Top 10 Game Developers of 2020 (II)

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.