Obsidian Entertainment - Top 10 Developers @ Gamasutra

Gamasutra has kicked up their Top 10 developers for 2012, based on the criteria "these are the developers and studios that left their mark on 2012 -- the ones that the industry will be watching in the years ahead", rather than shipped games or sales volume. Obsidian made the cut:

If Double Fine paved the dusty road between game players and game developers, it was Obsidian that turned it into a two-way street.

Double Fine proved that crowdfunding game development is viable, but it was Obsidian that made its fans feel like they were part of the team. Through constant updates, fan forums, and a constant back and forth feedback loop, the team's "Project Eternity" feels like a crowd-developed game.

More importantly, Obsidian represents a developer quickly adapting and thriving in what is a rapidly changing game development world. The studio had been struggling with bad deals and draining triple-A work, but thanks to crowdfunding, it may have reinvented itself while playing to its core strengths.

If the studio is able to sustain with Project Eternity, and even have a follow-up developed in a similar way, it will have proven that a decently-sized studio can survive and thrive by independently making the games it wants to make, for fans that want to play them.