Valve chosen as the most desirable place to work in game developer survey

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The sky is blue, the grass is green and Valve is a popular destination for game makers looking for work: So declares the IGDA, which, in what may be the least-surprising news of the month, revealed that game developers would rather work for the Half-Life and Steam developer than anywhere else—including for themselves.

The list is a mish-mash of massive publishers and individual studios, but the sentiment is clear enough and the top four are obvious choices. I'm a little surprised that Ubisoft is ranked so highly and as a PC guy, I'd also drop Nintendo and Naughty Dog from the list in favor of CD Projekt Red and Eidos Montreal, or maybe Larian; Remedy, and Frozenbyte could also easily make the list. But it's not at all surprising that Valve is Numero Uno; it's maybe not quite the paradise it's sometimes made out to be, but it sure sounds better than most .

The rankings in full, as provided by Gamespot :

1. Valve

2. My own company

3. Activision Blizzard

4. BioWare

5. Ubisoft

6. Current employer

7. Nintendo

8. Naughty Dog

9. Double Fine

10. Bethesda Game Studios

Any egregious oversights?

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Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.