Top 10 Game Developers of 2020 (II)

Jackbox Games

In a year that brought so much pain, sorrow, and anxiety, Jackbox Games provided much-needed respite from the realities of 2020, providing friends, family, and coworkers with Zoom-friendly game sessions that let them be together when they couldn’t be together.

Known for the Jackbox Party Pack series and standalone multiplayer classics like Fibbage and Quiplash, the 40-person Chicago-based studio had to react fast to server demands driven by record daily traffic, as lockdowns took place. Jackbox also completed Jackbox Party Pack 7 under remote working conditions, and contributed to over $1 million of donations to worthy causes. In 2020, Jackbox wasn’t just a sharp game maker--it was an active contributor and leader of a community.

Larian Studios

2020 saw the early access launch of Baldur’s Gate III. It’s something of a dream project for the studio; legend goes that Larian CEO Swen Vincke approached Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast about making a Baldur’s Gate III way back when and, after finding success with its own fantasy RPG series Divinity: Original Sin, Wizards returned and asked Larian to helm the new project.

We should admit that the early access still has a lot of problems, but crashes and bugs in the early days of the game were met with hotfixes and transparent blog posts about development, changes, and fun tidbits on player behavior.

Since those first patches and fixes, Larian has kept an ear to its community and paid careful attention to feedback. It’ll be a long road to release and beyond for an ambitious early access like Baldur’s Gate III, but Larian is showing how well developers can navigate the perils of an early access launch.

Mediatonic

Last year, Mediatonic arrived on the battle royale scene in a blaze of bumbling glory, not by beating blockbusters of the genre like Fortnite at their own game, but by convincing players they don’t need to shoot each other full of holes to have a rollicking good time.

FallGuys has become the most downloaded PlayStation Plus title in history and shifting over 10 million copies on Steam alone within two months of launch. Mediatonic is also willing to share the spoils with other developers by releasing a smattering of useful content like character design tips, marketing guidelines, and internal pitch documents.

Nintendo EPD

As one of the most popular games in 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons manages to introduce new mechanics and general improvements while still capturing the charm of earlier games. Particularly, expanding Animal Crossing’s decoration shtick beyond the home and allowing players to fully personalize their islands with terraforming and item placement builds on that core Animal Crossing experience and the inherent creativity of its community.

The cultural impact of Animal Crossing plays into this all as well, providing people who have to stay at home a warm and happy community in the game.

Supergiant Games

Supergiant Games earns a spot on our top game developers list not only because it released the universally-acclaimed million-selling Hades this year, but also because the studio has been setting an example of how it is possible for a small game developer to make an instant classic while still being mindful of work-life balance.

While Supergiant creative director Greg Kasavin admitted that employees do sometimes need to work for long hours, the studio sets up a series of measures that counteract burnout. For example, there are structural steps to prevent burnout such as providing unlimited time off, requiring employees to take at least 20 days off per year, and ruling no emails allowed after 5pm on Fridays.