What's the best video game developer that's sadly no longer in business?

[ThunderBoy]

 

[Otosou]

by... HUDSON!

 

[depes]

would it be too tongue in cheek to say konami?

 

[Wesmess]

would it be too tongue in cheek to say konami?

I don't know? We'll have to see how their new Silent Hill projects turn out before we start putting nails in the coffin.

 

[Bonkers225]

LJN

 

[Swabbleflange]

What a depressing thread

So many I'd agree with, and I'll add Origin. They'd become a shadow of their former selves long before they dissolved but a new box from them on the shelves was an exciting time.

All of this just makes me lament the video games industry, which I know is a nostalgia trap, but we used to have so many relatively smaller teams making great, innovative stuff.

 

[UnDubious]

I think they technically still exist, but as a Tenchu fan I gotta say:
View attachment 85324

They were just so damn innovative.

Acquire doesn't just "technically still exist", they're still a normal active company. Their biggest games in recent times are the two Octopath Traveler (they're just as involved as Square) and the last Mario & Luigi last year. They don't make a lot of feudal Japan-themed game, but they did put out Katanakami in 2020, which is a roguelike Way of the Samurai spin-off (it's okay, not as good though). Basically they make lots of small games on their own, and bigger games under contract or together with big companies.

As far as dead companies, there's a ton, but I wish Sacnoth/Nautilus had lasted longer. Koudelka, Shadow Hearts, Faselei!. They had talent. Dream Factory too.

 

[Advil Lavs]

Not really the best video game developer but I wish Cing was still alive.

 

[Crashbandi]

I Loved Silicon Knights, Blood Omen and Too Human were some great frakking games

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Climax, Camelot, LucasArts, Treasure, some of these exist in some form today but don't make games like they used to.

 

[Jeff]

Konami has to destroy it and we won't be getting that much of Bomberman, Adventure Island and Bonk.

 

[Ferik]

Some all time greats in here, I'm gonna add Monolith to the list. Blood, No One Lives Forever, FEAR, Condemned. They got shutdown by WB Games after Shadow of War I think.

 

[Michael Frank]

Monolith, Raven Software, and of course...Looking Glass Studios...
-Blood
-F.E.A.R.
-Heretic I and II
-Soldier of Fortune
-Thief I and II
-System Shock I and II(my eternally beloved)
-Ultima Underworld I and II

The first one died because Warner Brothers, the second one because it is enslaved by Activision to make Call of Duty since the first entry, and the last one died so we could have our buddy Superfly...

Believe me when i say it, every time i see a Call of Duty fanboy i make sure to despise him with my very own soul, Raven Died so we could get the most horrible FPS regression during almost TWO WHOLE DECADES, thank GOD for Doom(2016) and Dusk, those two basically reignited good fps design, and now we are in a good era, returning to great level design and good gunplay.

Post automatically merged: Jun 29, 2025

View attachment 85439
Konami has to destroy it and we won't be getting that much of Bomberman, Adventure Island and Bonk.

Konami wasn't happy with putting Castlevania to eternal sleep by firing IGA, and Michiru Yamane and only calling Kojima to do some art sometimes for their crappy re-releases, NO THEY HAD TO KILL BLOODY ROAR TOO DIDN'T THEY, i swear to GOD i will never forgive Konami for that.

 

[dropsmegamega]

I was going to say Black Isle or Troika, but since they were already mentioned...

 

[Viviana Santos]

View attachment 85335I'm not exactly a big fan of Lionhead, but they've made some good games, but what happened to them is simply tragic, I'm not gonna lie.

I find it hilarious that even Microsoft admitted that they screwed Lionhead over and were responsible for the demise of the studio.

 

[iamthemilkman]

View attachment 85335I'm not exactly a big fan of Lionhead, but they've made some good games, but what happened to them is simply tragic, I'm not gonna lie.

Losing Bungie making Halo, Epic making Gears, and Lionhead and Bizarre Creations shutting down really did a number on the Xbox brand. Those were the developers making their top tier titles on Xbox and Xbox 360.

 

[dropsmegamega]

Losing Bungie making Halo, Epic making Gears, and Lionhead and Bizarre Creations shutting down really did a number on the Xbox brand. Those were the developers making their top tier titles on Xbox and Xbox 360.

They shut down Ensemble Studios too, after forcing then on focusing on Halo related stuff that no one asked for on xbox instead of letting then continue their Age of Empires series. Similar to what happened to Rare, but Rare still lives as a zombie.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I miss the Blizzard that axed StarCraft way into development because it wasn't measuring up to other RTS at the time and rewrote it from scratch to deliver to their fans.

 

[Don Patch]

View attachment 85329 Sony should go fuck themselves for closing Japan Studio.

THIS.
100,000,000% THIS!

Post automatically merged: Jun 29, 2025

 

[Blamhammer]

Three mentions of Looking Glass Studio, but that's not enough. I will mention it a FOURTH time.
Utter geniuses working there. Thief 1 and 2 still feel brilliant to play today, along with many many amazing fan missions and full fan made story campaigns that put modern studio efforts to shame.

I will mention ZA/UM, the original team behind Disco Elysium. I know it's still operating and all but the currrent ZA/UM is just...no. It might as well be renamed to something else.

 

[Wesmess]

View attachment 85439
Konami has to destroy it and we won't be getting that much of Bomberman, Adventure Island and Bonk.

Konami owns Hudson for the same reason a lot of companies own other companies:

Financial Problems

A quick search shows that Hudson wouldn't have been around for much longer if Konami hadn't bought stock in them after the collapse of their main bank in 2000 and later bought them wholesale. It's just unfortunate that Konami decided that pachinko was a better use of their time and money shortly after purchasing them.

 

[KenShjIN]

Looking Glass
Old Microprose

 

[moonbits]

Neversoft, the original developer of the Tony Hawk games.
View attachment 85328

These dudes made some really great games. I really wonder what they could've done if they hadn't been enslaved to Tony Hawk.

And my beloved Monolith Productions.

 

[Deleted member 222172]

im gonna go with the Tokyo Team from Square who made KH1 and KH2. All of the other KH games besides CoM, particularly BBS, DDD, 0.2, and KH3, were all made by the Osaka Team who did NOT know how to make KH games.

I have no clue if the Tokyo Team even still exists, but i hate that Osaka Team got the series.

 

[moonbits]

im gonna go with the Tokyo Team from Square who made KH1 and KH2. All of the other KH games besides CoM, particularly BBS, DDD, 0.2, and KH3, were all made by the Osaka Team who did NOT know how to make KH games.

I have no clue if the Tokyo Team even still exists, but i hate that Osaka Team got the series.

After that whole thing with Versus XIII and changing directions most of them scattered throughout the company or left. You can dive into MobyGames and see what the staff is doing nowadays.

For example, at a quick glance all of them have taken smaller roles, remasters and special thanks.

Spoiler

All those heroes that made our childhood games are old lol they don't wanna deal with this bs too much.