Favorite game developers

There is a thread on NeoGAF with discussion about ranking your favorite video games developers.  Here is the post I made on the thread.

1. Valve - Half-Life 2 is my favorite game of all time. Everything Valve touches is great, and I really admire the way Gaben runs the company.
2. CD Projekt Red - I actually consider these guys to be the European arm of Valve. The Witcher remains my favorite cRPG.
3. FROM Software - Dark Souls was a revelation to me. It simply perfects everything that a game is supposed to be. It communicates story and its world through gameplay like no other game before it.
4. GSC World - If these guys had polished S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and delivered their vision in its entirety, their FPS would have been a monumental achievement. There are parts of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that surpass all other FPS I've ever played. Truly a flawed masterpiece.
5. 4A Games - The successor to GSC World. Metro 2033 was a thinking's man shooter that unfortunately suffered from too much of that European jank. It looked amazing, and its sequel Last Light is the best looking game currently available on any platform.
6. Bethesda - These guys are on my list because of Fallout 3 and because they allowed Obsidian to make New Vegas. I don't really care much for their Elder Scrolls series.
7. Irrational - IMO nobody does atmospheric western shooters like these guys. I'm glad that their shooters are ambitious even if sometimes they don't deliver on the goals that they set out to explore
8. Firaxis - They are the drug dealers of the gaming world.
9. Everyone else