2DBoy, ZeptoLab and Media Vision rank high in Develop 100

Celebrating what's pitched as the 100 most successful game development studios from around the globe, this year's Develop 100 has a distinctly mobile feel.

In all, more than half of the top ten developers on the list headed up by Super Mario Galaxy 2 studio Nintendo EAD Tokyo are mobile based, with World of Goo's 2D Boy named as 2011's most successful mobile studio.

Going for Goo

Indeed, 2D Boy is the second best developer on the planet according to the list, which is based on Metacritic data.

In its summary of the top five developers on the list, Develop praised 2D Boy for serving as the "perfect example of how Apple's iOS platforms have served small teams."

"World of Goo, in which players pull and distort black sticky gloop to solve puzzles, naturally found a home in late 2010 on iPad and its large touchscreen," the site adds.

"It's one of the highest rated games for the device ever. This year, the game debuted on iPhone, too, again to rapturous reviews."

Cutting up the charts

Just one place behind is Cut the Rope developer ZeptoLab, which also made PockerGamer.biz's top 50 developers list back in February, coming in at #17.

Naturally, Develop highlights the strong sales enjoyed by Cut the Rope  downloads hitting 1 million within its first 10 days but the site also offers praise for publisher Chillingo.

"You could argue that ZeptoLab's place on the list has as much to do with Chillingo as the IP it published," Develop states.

"Although the idea of a publisher for a platform that encourages such free self-publishing may seem like anathema to indie developers, Chillingo's efforts have helped turn Cut the Rope into a big cultural hit for iOS."

It's a particularly pertinent point, given the current move by some mobile studios to distance themselves from the traditional publishing model.

Other mobile studios placing within the top 20, in order, include: Media Vision, 1337 Game Design, The Coding Monkeys, Rockstar Leeds, One Man Left, Jean-Francois Geyelin, Fishlabs, Matt Rix, Firaxis Games, Dicework Games, Rocketcat Games and Crescent Moon games. 

The list in full can be viewed here.