Who is the most overrated game company?

[Charlie]

OK, we've had bad company. We've had good company.

But who's the most overrated?

My top three picks, in no paticular order.

Rare: Had a couple good SNES games, a couple good N64 games, and a whole lot of bombs. On top of this, Rare's games rarely have a good shelf-life... only two I can think of that I still find enjoyable from time to time are Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Again, Nintendo didn't put up a fight for a reason.

Treasure: They're still living on a the reputation of Gunstar Heroes almost 10 years after the fact. Sure, they've had a couple games I would say are 'good' (Mischief Makers and Ikargu), but for the most part Treasure's games are weak, overly difficult, too short, and have no self-life. From what I've seen of Wario World so far and from all the reviews I've read, it's pretty much the same thing: repeditive and incredibly short. Treasure doesn't know how to make a game good or difficult... all they do is throw more badguys at you and unblockable weapon fire. There's a reason why people always bring up Gunstar Heroes when they talk about Treasure: Because they haven't done anything else worth mentioning. And yet they still get verbal blowjob everytime they produce a new game.

Capcom: Sure, they were great 10 years ago, but what have you done for me lately? By all accounts the new Gamecube Mega-Man is as bland as bland can be. For Resident Evil they keep recyclying the same crap over and over again... this is a company that has never heard the term "innovation." And if they heard it, they would likely wet thier pants and run screaming for the hills. And Viewtiful Joe... I've played the demo and while the idea seems nice, the demo itself already had me bored by the end of it. Come on Capcom, you're better then this.

[Daltone]

Square - I just...think a large number of the FF games aren't any good (10,9,8..5 I think it was and "The Secret Of Mana on the Gameboy..if that counts.). They're not exactly bad, just not as good as people make out. The Parasite Eves and Erghez (however you spell it) were ok. They have had some really good games, so I suppose it's just the disgusting amount of FF love that pisses me off. So, erm, I suppose they don't really deserve this. Bah....

[chadtower]

Acclaim: I hate their games. All of them. They wasted a couple years of WWE license producing horrible wrestling games that could have been made by THQ. That alone is unforgivable.

[zmeston]

By "company," do you mean developers, publishers, or both?

-- Z.

[buttasuperb]

I'm gonna have to disagree on Capcom being overrated.

SF2 series is responsible for the arcade explosion in the early 90's. Everyone and their grandma's were at the arcade playing that game. It was also the first game of it's kind to be GOOD, and the start of a great genre.

Also.

Vampire series
Vs. Series
Rival Schools series
Final Fight series
Saturday Night Slammasters

and more, but I'm done thinking right now.

[Charlie]

@buttasuperb: My point about Capcom is while they did a lot of good stuff historically, they haven't done anything worth wild in the last five years.

And I disagree about Acclaim being overrated: Because I don't know one person who says Acclaim doesn't suck. To be overrated, someone somewhere has to say they're good.

BTW, this is for people who develop the games, not for those who just publish.

[jaydubnb]

Treasure: They're still living on a the reputation of Gunstar Heroes almost 10 years after the fact. Sure, they've had a couple games I would say are 'good' (Mischief Makers and Ikargu), but for the most part Treasure's games are weak, overly difficult, too short, and have no self-life. From what I've seen of Wario World so far and from all the reviews I've read, it's pretty much the same thing: repeditive and incredibly short. Treasure doesn't know how to make a game good or difficult... all they do is throw more badguys at you and unblockable weapon fire. There's a reason why people always bring up Gunstar Heroes when they talk about Treasure: Because they haven't done anything else worth mentioning. And yet they still get verbal blowjob everytime they produce a new game.

IMO, Treasure deserves their accolades. The few Treasure games that I've played (Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, Gunstar Heroes) were GREAT titles. Not to mention the other titles that Treasure is supposed to have worked on while under Konami's umbrella: Contra, Super C, Super Castlevania IV, Axelay...great games. I cant wait until Treasure's Gradius V is released!

But I agree 100% about Capcom: they have been dipping into the recycle bin way to long with only one or two notable bright spots.

I'm gonna have to go with Rockstar Games, too. Their games bore the crap outta me. Causing mayhem seems to be the company gimmick.

[l_lamb]

Two come to mind right now:

Shiny - Still riding on the coattails of Earthworm Jim, which I thought was mediocre. I remember two years worth of magazine covers for Messiah and all the talk about the "revolutionary game engine" that would scale to work on every system. After numerous delays, the game came out only for the PC with rather large system requirements at the time. The Matrix game is okay, but not the super unique experience it was supposed to be.

LucasArts - puts out two pieces of crap for every good game. Don't get me wrong, they've done some really great stuff. But they have milked the Star Wars license to death and haven't done enough with more original product.

I also agree that while Acclaim does suck hard, no one really rates them highly. I'd probably put THQ and their studios in the same boat. THQ's best games were ones published for other developers like Sega and Electronic Arts.

[Atari7800]

I'd have to agree that Treasure is indeed overrated, but it's still one of your better game developers with a few possible missteps including...

Stretch Panic
Wario World
Light Crusader (maybe)
McDonald's Treasure Island


But Gunstar Heros isn't Treasure's only great game... the majority of their games are very good, and they certainly can't be faulted for a lack of originality for...


Bangai-O (both DC and N64)
Sin & Punishment
Radiant Silvergun
Alien Soldier
Dynamite Headdy (way underrated)
Guardian Heroes
Silhouette Mirage
Rakugaki Showtime
Ikaruga


I'm not some big Treasure fanatic or collector, but judging by some of their games, I'd have to say they're one of the top developers.

[hydr0x]

have to really disagree with Lucas Arts, this may perhaps be true for console games (though i don't think so either) but it's definitely wrong for pc games, just a few examples

Rebel Assault
Dark Forces/Jedi Knight
Monkey Island Series
Indiana Jones Series

and a lot more, the point is, i think you can find a lot more great or good Lucas Arts games than crap ones, so ur argument is not true


but i have to totally agree with shiny they haven't done a single good game since earthworm jim, and i am a pc and console gamer (btw Dave Perry is the most overrated game designer of all times, perhaps challenged by Peter Molyneux)

ok, i know this isn't the right topic, but i just wanted to add that the most underrated company is(eh was) Looking Glass (Ultima Underworld, Dark project/Thief, System Shock, Flight Unlimited, Terra Nova<<one of the best pc-games ever imho)

[Mayhem]

@Atari7800... how can you say Wario World is bad when you haven't even played the finished game yet?

[hezeuschrist]

The first thing that came to mind was Square. Don't get me wrong, they are the reason I play games, and the reason I collect today. My first goal as a new collector is a complete Squaresoft collection for PSOne... but they get a disgusting amount of pure fanboi-ism. It's really pretty annoying... "FF11 will be teh best evar MMORPG because Square is doin it!"

I guess the main reason why I said Square was because way back in the day I had a HUGE FF8 tribute site. I got a whole ton of traffic, tons of news about the game, hundreds of screenshots. I started the page just as soon as tiny bits of info started trickling out after FF7 was released. I guess you could say it was the biggest disappointment ever for me in a game. I had built it up so huge that it really couldn't meet my expectations. Really, it wasn't a bad game but it sure as hell wasn't a good game. Very high budget mediocre game.

[Ed Oscuro]

We'll have to see if Maximo + Ghosts'n Goblins online make it for the oldskool gaming goodness as far as Capcom's concerned. I know a number of people who say they wouldn't mind if Capcom folded tomorrow, but that's not how I feel at all. If you don't like a series from them, your failure to purchase them sends a message. They realie people aren't wild about certain series as much as they used to be. After all, they're only making Mega Man for the people who actually play them.

Now people usually mention iD and Valve as "companies that can ignore current trends" -- I think that they've just been successful enough that everybody already knows they make a quality product, so they can continue to make the sort of games people want to play. It would be nice if somebody would take this sort of approach in the 2D scene, but nobody feels strong enough. That's a shame.

[jaybird]

Rockstar all the way.

Despite a couple of other decent releases, they're still a one-hit wonder to me.

I want to say EA, since they milk their sports franchises year in & year out with mostly roster updates, but I can't argue with their sales numbers.

[Griking]

Electronic Arts

At one time EA used to stand for Electronic Artists and encouraged originality and creativity. Now all they seem to be about is releasing the same sports title year after year after year with only graphical and roster changes.

Oh and speaking of sequels they're the company behind the 1001 Sims games as well.

[buttasuperb]

they did a lot of good stuff historically

That's exactly why they can't be considered overrated.

Nothing worth while in the last 5 years? I guess you're forgetting about the SF3 series. Fantastic games, I hope to see a 4th.

You're also forgetting about the Marvel vs Capcom series, and the Capcom vs SNK series. Although some people will disagree with me, I think both series of games are great.

And what about Mars Matrix? Gigawing 1 & 2? JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?

All worthwhile, at the very least.

[RetroYoungen]

Square. I'm sorry, but I never got heavily into the Final Fantasy series, and Parasite Eve was only mediocre to me. Besides, all their really known for are a handful of their RPGs. They don't even seem to do other genres!

[Achika]

Who can forget things like Onimusha, Devil May Cry, PN03, Viewtiful Joe, Puzzlefighter, One Piece, etc. etc. How are all those games following the same mold? I pretty much see them on far ends of the spectrum in terms of genres.

innovation....the idea seems nice

Yep, it's an idea...an innovation....it's not their problem if the singular you doesn't like it, it's the masses that speak. So far, I think the masses make up for more than one person. You cry for innovation, you get it but don't like it....so they aren't being innovative? That doesn't compute....

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I have to second Electronic Arts. Once upon a time, they had some awesome (and awesomely unique) products out there. You could see where obscure but inventive developers like Westwood Studios, Origin and Maxis would want to be associated with them. Now they've turned into a behemoth, eating those studios whole (and, conveniently, gaining ownership of their properties in the process), and then cutting out a lot of the people who made those developers' previous games so good.

Of course, a little disclaimer - I know someone who lost his job thanks to this recent spate of EA conglomerate-izing, so I took it kinda personal-like.

[Dire 51]

I have to say Square as well. What was the last game they did besides FF? Einhander? Brave Fencer Musashi? I can't remember. And I have to admit to not being overly thrilled with any FF game since VI. Oh well.

If they want to do a sequel to something, I'd love to see Einhander 2 on the PS2, instead of yet another FF game...