webs woven

December 19, 2012 12:08 PM

The master map of all game companies and their connections
posted by infini (28 comments total)

Amusing.

It's missing a number of mobile games companies.
posted by dfriedman at 12:11 PM on December 19, 2012

Whoa... Geek-cred, the author has it.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:12 PM on December 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Definitely missing a bunch, and rather oversimplified, but not a bad visualization.
posted by restless_nomad at 12:13 PM on December 19, 2012

Looks like at least for now THQ's little sector will remain intact.
posted by kmz at 12:17 PM on December 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Slightly relevent: the Quake engine family tree
posted by hellojed at 12:22 PM on December 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

You keep using that word "all". I do not think it means what you think it means.

But yeah, interesting for the ones that are there.
posted by Brak at 12:27 PM on December 19, 2012

Of course it's silly to think this covers all game companies, but there's a lot here, probably a lot more than you knew about.
posted by JHarris at 12:37 PM on December 19, 2012

Sierra still owns Dynamix? What's the last game Sierra released anyways, Half Life 1? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
posted by Yowser at 12:42 PM on December 19, 2012

Looks like at least for now THQ's little sector will remain intact.

Hooray!
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on December 19, 2012

And there at the center lies the black hole that is EA
posted by MangyCarface at 12:49 PM on December 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not Represented: Hammerpoint Interactive, scamulent developer of The War Z.
posted by boo_radley at 12:53 PM on December 19, 2012

The Gamespy interview with a War Z producer was just... holy shit.
posted by kmz at 12:57 PM on December 19, 2012

The War Z thing probably deserves a separate post if it is not to take over this one.
posted by dfan at 1:01 PM on December 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was a little disappointed that I couldn't find my company, but did see a whole bunch of smaller, less notable ones. Ah, well. At least my previous two employers are there, so I don't feel totally left out!
posted by jake at 1:01 PM on December 19, 2012

Good point, I'll whip something up.
posted by boo_radley at 1:04 PM on December 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

I can't find:
id
Bethesda
Interplay
Black Isle
Obsidian

I also can't find Troika, but that was expected.

On the other hand, Looking Glass Studios is there, so who knows?
posted by Hactar at 1:38 PM on December 19, 2012

(I should mention that I'm not saying they aren't there, I may be missing them)
posted by Hactar at 1:39 PM on December 19, 2012

It took me ages to even find Ubisoft. Maybe I'm just a bit tired, but this is not really the best possible infographic. A timeline might help, or scaling according to studio/company size.
posted by ikalliom at 2:20 PM on December 19, 2012

What do the arrows indicate?
How do arrows differ from the lines that aren't arrows?
When two or more lines/arrows of the same colour cross, are they connecting?

Without answering those questions, it's just a jumble of logos, lines, and arrows.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:38 PM on December 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

(I should mention that I'm not saying they aren't there, I may be missing them)

I spent a good ten minutes combing the list and those companies simply aren't present.

Also missing:

Apogee
3d Realms
Acclaim
LJN
Triptych Games
Running With Scissors
Gearbox Software
Ritual Entertainment
NcSoft
ArenaNet
Lucas Arts
Totally Games
Riot Games
New World Computing
3d0
GRAVITY Co.
Team17
Flagship Studios
Runic Games
...

I could keep going.

Noted Errors:

The company logo for Flagship Studios is mistakenly used for the Japanese developer Flagship.
posted by Godwin Interjection at 2:43 PM on December 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Looks like at least for now THQ's little sector will remain intact.

This means more Saint's Row, right? RIGHT?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:39 PM on December 19, 2012

Yeah. I was wondering if it was just me or not, because I couldn't find id or Apogee anywhere. Valve either, for that matter. And is Lucasarts anywhere? I mean, if you're going to advertise as the master list of all game companies, those seem like pretty big omissions.
posted by caution live frogs at 3:56 PM on December 19, 2012

Also, where's Psygnosis? I mean, Lemmings, how do you miss that...
posted by caution live frogs at 3:57 PM on December 19, 2012

Maybe I'm just a bit tired, but this is not really the best possible infographic. A timeline might help, or scaling according to studio/company size.

There's also no distinction between what is a game studio and what is a game company. EA has so many boxes there and some are companies they bought and some are just internal branding.

I was hoping for a global version of the Vancouver Game Developer Family Tree ( article here ). It's not as pretty but also shows the small studios coming out of big ones. This graph focuses on the big companies buying up the small ones.
posted by Gary at 4:19 PM on December 19, 2012

caution live frogs: "Also, where's Psygnosis? I mean, Lemmings, how do you miss that..."

It's down there.

On the other hand, the chart shows Bungie as being a descendent of Microsoft -- that's wrong.
posted by schmod at 5:38 PM on December 19, 2012

What do the arrows indicate?
How do arrows differ from the lines that aren't arrows?

The lower-left corner has a key to the color scheme. Some of the relationships are equal, in those cases there is no arrow, just a connecting line.
posted by JHarris at 7:32 PM on December 19, 2012

On the other hand, the chart shows Bungie as being a descendent of Microsoft -- that's wrong.

Bungie has a line with an arrow going into Microsoft and a line with an arrow going out of Microsoft. It represents that Microsoft acquired Bungie then Bungie split off again.
posted by girlhacker at 9:50 PM on December 19, 2012

it's about one fiftieth complete, but it's still a pretty interesting look at the turmoil and complexity that exists in the sector. How many of those companies are still deemed relevant? Which are likely to make it over the next hill? As a game developer, it's sobering but energizing.
posted by felix at 8:03 AM on December 20, 2012