The Most Influential Developer of All Time.

Origin (later known as Origin Systems), founded by Richard Garriott in 1983 is easily the most influential game studio of all time. While companies like Nintendo, or games like Doom or Wolfenstein are given credit for revolutionizing a market or a genre, they weren't the first to revolutionize the medium at large. In fact, the impact those had was nowhere as big as games from Origin had.

Origin revolutionized RPGs with Ultima games. Ultima 2 is considered as the very first game to pioneer the art of squad based gameplay and Ultima 7 is praised for bringing NPC schedule on the table. The latter was a living breathing world where you could interact with environments and perform basic tasks. NPCs had the ability to go to work, return home after work, engage with the players etc.

In 1991, Origin released Wing Commander 2, which was the very first computer game to feature full voice acting. Voice patch was released after the game's release and only Sound Blasters could support it. The game featured a complex story with multiple outcomes, progressed through lengthy cutscenes. While Wing Commander featured more variations in the story, Wing Commander 2 told more complex plot that featured actual performances.

Origin had a lot of talented people, who opened their own studios later. One of them was Looking Glass Studios, founded by Paul Neurath. While Strike Commander from Origin (created by Chris Roberts who also did Wing Commander games) was the first to feature 3D terrain, it was Looking Glass that actually brought us the very first game to feature Sandbox 3D RPG, featuring immersive game world.

Originally titled something else, no one was willing to fund the project when the studio was founded in 1992 because it was not done before by anyone before. Richard Garriott, the founder of Origin liked the idea of the game and decided to fund the project, and let Looking Glass use Ultima's name to sell more copies. Hence, Ultima: Underworld was born that revolutionized 3D gaming forever. Keep in mind that Super Mario 64, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D came out way later than Ultima: Underworld.

The game opened doors for a lot of other games to follow. After Ultima: Underworld, games like System Shock and Thief were born. The former introduced an interactive environment where you could read other people's diaries, pick up objects, use keycards to open doors and revolutionized antagonist AI by allowing Shodan to speak to players, mock them and block their paths when necessary, the latter revolutionized the Stealth genre with its immersive gameplay, a lot of gadgets, compelling, well written plot, great level design, light dark mechanic, sound technology and tight controls.

Former origin employees also formed studios like Ion Storm, Arkane Studios, Irrational Games and so on. People like Warren Spector and Ken Levine continued to revolutionize video games with stuff like Deus Ex and System Shock 2 (which was created by both Irrational Games and Looking Glass). System Shock 2 gave us one of the best horror games of all time. It didn't rely on cheap jump scares or big enemies to terrify players. Instead it used the game's lore, recorders, great level design and clever writing to make players feel uncomfortable.

It was first proper First Person Shooter-RPG hybrid that inspired Deus Ex franchise. Origin Systems was also responsible for making computer games more mainstream with games like Wing Commander 3 and 4. The latter was the first computer game that was shown in theaters for advertisement. These games pushed high end PCs to their limits.

Origin Systems was bought by EA in late 90s and was closed in 2004 (as most studios bought by the company). Today, even after their death, their employees and their games continue to inspire modern game industry. Without Origin you have no Dues Ex, no System Shock, no Thief, no Skyrim, no Witcher, no Fallout, no Diablo, no Duke Nukem 3D, no Dishonored and so on.

Key People:

Richard Garriott (Founder of Origin and creator of Ultima franchise)

Chris Roberts (Wing Commander, Strike Commander, Freelancer, Privateer, Starlancer)

Paul Neurath (Ultima: Underworld, Thief, System Shock)

Ken Levine (System Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project's writing, Bioshock)

Warren Spector (The creator of Deus Ex franchise)

and so on.

Some Studios that came from Orign:

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Who do you think is the most influential company of all time?

The studio that created all the following gems

Microsoft........MS-DOS, Windows, DirectX, D3D. Long long history with PCs.

If MS so much as sneezes, we feel it.

@finalstar2007: what makes them the most influential of all time ?

@Cloud_imperium: dude where is Chris Avellone ? -__-

@Cloud_imperium: What the heck? There's a forklift in U7:Black Gate! LOL

IIRC That town is the starting town Trinsic, where you meet the kid Spark.

I'll stick with Nintendo. They pioneered multiple genres, created multiple game conventions, and created so many games that still serve as design templates for the industry today, and which are still considered to be among the greatest games ever made. I do not think there is anyone who can argue that Nintendo does not belong on a list of most influential developers.

They're owned by Sony.

I'd say it's still Nintendo. So much of what's now considered to be staples, both in software and in hardware, was pioneered by Nintendo.

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

That makes them consistent, undoubtedly, but the most influential? Not by a long shot. Not even in contention for that title.

Nintendo was also influential but if we look at today's Console gaming then it's a lot similar to streamlined PC Gaming. Origin, not only revolutionized computer gaming but also modern console gaming through RPGs, First Person, 3D Gaming, Stealth, Interactivity etc.

Good choice.

Nintendo for sure. They are the ones who revived the industry and made it what it is today. They pioneered hardware, input devices, game genres, and influenced so many developers. I don't think they are that great these days, but I will always have respect for what they did. Not only did they pave the way, they put up the signs showing everyone else how to get there.

Nintendo and Sega. Modern 3d games owe way too much to Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time in terms of the bare bones basic of how you control these games to how we handle basic explanation of rule sets in these games, in terms of how we teach by doing.

Throw in their 2d era impact, it's not close. Sega's technical achievements, especially with some of the arcade stuff is also insane.

@finalstar2007: Drugs are bad for you.

Shinji Mikami the father of survival horror.

You can't forget Nintendo as well. Even Sony and Microsoft executives have a tremendous amount of respect for them and what they did for the industry but fans of said fanbase will always deny it and place the ones they are biased to on a pedestal.

Easily Nintendo

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

You almost succeeded in making me laugh.

I'll go with Nintendo even though most of my favorite games are in some way connected to Origin.

Microsoft, overall. Not necessarily for their games, but for their other contributions to technology.

For their games, Nintendo.

Sega, Nintendo, MS.... hmm, seems I missing one.. Oh yeah, R*.... Any other questions? :P

The question is about the most influential developer though

Origin wasnt responsible for any of those bolded.

CLOAD did RPGs before, First Person Perspective was done back in the 70s though Ultima Underworld was much more advanced, 3D gaming was old news at the time (Ultima's implementation of Texturing was pretty new, but even that, I am not entirely sure).

The first wolfenstein game existed long before Thief.

Doesnt change the fact that MS is a developer. Even if that development was technology ;)

But if you are just talking about influencing through games and factor out the rest. Nintendo easily.

That first person perspective played like slides. I was talking about actual 3D environments. And yeah, I am aware that Wolfenstein came out before Thief. Never said otherwise.

So Origin then ?

Pretty sure I said Nintendo.

See, Origin is spelled O R I G I N

Nintendo is spelled N I N T E N D O

The two words are admittedly highly similar, and one can easily be confused for the other, so I understand why or how you would make that mistake.

Didnt ion storm do one game and then close cause it really sucked? Anyways, I think I would say Nintendo tops origin in influence. They pretty much standardized how many 3d games work today

Ion Storm made Dominion 3, Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible Wars, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Anachronox and Daikatana.

Daikatana was received poorly. Deus Ex is considered as one of the greatest PC games of all time. Invisible was a dumbed down sequel. Anachronox and Thief: Deadly Shadows were received well. Deadly Shadows wasn't as good as first two games but it was still good and finished the trilogy really well.

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

Good one,how did they influence anyone?

It's probably a mobile developer, unfortunately.

It seems like Nintendo is winning by a long shot. I agree with Nintendo being the most influential.

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

My choice is Nintendo for reasons already specified.

I didnt realize they did Deus Ex (love those games), I think I was thinking about Daikatana

@MonsieurX said:

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

Good one,how did they influence anyone?

They had an influence on finalstar when he made that god-awful post

They were, slidelike. But Ultima wasnt hardly the one that moved away from that, it was done a few years before actually. I will just leave this here,

Ultima Underworld was pretty innovative in its use of texturing, and immersive sim thing it had going for it, though.

The reason I brought up Wolfenstein is because Castle Wolfenstein was the first Stealth game I can think of ;)

Edit: Wizardry 1 was considered to be the pioneer of squad/party based gameplay. Ultima didnt get actual parties until Ultima 3. And Ultima 6 had party schedules as well, but that was still a Ultima game, so your point still remains on that aspect ;)

And a righteous AMEN to the Naughty GODS, maker of 2 top 5 GOATS..

@finalstar2007 said:

The studio that created all the following gems

@finalstar2007: Ah the one that created no new genres or concepts but rather a couple good games.

@jg4xchamp: Modern 3d games came out and were well developed well prior to sega and nintendos implementation. All they did was have 2 wonderful hits.

id software of course.

They founded the building bricks of first person shooters. They inovated with ground breaking graphics engines that were impresive visually AND fast. They pushed the multiplayer feature to the forefront and coined the deathmatch principle. They created smooth scrooling platformers on PC, previously only available on consoles. They are directly responsible for the existence of Valve, Half Life and Steam (Gabe Newell started making games when Doom convinced him that games are the future; Half Life borrowed the Quake engine; Steam exists as an evolution of all this). They are also directly responsible for the existence of Unreal series and the Unreal engine(Epic and Tim Sweeney were directly influenced by id and actively started to make a game that could trump Doom, then Doom 2, then Quake and so on. This led to Unreal 1 and Unreal Tournament and the unreal engine which was the starting point for hundreds of games throughout the years. How many games would not have existed or would have been something else entirely if not for the Unreal engine)

I'd interpret "influential" to mean "impressed the most upon the most number of people as developers or gamers".

Nintendo dominates in this regard. They have several franchises with tens of millions in sales and have been inspiring game developers around the world for decades.

SEGA

The basically pioneered the model for 3d game design....

"Virtua Racing is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, for laying the foundations for subsequent 3D racing games and for popularizing 3D polygonal graphics among a wider audience.^[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Racing

First to pioneer online console games.........

"A common misconception^{[citation needed]} about online console gaming is that the industry began with the introduction of theXbox Live network on November 15, 2002.^[1] However, there were a number of predecessors which made a run at console gaming but due to a multitude of problems they failed to make a significant impact on the console gaming industry.^[2]

The first online initiative, TheSega Net Work System was a network service in Japan for people using the Sega Mega Drive. Debuting in 1990"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_console_gaming

Developed Shnmue with set the standard for Open world 3D video games doing many of the FIRSTS for things in the most popular games like GTAV, MGSV, The Witcher 3 still copy even til this day...........

"Shenmue consists of open-world 3D environments interspersed with brawlerbattles and quick time events, and features a level of detail considered unprecedented at the time, including a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and various minigames."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenmue

They get little to no credit, but they influenced more with their development and technology than any other single developer, as far as the most influential game developers go any other answer is wrong.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. These existed on PC years ago on one hand and Shenmue is a piece of shit game that absolutely didn't influence or set jack shit. I mean come on. Let's not rewrite history right here on gamespot system wars

@cassar31:

Yup... I'll leave this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTI8Tl_SEdM

Rewrite history?

lol ok buddy tell me what game came out that did all this before Shenmue?

"Shenmue consists of open-world 3D environments interspersed with brawlerbattles and quick time events, and features a level of detail considered unprecedented at the time, including a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and variousminigames."

These are FIRSTS in the world of video games. Pipe down PC fanboy, just because you don't like something doesn't give you the right to object with nothing but BS.

I degress tho, tell me the "PC" game that introduced this model, with those things underlined, in an open world 3D games before Shenmue? And once you realize that you won't find any game to fill those shoes go ahead and crawl back under that bridge you came from.

Edit:

Oh and also included full voice acting throughout the entire game and not just text scrips...go!

Maybe you should take a look at Outcast, also from 1999. And Omikron, also from 1999. And large, detailed open world games existed eons ago in the form of Ultima, Elder Scrolls or Might and Magic. The one thing we can correctly atribute to Shenmue are Quick Time Events. The cancer of modern game design. Rest assured, we would have the exact same gaming world if Shenmue never existed.

@cassar31:

Yeah, I thought so.

rofl. Thought couldn't be further away from you. Regardless, i gave you multiple examples and thats your comeback? GTA existed before Shenmue also using open world design, but the perspective was top down. GTA 3 merely translated the old gameplay into 3d. I would argue Driver from 99 was the more obvious influence. Shemnue is a horrible playing game that at best had interesting ideas, but it's a disgustingly horrible game otherwise that fans like to inflate with hot air when in reality nobody cared or copied that game

You gave me multiple examples of shit.

None of the games you listed did what shenmue did as a game, none. do you under stand what the world unprecedented means dub? Of course not, with the pathetic examples you gave me it's clear you can't comprehend what setting the standard or being first to do something in games like this is.

I didn't say it was for first open world game but it was the first of it's kind and it set the standard with elements that no other Open world 3D games had before it.

and features a level of detail considered unprecedented at the time, including a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and variousminigames."

I checked you pathetic examples which failed miserably and see how desperate you are calling Shenmue horrible but then listing that shit examples all of which didn't fulfill the requirements of doing the things I asked for which again the most popular games of today like GTA, MGSV and The Witcher 3 still copy.

You seem to be extremely delusional and stupid. The examples i gave you are far from shit. Outcast is an amazing experience, an open world game before open world games were a thing and is a very special game that does completely unique things, gameplay wise. A lot of unique things. If you'd take an actual minute to know what you're talking about you would see that. And unlike Shenmue, Outcast plays extremely well, it controls and behaves like any modern 3rd person game.

Omikron does a lot of things atributed to Shenmue, before Shemmue appeared. Large, lively city. Street Fighter style combat. Transporation. FPS sequences. It combines multiple genres into one game.

Believing GTA, MGS 5 or Witcher copy that steeming pile of shit that Shenmue was, is beyond retarded.