The companies that brought retro games to players
Founded by Trip Hawkins in 1982 with the radical premise that game developers deserved to be credited like rock musicians, Electronic Arts grew from a boutique publisher of personal computer games into the largest third-party publisher in the world.
Activision was founded in 1979 by a group of disgruntled Atari programmers demanding credit for their work, becoming the first third-party game developer in history and establishing a precedent that transformed the industry's relationship between studios and creators.
Acclaim Entertainment was one of the most prominent publishers of the NES and SNES era, best known for its home console ports of arcade hits and licensed properties including Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Turok — and for a business culture that frequently prioritised sales over quality.
The original Atari, founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972, created the commercial video game industry with Pong, defined the home console market with the 2600, and produced the most valuable entertainment company in the world before a catastrophic collapse in 1983.
Psygnosis was the defining British publisher of high-end Amiga games, renowned for Roger Dean's cover artwork and technically demanding releases before Sony acquired the company and transformed it into the studio responsible for WipEout — the game that defined the PlayStation's launch identity.
Broderbund Software was among the most respected publishers of the Apple II and early personal computer era, producing Prince of Persia, Myst, the Carmen Sandiego series, and Print Shop — software with a quality and originality that made it a favourite of both educators and enthusiast gamers.
Infocom produced the finest interactive fiction of the personal computer era — Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Planescape precursor Trinity — writing games with literary ambition that no other studio approached, before Activision's acquisition made their survival impossible.
Epyx produced some of the most technically ambitious games on the Atari and Commodore 64 platforms, including the Summer Games series, Impossible Mission, and Chip's Challenge, and co-designed the Atari Lynx hardware before financial difficulties ended the company.
Ocean Software was the dominant British publisher of licensed film and television tie-in games through the late 1980s and early 1990s, producing Robocop, Batman, and Jurassic Park conversions of notable quality alongside original titles including Kick Off, Head Over Heels, and Sensible Soccer.
Midway was the American arcade publisher responsible for Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Defender — a company that shaped the coin-op golden age through its partnership with Namco and its own design team before a long decline ended in bankruptcy.
Taito launched the global video game industry with Space Invaders in 1978, the single most commercially significant arcade game ever made, and followed it with Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid, Elevator Action, and Qix — a portfolio that shapes arcade design vocabulary to this day.
Hudson Soft created Bomberman and published Adventure Island, and was the first third-party developer to produce software for the Famicom — a technical achievement that opened Nintendo's platform to outside developers and changed the course of console gaming.