Studios, twenty and over. 2014 Edition.

Earlier this year, I compiled a list of game studios that had maintained continuous operation for more than twenty years because … well because it interested me. Here’s an updated list for 2014 (a couple of days early).

Studio history fascinates me — how studios have developed over time, studios with long lists of popular games, or short lists of unpopular ones. Revealing names that have been influential to me as a young gamer and game developer, and places that friends and acquaintances have worked at. Seeing video game development as an industry with significant history (good and bad), and to learn about how we got to where we are. What has endured, and what has not.

There’s a lot that can be learned. Here are links to some of it.

(These lists are assuredly incomplete — let me know what I’ve missed)

Studios, twenty and over in 2014 (60)

• HAL Laboratory (1980)
• Falcom (1981)
• Llamasoft (1982)
• System 3 (1983)
• EA Canada (1983)
• Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (1983)
• Naughty Dog (1984)
• Ubisoft Reflections (1984)
• Rockstar San Diego (1984)
• Rare (1985)
• Ubisoft Paris (1986)
• Bethesda Softworks (1986)
• Codemasters (1986)
• Atod AB (1987)
• The Bitmap Brothers (1987)
• Creative Assembly (1987)
• Eutechnyx (1987)
• Maxis (1987)
• Egosoft (1988)
• Rockstar North (1988)
• Ubisoft Blue Byte (1988)
• Climax Group (1988)
• Visual Concepts (1988)
• Ubisoft Montpellier (1989)
• Toys For Bob (1989)
• Guerrilla Cambridge (1990)
• Traveller’s Tales (1990)
• Vicarious Visions (1990)
• Team 17 (1990)
• Edge Games (1990)
• Raven Software (1990)
• WayForward Technologies (1990)
• Blizzard Entertainment (1991)
• Epic Games (1991)
• id Software (1991)
• Bungie (1991)
• Radical Entertainment (1991)
• Ubisoft Bucharest (1992)
• DICE (1992)
• Rebellion (1992)
• Crystal Dynamics (1992)
• Treasure (1992)
• Image Space Incorporated (1992)
• SCE London Studio (1993)
• Digital Extremes (1993)
• Volition (1993)
• Funcom (1993)
• Stainless Games (1993)
• Criterion Games (1993)
• High Voltage Software (1993)
• Frontier Developments (1994)
• SCE Bend Studio (1994)
• Phantagram (1994)
• Insomniac Games (1994)
• Spiderweb Software (1994)
• Neversoft (1994)
• EA Tiburon (1994)
• Torus Games (1994)
• Matrix Software (1994)
• n-Space (1994)

Closed studios, twenty and over

• LucasArts (1982 — 2013)
• Blitz Game Studios (1990 — 2013)

(I’ve not made any effort to fill out the above list — contributions welcome)

Other long-running studios closed during 2013

• Terminal Reality (1994 — 2013)
• Danger Close Games (1995 — 2013)
• EA Phenomic (1997 — 2013)

Other game companies (including publishers) like Square Enix (2003), Ubisoft (1986), Capcom (1983), EA (1982), Activision (1979), Taito (1973), Konami (1969), NAMCO (1955), and Nintendo (1889) have been around for more than twenty years, but I don’t know if they have [other] studios that have been running that long.

SN Systems has been making tools for game development since 1988. RAD Game Tools has also been around since 1988.

Updates:
Added Egosoft thanks to @RonPieket
Added Guerrilla Cambridge, SCE Bend Studio, and SCE London Studio thanks to @TobiasBerghoff
Added Ubisoft Paris thanks to @wsmind
Added Atod AB thanks to @martinlindell
Added EA Phenomic (closed 2013) thanks to @JanDavidHassel
Added Ubisoft Bucharest thanks to @kitzkar
Added Traveller’s Tales thanks to @DanOppenheim
Added Llamasoft thanks to @RonPieket
Added Frontier Developments thanks to @tom_forsyth
Added Visual Concepts thanks to Lisa Buechele
Added Image Space Incorporated thanks to Gjon Camaj
Added WayForward Technologies after meeting the CEO John Beck at the USC Fall Demo Day :)