After my recent post regarding Westwood Studios I was reminded of all the other gaming companies which have since built up their legacy, just to have it shattered by the big publishers. Ranging from the hugely successful Infinity Ward down to the smaller Bull Frog who each in their own left their mark on the gaming community.
I stumbled on this image originally posted at Kotaku last year and was amazed at the amount of detail that GrE devoted to to this HUGE flow chart dedicated to gamings greatest and no so great developers.
Following the companies outwards from their current owners brings a lot of memories to any gamer, seeing all the logos from developers who once stood out form their peers but have since been assimilated into what is now just another games developer.
Some of the companies which truly struck a cord with me at first glance was the infamous Westwood Studios, the company who defined a genre just to be swallowed up and pushed to the side.
MicroProse, the company which bought countless simulation games to our lives from daily Transport to thrilling Roller Coasters, MicroProse put simulation games on the map and for gamers of its generation are still missed to this day.
From Theme Parks to Hospitals to flying carpets BullFrog has always been a grade A developer and in its early days and it still lives on with some of their great classics recently appearing on Good Old Games.
To avoid any issues with link breaking I have re-uploaded the massive flow chart below.
Paying close attention to the legend on the lower left, try and source out your childhood developer and back track its ownership though the maze of developers/publishers.
This flow chart is now a little old and lots has changed over the past year, but its a good little overview of the developers who once were and are now no more.
Flow Chart showing Game Developers both past and present and their links
