Video game development party

A video game development party can be one of two parties: a first-party or third-party developer.

First-party developer

In the video game industry, a first-party developer is a developer that is part of a company that manufactures a video game console, and develops exclusively for it. First-party developers may either use the name of the company itself (like Nintendo), have a specific division name (like Sony's Polyphony Digital), or have formerly been an independent studio before being acquired by the console manufacturer, such as Rare or Naughty Dog. However a First Party Game is a title that needs only to have been published by the manufacturer of the console and ownership of the property is unimportant. Examples of externally produced First Party Games are The Gears of War Series, Alan Wake and Dance Central Series.

Second-party developer

The term "second-party" developer is a common misnomer used (erroneously) in place of subsidiary. It is colloquially used in reference to a type of non-owned third-party developer that specializes in development for a particular platform. Some of these studios may have exclusive publishing agreements or other business relationships with a particular manufacturer while maintaining independence. An example of this is Insomniac Games, which, until recently, had been developing games solely for Sony's PlayStation platforms despite being an entirely independent studio. Another example is Game Freak, which mainly develops the Nintendo-exclusive Pokémon game series. Studios like Insomniac and Game Freak are very rare in the video game industry because without the direct support of the platform owner, it is very risky financially to be developing solely for a particular platform. Other studios that have been called "second-party" may be wholly owned and funded by their parent company, but these are all considered subsidiaries.

Third-party developer

A third-party developer is a developer not directly tied to the primary product that a consumer is using. The primary product may be software or hardware. In the video game industry, many third-parties publish the games they develop, such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Bethesda Softworks, Activision, and Sega, while others only develop games to be published under other companies, such as Raven Software. Furthermore, third-party developers can be owned by larger third-parties, such as the relationship between Neversoft (creator of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series) and Activision. Because of this, much larger third-parties that also publish their own games are typically referred to as publishing houses even though they do develop many of their own games internally.

Another example is a developer that is a separate legal entity from the software being used, usually providing an external software tool that helps organize or use information for the primary software product. Such tools could be a database, Voice over IP, or add-in interface software, among others.

In addition, accessories like headsets can be referred as third party headsets, meaning that the company of the headset is different from the console company. For example, Turtle Beach is a third party headset company to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.