The top 50 developers of 2011: 30 to 21

Considering the thousands of publishers and developers who have released mobile games during 2010, the task of picking out the relatively small number of 50 as being 'top' may seem to be a Sisyphean exercise.

Yet, that process provides a wealth of useful information, while the rigor of directly comparing companies forces us to think about what we mean by the term 'top developers'.

In terms of the this ranking, we used metrics such as sales performance, critical acclaim of releases, innovation in terms of business approach, and the number and range of titles released during 2010.

The full list - produced in conjunction with mobile cross platform SDK and infrastructure company Scoreloop - will be revealed daily in the Top 50 Developers of 2011 section.

30. GameHouse
New entry

From an organisational point of view, GameHouse, which is RealNetworks' casual and mobile gaming division, had a tricky 2010. It lost staff, is shutting down its Mr Goodliving studio, and remains part of a bigger declining business, despite the expectation it will be spun out. Nevertheless, in terms of mobile games, there were bright spots. Brightest was its licence to port App Store hit Doodle Jump to non-iOS platforms; the 99c game came to Ovi Store, Android Market and Java, priced much higher of course. GameHouse also made the most of its access to media brands such as NCIS, and gaming IP like Cake Mania, Sally's Salon and its Playman franchise.

29. Media.Vision
New entry

Developed by Japanese outfit Media.Vision and published by Square Enix, Chaos Rings was one of the first iOS games to demonstrate how high the quality bar could be pushed. Given similar build up to new Final Fantasy game, Square Enix also pleased the industry with a premium price point; $13 for iPhone and $16 for iPad, which have since been maintained. The reason is there's no comparable experience, something demonstrated by the critical acclaim; it was the year's tenth best reviewed game. Not bad going for Media.Vision, which despite being highly experienced, was working on its first iPhone game.

28. Crescent Moon
Up 12 places

A strong performance during 2010 sees tiny US studio Crescent Moon rise up the PocketGamer.biz listings. Set up as a specialist Unity developer in the RPG genre, it's always worked in collaboration with other studios, allowing it to work on many more games than it would be able to on its own. Continuing in the RPG genre, the well regarded Rimelands was produced with Finnish developer Diceworks, while expansive free roamer Aralon was made with US start up Galoobeth Games. And despite being launched into the Christmas rush at $7, it's gone on to sell over 40,000 copies, building a loyal fanbase in the process.

27. Get Set Games
New entry

One of the class of 2009 iPhone developers who moved from other areas of the games industry, Canadian studio Get Set Games' business only took off when it switched its third release Mega Jump from 99c to freemium. Players can now buy Mega Points to unlock new powers and levels quicker than by gameplay alone. Following in the trail of Doodle Jump, both in terms of gameplay and constant updates - 12 to-date - it's gone on to clock up 10 million downloads, mainly on iOS but with the Android version creeping out before the end of 2010.

26. Digital Chocolate
Down 6 places

One of the original innovators in mobile games, Digital Chocolate's approach to the decline of the carrier market has been marked. While it's released plenty of iPhone ports, and gaining 100 million downloads in the process, in 2010 it moved its focus to Facebook social gaming as App Store prices collapsed. The result is a company that's still active on mobile - releasing for Android, bada and Windows Phone 7 - but brings new IP such as MMA Fighter and Millionaire City to Facebook before rolling it out more widely. Indeed, it now labels itself a virtual goods game company.

25. Ideaworks Game Studio
Down 21 places

One of those studios that spends the vast majority of its time working semi-secretly with big publishers on big, complex projects, UK outfit Ideaworks made one of 2010's high profile iOS releases in the shape of the Square Enix-published Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. And continuing its close co-operation with NaturalMotion, it released the sequel to the excellent and multi-million selling Backbreaker tackle box game. We also reckon it worked on the additional maps for Call of Duty: Zombies and the iPad version but, of course, Activision's not confirmed this.

24. Pocket Gems
New entry

There were plenty of companies quick into social iPhone gaming, but a couple of years on, the vanguard have proved themselves with numbers, and that means millions of downloads. With over 18 million downloads of its Tap games, and the recent injection of $5 million in venture funding, San Francisco start up Pocket Gems seems to be well on the way to building out its userbase. Indeed, boosted by the September release of Tap Zoo, a game that's been firmly in the US iPhone top grossing top 10 since launch, it now says it's generating more than $2 million in monthly revenue thanks to the sale of virtual items.

23. Polarbit
New entry

One of those hard working studios with a low profile, because much of the work it carries out is published by others, Swedish outfit Polarbit was likely the most cross platform mobile developer of the past 12 months. Thanks to its internal FUSE technology, it released content on iOS, Android, webOS, bada and Ovi, as well as the Zeebo emerging markets console and Intel's AppUp store. Working with the likes of EA, Activision, Konami and Bulkypix, it also collaborated with fellow Swedish developer Pixelbite over highly regarded racers Reckless Racing and Raging Thunder.

22. NimbleBit
New entry

While many developers could have told you freemium was the future of mobile gaming in 2010, it was studios such as ngmoco and Glu that took the decision to rebase their entire businesses on the model that actually proved it. Another example was small US outfit NimbleBit. Having released typical indie fare such as arty iPad co-op game Omium, it staked its future on Pocket Frogs, a freemium title that did something different with the social, collectible and customisation levers such games demand to be deeply integrated in order for success to strike. Four millions downloads proved NimbleBit had pitched it right.

21. id Software
Down 12 places

After a year in which id Software successfully mined its back catalog for titles to bring to iPhone, 2010 forced it to look to the future rather than the past. Turn-based series DOOM RPG returned to provide another retro gaming experience, but the big event was Rage, which also went under the sub-title Mutant Bash TV. Certainly one of the best looking games on the platform, and one that surprised with its 99c/$1.99 price point depending if you wanted normal or HD graphics, nevertheless its critical and commercial success was qualified by its on-rails controls and repetitive high score gameplay.

You can see the full Top 50 Developers of 2011 list as it's revealed here.