Game Developer's Best of 2022: The top game developers of the year
Welcome to Game Developer's End of Year coverage for 2022! Wherein, GD staff and contributors share our highlights for the year, starting right here in our game developers of the year list. Our criteria for picking these teams and individuals was simple: when tasked with thinking up the most memorable and impressive developers of the year, this is who came to mind and stayed with us as we put the year behind us in context. Without further ado, here are the teams we felt most deserved the spotlight:
We wanted to use this section to highlight the resilience and courage of developers in Ukraine who've been affected by the Russian invasion.
Many creators in the region issued statements of defiance in the wake of the invasion–which saw Russia invade Ukraine with aid from neighboring country Belarus—with studios such as Frogwares and GSC Game World calling on the game industry at large to support them after their world was turned upside down.
"As of today, the Russian Federation has officially declared war on Ukraine. Our country woke up with the sounds of explosions and weapons fire, but is ready to defend its freedom and independence, for it remains strong and ready for anything," said Stalker developer GSC Game World, which is based in Kyiv, earlier this year.
Since then, many studios and developers with a footprint in Ukraine have worked hard to support staff in the region, sometimes choosing to delay titles and redistributed funds to prioritize the safety of employees and their families—in some cases helping them relocate to more remote regions.
Devs were also forced to take Valve to task after the company halted Steam payments to developers in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, resulting in Ukrainian developers being deprived of
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