6. Take Two

Year formed: 1993

Headquarters: New York

Studios: 2K Czech (Brno, Czech Rep.); 2K Boston (Quincy, Mass.); 2K Australia (Canberra, Australia); 2K Marin (Novato, Calif); Cat Daddy Games (Bellevue, Wash.); Firaxis Games (Hunt Valley, Md.); Kush Games (Camarillo, Calif.); PAM Development (Paris, France); Rockstar Leeds (Leeds, U.K.); Rockstar North (Edinburgh); Rockstar San Diego; Rockstar Toronto; Rockstar Vancouver; Visual Concepts (San Rafael, Calif.)

EA's bid for a hostile takeover loomed over Take Two for much of the year, bringing with it much speculation and unrest, but as of press time, no deal has been made.

The spooky BioShock and cash cow Grand Theft Auto IV generated this publisher's best sales and critical reception this year. GTA IV alone doubled Take Two's profits in their second-quarter results, and has sold 8.5 million-plus units to date.

A new casual games label, 2K Play, is set to absorb the Global Star Software label and will brand the already-successful Carnival Games series.

And while Take Two released fewer games last year than the prior year of our study, the company's average Metacritic review score increased by a good seven percent.

Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV