Game Developer magazine has unveiled its top fifty developers of 2009, in the second edition of this top fifty listing that was first released last year. The study used to create this list is comprised of a combination of the following factors:

• Survey data from over 600 industry professionals weighing opinions on more than 150 developers
• Sales market data/rankings (US, UK, Japan) in calendar year 2008
• Average scores from Metacritic
• Number of SKUs in calendar year 2008

The full top 50 list is as follows, with some of their notable releases in 2008:

1. Nintendo (Kyoto) - Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit
2. Blizzard Entertainment - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. Ubisoft Montreal - Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia
4. Rockstar North - Grand Theft Auto IV
5. EA Canada - FIFA Soccer 09, NHL 09
6. Konami (Tokyo) - Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
7. Valve Software - Left 4 Dead
8. Epic Games - Gears of War 2, Unreal Tournament 3
9. EA Tiburon - Madden NFL 09, NASCAR 09
10. Treyarch - Call of Duty: World at War
11. HAL Laboratory - Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
12. Capcom (Osaka) - Devil May Cry 4, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
13. Traveller's Tales - LEGO Batman, LEGO Indiana Jones
14. Bethesda Game Studios - Fallout 3
15. Insomniac Games - Resistance 2, Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
16. Namco Bandai Games (Tokyo) - Soul Calibur IV, We Ski
17. EA Redwood Shores - Dead Space, MySims
18. Koei (Yokohama) - Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, GI Jocket 4 2008
19. Kojima Productions - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
20. Harmonix Music Systems - Rock Band 2
21. Media Molecule - LittleBigPlanet
22. Lionhead Studios - Fable II
23. Vicarious Visions - Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii)
24. Maxis - Spore
25. Neversoft Entertainment - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero World Tour
26. Game Freak - Pokémon Platinum
27. Square Enix - The Last Remnant
28. Digital Illusions CE (DICE) - Battlefield: Bad Company, Mirror's Edge
29. Success
30. Ready At Dawn - God of War: Chains of Olympus, Okami (Wii)
31. Atlus - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
32. Criterion Games - Burnout Paradise
33. TOSE - Densetsu no Stafy Taiketsu! Dire Kaizokudan, WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2009
34. Mythic Entertainment - Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
35. Firaxis Games - Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
36. Volition - Saints Row 2
37. SEGA - Sonic Unleashed
38. SCE Japan Studio - Patapon, Echochrome
39. Ironclad Games - Sins of a Solar Empire
40. Marvelous Interactive - Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
41. Yuke's Future Media Creators - WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2009
42. SCE London Studio - SingStar
43. Visual Concepts - NBA 2k9, Major League Baseball 2K9
44. Intelligent Systems - Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
45. Omega Force - Dynasty Warriors 6
46. Monolith Productions - Condemned 2: Bloodshot
47. Funcom - Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
48. SCE Studios San Diego - MLB '08 The Show, NBA '09 The Inside
49. Rare - Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
50. Treasure - Bangai-O Spirits, Bleach: Versus Crusade

To be eligible for the list, the developer had to have had at least one game released in calendar year 2008.

The full >180 page and >28,000 word report is available online for $2,995 USD.

Think Services’ Game Developer magazine and Game Developer Research division -- sister divisions to Gamasutra -- have announced a major study ranking the top 50 game development studios worldwide.

Following up on last year's inaugural study, Game Developer's Top 50 Developers 2009 combines empirical market data with a detailed survey taken by game development professionals via industry-leading website Gamasutra to create a holistic view of the top game developers using sales and reputation data.