13: BioWare
Off the radar until recently, BioWare just announced their licensing of some of Perpetual Entertainment's infrastructure tech for use in an upcoming MMOG. Perpetual is working on Star Trek Online. BioWare created Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And now they're working on an MMOG. I leave you to your conclusions.
14: NCsoft Austin
Rebounding from the catastrophic Auto Assault is NCsoft Austin, headed up by Robert and Richard Garriott. Their new business model, which boils down to "I don't care how you pay me, as long as you pay me," is beginning to take shape. Tabula Rasa, Richard's first MMOG since UO is nearing completion, and Guild Wars 2 the sequel to the million-selling Guild Wars is on the way, as well. Combined with their recent announcement of their agreement with Sony to port their new MMOGs to the PS3, the American branch of the company is on its way up.
15: Sony Online Entertainment
SOE's strategy to snatch up a bunch of little games and convert them to one big profit margin shows a lot of promise. Recently inking distribution deals with Flying Labs, developers of Pirates of the Burning Sea, as well as forming SOE Denver, they're slowly finding ways around the 400-pound MMOG gorilla, World of Warcraft, and carving out a niche as a very strong No. 2 in the industry. However, they've run into some serious PR problems over the past year or so, and MMOG players have the memories of elephants. It may take some time for them to live down a few of their black eyes.
16: Turbine
Rounding out the MMOG bloc is Turbine, creators of Lord of the Rings Online. The fourth try appears to be the charm for the Boston-based company; LOTRO is a hit. They claim it was the second-most successful MMOG at retail ever, which could mean pretty much anything, but it sure sounds impressive. Given Turbine's impressive track record of supporting their fans long into a game's cycle, expect LOTRO to stick around for a good while, and probably retain subscribers better than most MMOGs.
17: Gamecock
The flamboyant publisher makes the list due to its impressive debut at E3 - excuse me, at EIEIO. Throwing back to the old days when game design studios looked more like frats than, uhh, frats before the dean stops by for a scheduled inspection, Gamecock's silly façade obscures a great lineup of games across every major platform, put together by talented indie studios.
18: E3
New E3 gets a nod from me. Aside from the power outage, terrible location of the Barker Hangar and weird travel issues, the show was great. Wonderful location, a focus more on the immediate future and enough of the Old E3 glitz to keep things interesting. If this show is the new norm, consider me a career attendee.
19: Scott Miller
The Co-Founder of 3D Realms took a swipe at the ESRB earlier this week, calling them bullies over threatening to impose penalties on 3D Realms due to incorrect rating appearing on the company's official site. Miller specifically took issue to receiving legal threats before the ESRB attempted to contact the company in any other way. And good on him; 3D Realms is just another victim of the ESRB's overcompensation post-Hot Coffee.
20: Sega
Rounding out the top 20 is Sega, who in addition to a pretty rad-looking Sonic and Mario Wii game, are trying to keep the poor PC afloat by publishing Gas Power Games' Space Siege and Petroglyph's Universe at War. They've also got an Iron Man tie-in due out on consoles, which may feature voiceover from the movie's stars. Sega's not on top, but they're definitely back.
