Kairosoft is the developer for Game Dev Story, a business-building game for smartphones that finds the player trying to navigate a small game studio to greatness through the rough waters of the industry. Oddly enough, Kairosoft is a small developer themselves, who have spent the last twenty years or so putting out simple, colorful games in Japan. Now that they have a popular stateside release, it might be worth your time to take a look at this hidden developer and their stable of games. IGN has the story.
Small developers can do some amazing things because they’re not tied to big money or huge departments with 200 programmers and such. They can take chances, and turn the company around on a dime if something new comes up. The way small companies have taken to smartphone games is a very exciting trend in game development. Their success even more so.
It’s worth watching these companies. Even Blizzard started small.