There have been scores of great game studios to come along over the years. Unfortunately, sometimes they shutdown for whatever reason. Today we take a look at the five best studios that are no longer with us.

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The Top 5 Studios that are No Longer with Us

5. Compile

Started in the early 1980s, Compile made a name for itself releasing a slew of popular shoot ‘em ups, as well as by creating the Puyo Puyo series. Among the games released by the studio are Blazing Lazers (TG-16), The Guardian Legend (NES), the Aleste series (MSX2, SMS, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD), Zanac series (MSX, NES, PSOne), Spriggan series (PC Engine CD-ROM), and Gun Nac (NES). Also, in conjunction with NAXAT Soft, Compile helped to make the classic TG-16 pinball games Alien Crush, and Devil Crash.

Unfortunately, by the early 2000s the company wasn’t making money like it used to, and in 2003 Compile filed for bankruptcy. After that, the studio’s properties changed hands, being absorbed by Aiky, but that company also folded in 2007. The studio lives on in name today as Compile Heart, originally headed by Compile founder Masamitsu Niitani, but now run by Idea Factory after the retirement of Niitani at the end of 2006.

While shoot ‘em ups were extremely popular in the 1980s and 90s, the genre’s decline spelled the end for Compile. Puyo Puyo was a popular series for them, but it just wasn’t enough to keep it going as gamers’ tastes changed over time. Perhaps if shmups remained popular, the studio would still be with us today.

4. Black Isle

Of all the developers to focus on RPGs over the years, few have reached the level of quality that Black Isle did in terms of narrative. Having been responsible for the first two Fallout games, the Icewind Dale series, and what some consider to be THE best example of storytelling in an RPG, Planescape: Torment, Black Isle has a very impressive list of games under its belt.

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All three series are considered to be top ten material for the all-time best PC RPGs, and arguably the top 10 best RPGs overall. It’s not only impressive that one studio made all of these series, but also that they put them out in a surprisingly short time what with the company existing for only about seven years.

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Since the demise of Black Isle, the company’s founder, Feargus Urquhart has gone on to start Obsidian Entertainment to continue developing new RPGs.

3. Bullfrog

Peter Molyneux is arguably one of the most prolific game developers ever. Looking at the sheer level of output that his Bullfrog Studios put out on his watch, one has to wonder what that place may have put out if that environment continued to exist to this day. Just look at all of the series that Bullfrog is responsible for: Populous, Magic Carpet, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, and the Theme games (Theme Park, and Theme Hospital in particular).

Obviously Molyneux has continued to put out top notch games since his departure from Bullfrog, but wow did that studio pump out the hits. Almost every year of its existence, the developer had a new, not to mention original, game for people to play, and they were consistently very good. Studios today can only dream of having the back catalogue that Bullfrog did.

2. Clover Studios

When thinking of Clover, sometimes the expression “The star that burns brightest burns fastest” springs to mind. The studio wasn’t around all that long compared to the others on this list, but it put out some exceptional games during its short existence.

While the company got its feet wet porting the Viewtiful Joe games to the PlayStation 2, it really got gamers’ attention for creating two other games: Okami and God Hand. At their core, these games had some fairly conventional action and / or adventure elements to them, but it’s how Clover expanded beyond that which made the games so special. Okami had it’s beautiful graphics that looked like watercolor paintings from ancient Japan, as well as a novel painting system where players performed brush strokes with the controller to make their on-screen persona cast certain spells. Meanwhile, God Hand had such a comedic, over the top approach to the brawler that it was an immediate hit with the critics. Being able to knock enemies several feet into the air, or halfway across a field, while using the game’s unique roulette system was very refreshing.

Unfortunately, neither Okami nor God Hand proved to be commercial successes, and as such Capcom shut the studio down.

1. Looking Glass Studios

Responsible for three of the most important PC series to emerge from the 1990s, Looking Glass Studios absolutely deserves to be on this list. Having developed the Ultima Underworld System Shock, and Thief series, the studio pushed gameplay and storytelling to new depths.

The studio first got attention for its first person RPG Ultima Underworld when the company was still known as Blue Sky productions. While gamers were quite fond of the Ultima series, this offshoot proved to be equally entertaining in its own way. A few years later, Looking Glass took a stab at a more futuristic setting with System Shock. The game had an actual 3D environment that players could explore, allowing them to look up and down, left and right, et cetera, instead of simply navigating a maze from a first person perspective, as many of the game’s contemporaries were doing at the time. The sequel refined what System Shock was trying to do, and included a phenomenal narrative on top of that. Meanwhile, the Thief series was exploring the idea of stealth-based gaming, an interesting contrast to all of the confrontational run-and-gun games that were coming out during that period.

During its existence, Looking Glass saw some of gaming’s best developers pass through its doors, including the likes of Ken Levine, and Warren Spector among others. All the while it put out a trio of series that made everyone rethink how first person games could be approached.

roygbiv

June 20, 2009