The gaming industry works in weird ways. It could be the same for any industry that has a process of "The Art and the Artist". Many games in the 90s may not have had revolutionary graphics or ray tracing phenomenon, but quality content stood the test of time.
Most of that credit goes to the people at the game development studios who were instrumental in providing some of the memorable experiences in the decade. But, although the games stood the test of time and nostalgia, some of those studios found it difficult to survive the onslaught of technical advancement and evolution.
7 Westwood Studios
Founded in 1985, Westwood studios were the masters of real-time strategy games in the mid-90s and were a monopoly of sorts with the games they developed. Some of their franchises, notably the Dune and the Command and Conquer Series, including the Tiberian Sagaand the Red Alert spin-offs, stand the test of time.
Despite being successful, Electronic Arts later absorbed the studio, aiming to take their gaming ideas to a much larger stage. However, things didn't work out as planned, and their in-house franchises could never recreate the magic of the past. It is also noteworthy that the studios found themselves a spot in the Guinness book of world records for selling more than 10 million copies of Command & Conquer worldwide.
6 Maxis Entertainment
If simulation games are art, Maxis Games were and are still masters at it. In the mid-90s, Maxis games broke the gaming world with a series of simulation games that had no real objectives but let the players spend countless hours building a city, a family, or just diving into the city they built.
Known predominantly for their Sims and SimCity games, Maxis had larger ideas to integrate them into one universe before Electronic Arts thought it would be better at their hands. The studio continues to develop the SimCity games and the Sims franchise today and are still revered for being kings at simulation games.
5 Ensemble Studios
To talk about the 90s gaming period and not honor the Age of Empires series is a sin deserving of infernal torment in a gaming hell. Every kid growing up playing games on their PC had the experience of playing at least one of the franchise's installments, if not all, and the brains behind the colossal franchise were Ensemble Studios.
Before handing over its IP rights to Microsoft studios and riding away into the sunset, the studios had churned out 9 age of empire games (expansions included) and Halo Wars.
4 Sierra Entertainment
The gaming industry was going through many changes in the Mac and PC line of things, and many developers were getting new ideas rolling with new game engines and experiments in the gameplay. However, if there was a constant that remained throughout the 90s, it was the branding of Sierra Entertainment on every gaming box available in stores.
The studios were one of the leading giants in game publishing and development. Some of their significant games include the Ceasar franchise, Zeus series, and Pinball 3D, and they are known for publishing the first Half-life game.
3 Bullfrog Productions
Bullfrog productions had their wild run in the mid-90s with some of its finest tycoon games. It could be said that the development studios actually paved the way forward for simulation tycoon games on a more significant level.
Despite having prior experience in different genres, their THEME series of games, including Theme Park and Theme Hospital, catapulted them to the higher ranks in the video game industry. Although the studios merged with Electronic Arts (A pattern that is very much visible in the list), several of its key people broke off into several different companies, one of which (two point studios) took the old route with its simulation tycoon games like Two Point Campus and Two Point Hospital
2 Valve
Before Valve became the pioneer in setting up a legal platform for digital game downloads, they were the frontiers in making a game that would be remembered and relevant two decades later. Founded in 1996 as a game development company, Gabe Newell (a former employee at Microsoft) paved the way for modern gaming through the cult classic - Half-Life.
As days passed, the studio developed a platform to launch its second installment called Steam. However, as the internet boomed and gamers chose digital downloads to wait in queue at a nearby GameStop, Steam grew as the lead digital game distributor around the globe. Since then, Valve has not been concentrating on game development much, and fans still believe there is a hidden Half-life game deep inside Valve's Vault.
1 Microprose
It wouldn't be harsh if the current era of gamers comprehends the existence of Microprose, let alone it being a game development studio. Founded in the 80s, Microprose rose to prominence in the early 90s and remained in the top 10 with their most celebrated game release of all time - the Civilization series.
With Sid Meir serving as one of the potent key people in the studio, most of their tycoon games had his name upfront as branding to the games in which they tasted high-level success. Apart from Civilization, the studios were also the brains behind RailroadTycoon and F- series flight simulators.