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A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video or computer games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game system, such as the Sony PlayStation, or may develop for a variety of systems including PCs.
Some developers also specialize in certain types of games, such as RPGs or FPSs. Some focus on porting games from one system to another. Some focus on translating games from one language to another, especially from Japanese to English.
Alongside the three key consumer markets in Asia, the United States and Europe are thousands of games developers. From the long established likes of LucasArts and Bullfrog are many newer startups and break-aways such as Lionhead.
Types of developers
Video game developers fall into one of three categories: third-party developers, in-house developers, and independents. Developers usually employ a staff of programmers, game designers, artists, sound engineers, producers and testers, though some of these roles may be outsourced. To confuse matters, a person in any one of these roles may be referred to as a "video game developer."
Third-party developers are usually called upon by a video game publisher to develop a title for one or more systems. Both the publisher and the developer have a great deal of say as to the design and content of the game. In general, though, the publisher's wishes trump the developer's. It is not uncommon for a developer to have several teams working on different titles for different publishers. In general, however, third-party developers tend to be smaller and comprised of a single, closely-knit team. Third-party game development is a volatile business as small developers may be entirely dependent on money from one publisher. Hence, one cancelled game can be lethal to a small developer. Because of this, many of the smaller development companies last only a few years or sometimes only a few months.
Many video game publishers also have large in-house development teams, or in-house developers. The size of the teams vary depending on the games, but they can number from a few to the dozens. In the case of MMORPG's, they can number in the hundreds. In-house development teams tend to have greater freedom as to design and content of a game than do third-party developers. Also publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget and missing deadlines than of third-party developers.
Independents are typically small software developers that self-publish their games, often relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the huge marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products never get as much recognition or popular acclaim as those of larger publishers. However, they are free to explore experimental themes and styles of gameplay that mainstream publishers would not risk their money on.
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