: A Space Oddity (2008)[3]
Worms 2: Armageddon (2009)[4]
Worms: Reloaded (2010)
Worms: Battle Islands (2010)
Worms: Ultimate Mayhem (2011)
Worms Crazy Golf (2011)
Worms: Revolution (2012)
Worms for Facebook (2012)[5][6] (Closed: 2013)[7]
Worms: Clan Wars (2013)
Worms 3 (2013) (iOS and OS X only)[8]
Worms Battlegrounds (2014)
 

Phediuk

Member
Yukes. And the rumour is they're still fucking doing WWE2K15, dammit 2K.

I wonder if they're self aware of the internet/wrasslin' fans' hatred of them haha.

Oooh, good one. Everytjing about Yuke's just screams "early PS2" to me, back when it still wasn't unusual for a Japanese company to make a game based on a Western license. I have no idea why they're still allowed to make WWE games.
 
They have released a worms game every year bar one for 2 decades...

Worms: The Director's Cut (1997)
Worms 2 (1997)

Worms (2007)
Worms: Open Warfare 2 (2007)

Worms: Reloaded (2010)
Worms: Battle Islands (2010)

Worms: Ultimate Mayhem (2011)
Worms Crazy Golf (2011)

Worms: Revolution (2012)
Worms for Facebook (2012)[5][6] (Closed: 2013)[7]

Worms: Clan Wars (2013)
Worms 3 (2013) (iOS and OS X only)[8]

Some years, they went for 2.
 

Vibranium

Banned
Oooh, good one. Everytjing about Yuke's just screams "early PS2" to me, back when it still wasn't unusual for a Japanese company to make a game based on a Western license. I have no idea why they're still allowed to make WWE games.

Yeah, they really seem to literally be a figure of the past. A company in Japan working on WWE games is ridiculous, they should just do Japanese wrestling games instead.
 
I actually own ALL of these, and some on multiple formats. Maybe i'm keeping Team 17 afloat?!

Worms (1995)
Worms Reinforcements (1996)
Worms 2 (1997)
Worms Armageddon (1999)
Worms World Party (2001)
Worms 3D (2003)
Worms: Open Warfare (2006)
Worms (2007)
Worms: Open Warfare 2 (2007)
Worms 2: Armageddon (2009)
Worms: Reloaded (2010)

Incidentally they have a new game coming out this year that's NOT Worms related, called "Flockers" I believe?
 

jabuseika

Member
Sega.

When was the last time they had a massive hit? or even just a big hit?

Valkyria Chronicles and Yakuza sell moderately good.

Out of their umbrella studios, Warhammer, Company of Heroes, and Total War are niche genre games. Their only massive seller are the Football Manager series. They now have Atlus, but they're not known for Massive hits.

They really on stay alive in Japan making licensed games through affiliate studios.

How is Sega still going?
 

Frolow

Banned
Sega.

When was the last time they had a massive hit? or even just a big hit?

Valkyria Chronicles and Yakuza sell moderately good.

Out of their umbrella studios, Warhammer, Company of Heroes, and Total War are niche genre games. Their only massive seller are the Football Manager series. They now have Atlus, but they're not known for Massive hits.

They really on stay alive in Japan making licensed games through affiliate studios.

How is Sega still going?
Isn't that Miku stuff really big in Japan?
 
I can't believe Konami is still around, all they seem to do is release Metal Gear games, try to fight FIFA, and outsource Castlevania.

Also they killed Bomberman.
 

Remmy2112

Member
Sega.

When was the last time they had a massive hit? or even just a big hit?

Valkyria Chronicles and Yakuza sell moderately good.

Out of their umbrella studios, Warhammer, Company of Heroes, and Total War are niche genre games. Their only massive seller are the Football Manager series. They now have Atlus, but they're not known for Massive hits.

They really on stay alive in Japan making licensed games through affiliate studios.

How is Sega still going?

They apparently had a fantastic year in 2013 and were set to see something like 400+ million USD in profit for the fiscal year so I'm not surprised at all they are still around. And you may call it a niche title but Total War has had some fantastic sales for them on past titles.
 

Goddard

Member
For me it's Atari. They have done so little for so long that it still baffles me that they haven't completely gone under yet.
 

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
For me it's Atari. They have done so little for so long that it still baffles me that they haven't completely gone under yet.

Atari isn't even Atari though. It's just Infogrames under a more recognizable name they bought. Real Atari has been dead for ages.
 
For me it's Atari. They have done so little for so long that it still baffles me that they haven't completely gone under yet.

Well, to be fair, after all this...

In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split due to its role in the video game crash of 1983, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc.[4] Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation.[5][6] In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS),[7] becoming a division within the company.

In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS,[8] creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive.[9] Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive, later Atari Interactive in 2003, when Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from the latter and changed its name to Atari Inc.,[2][10][11] a name used for a company founded in 1993 as GT Interactive, which IESA also renamed to Infogrames, Inc. and acquired a 62% controlling interest in by 1999.[12] After IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[13]

...they pretty much don't exist.

Edit: Dammit, beaten!
 

Hip Hop

Member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilistic_Software


I believe they were part of the Vita's failure.

They fucked up Resistance: Burning Skies and what does Activision/Sony do? They hand them the keys to Call of Duty Vita.

Two failure of FPS in a row for the platform that had a good future in mobile FPS. It was so catastrophic that they renamed themselves and still get to live on.

Also the Serious Sam guys. Can't believe the game still sells.

Didn't Codemasters also make the Dirt, Grid and Operation Flashpoint games last gen?!

image.php


and Bodycount. Published at least.
 

JayEH

Junior Member
Platinum.

I know they make good games but they never seem to sell. If they were a Western developer they no doubt would have been shut down be now.
 

GamerJM

Banned
Sega.

When was the last time they had a massive hit? or even just a big hit?

Valkyria Chronicles and Yakuza sell moderately good.

Out of their umbrella studios, Warhammer, Company of Heroes, and Total War are niche genre games. Their only massive seller are the Football Manager series. They now have Atlus, but they're not known for Massive hits.

They really on stay alive in Japan making licensed games through affiliate studios.

How is Sega still going?

Idk, Sega is probably one of the bigger mid-tier publishers these days honestly. I mean in addition to everything you said they have Sonic, Miku, and more niche stuff like Phantasy Star. Plus they own Atlus now. Here's a list of game's they've published. Scroll down and look at recent years. It's pretty decent. You can see why they'd be profitable especially with how big some of this stuff is in Japan. And like someone else said they have Pachinko.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilistic_Software


I believe they were part of the Vita's failure.

They fucked up Resistance: Burning Skies and what does Activision/Sony do? They hand them the keys to Call of Duty Vita.

Two failure of FPS in a row for the platform that had a good future in mobile FPS. It was so catastrophic that they renamed themselves and still get to live on.

Also the Serious Sam guys. Can't believe the game still sells.



image.php


and Bodycount. Published at least.

Oh wow, i'm a complete moron. Yeah, developed by their Guildford Studio, not that they exist anymore...
 

GhaleonQ

Member
I will hate them forever for killing Hudson.

To be fair, they (and all of my other favorite mid-tier companies) would be listed in this topic if not.

*points to username* I know how Game Arts made it, deaths of founders aside, but I defy people to explain how they got from 2000 to 2012 (their resurrection year) outside of "Nin-...Nintendo? There were Grandias?"

Don't get me wrong. I adore everything they've made, but they were clearly off of the radar.
 

Takao

Banned
Kemco, and Majesco. Both of them make games that I don't care about so they might as well not exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilistic_Software

I believe they were part of the Vita's failure.

They fucked up Resistance: Burning Skies and what does Activision/Sony do? They hand them the keys to Call of Duty Vita.

Two failure of FPS in a row for the platform that had a good future in mobile FPS. It was so catastrophic that they renamed themselves and still get to live on.

Also the Serious Sam guys. Can't believe the game still sells.

I've seen no proof that nStigate is something that actually exists.
 
Didn't Codemasters also make the Dirt, Grid and Operation Flashpoint games last gen?!

Yep, not sure why the OP says that all they did last gen was F1 when they've only been making those games for about 4-5 years.

Personally, I've always wondered how a few veteran UK studios like Rebellion and Kuju keep going when they never seem to develop games which are very successful. I would have said the same about Eurocom and Blitz too, but it seems like time finally caught up with them.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Platinum games and atlus, they both make amazing games but majority of them sell very poorly which even i they're smaller studios relatively, shouldnt exist in today's market, yet are able to stay in business and find contractors that will fund their next game albeit this has changed when atlus was bought by sega
 

Artorias

Banned
Bethesda and Bioware.

I get that their games are huge hits, but good lord are they fucking terrible. I have tried so many times, but I just can't get into the "wanna be RPG-lite" they are going for. The one thing they all have in common is gameplay so shallow and dull that only the dudebros will pretend they are engrossing. There is no thought put into combat whatsoever, no gameplay design at work, just a list of places to go and things to do when you get there.

I've actually had a guy tell me that Skyrim was good...when it came out. Apparently it turned bad by the time I played it (a week after it released)? He was not joking at all, he felt that it was groundbreaking in 2011 but dated in 2013. Pretty much sums up the thoughts of people who buy garbage games for adequate graphics and music.
 
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