Game Developer Magazine closed up shop recently (you can download their last issue, for free, at this link). Included in their final set of articles was a list of the game development studios that, in their opinion, are the “Top 30 Developers of All Time”.

Naturally, two companies near and dear to us as Ultima fans made the list:

Origin Systems
Manchester, New Hampshire

Simply listing the Wing Commander or the Ultima series doesn’t do Origin Systems justice. Origin’s characteristic polish and technical capability inspired the next generation of developers — and many Origin devs went on to do great things (Paul Steed, Raph Koster, Warren Spector) as well. Like their motto said, they created worlds.

Looking Glass Studios
Cambridge, Massachusetts

You’d think that it’d take more than two notable game franchises to get yourself on Game Developer’s list of the Top 30 Devs of All Time, but Looking Glass Studios earned this just by the strength of Thief and System Shock alone. (We know they did other games, but every time someone suggested including Looking Glass, it was just for those two.) Naturally, we can’t bring up Looking Glass without mentioning that Ken Levine started his career there on Thief before eventually going on to found Irrational Games and later creating BioShock.

A few other studios get honourable mentions toward the end of the article, and GDMag also gives some attention to the earliest pioneers of computer technology and programming, the inventive men and women who enabled the creation of computers and the games we play on them. Contra other “Top X” lists, there’s really not much controversy about GDMag’s selection of top studios; the names on their list unquestionably belong there.

Well…okay…maybe they could have put Black Isle Studios on the main list, rather than in the honourable mentions. I’d swap them for thatgamecompany, personally.