KillerMan91
Member
Sony. They make a lot of quality titles but even more I appreciate the creative freedom they give to their developers. Could you imagine Microsoft or Activision funding games like Tokyo Jungle and Heavy Rain? Noope.
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Best Video Game Publisher
- Thread starter rouken
- Start date
There are several Pubs I think are doing a great job right now.
EA.
Despite being a pretty big influence on what is wrong with video games at this time, EA still deserves a mention.
Even though a lot of it's releases don't interest me at all, their partners program was a cool initative. I know a lot of those EA partner games were released with little to no marketing support, and nearly every game spawned from this initiative was a commercial bomb. But at least games like Brütal Legend, Shadows of the Damned & Bulletstorm got made.
Next to that they have a couple of very strong first party studios. I don't care for the sports games but most of them seem to be excellent. DICE is hammering out amazing tech and games, Criterion is on a roll with the NFS franchise and the Dead Space team has proven they know how to make a great action horror game.
Take Two
Great and steady output of quality products. The Rockstar games, Borderlands, Civilisation, etc...
Square Enix
For me, they won some points by picking up True Crime:Sleeping Dogs and making sure PC gamers are not left in the cold.
Sony
Their first party output is unrivalled. From blockbuster games to more creative/commercially risky games.
EA.
Despite being a pretty big influence on what is wrong with video games at this time, EA still deserves a mention.
Even though a lot of it's releases don't interest me at all, their partners program was a cool initative. I know a lot of those EA partner games were released with little to no marketing support, and nearly every game spawned from this initiative was a commercial bomb. But at least games like Brütal Legend, Shadows of the Damned & Bulletstorm got made.
Next to that they have a couple of very strong first party studios. I don't care for the sports games but most of them seem to be excellent. DICE is hammering out amazing tech and games, Criterion is on a roll with the NFS franchise and the Dead Space team has proven they know how to make a great action horror game.
Take Two
Great and steady output of quality products. The Rockstar games, Borderlands, Civilisation, etc...
Square Enix
For me, they won some points by picking up True Crime:Sleeping Dogs and making sure PC gamers are not left in the cold.
Sony
Their first party output is unrivalled. From blockbuster games to more creative/commercially risky games.
TacticalFox88
Banned
And that's what separates Sony from the others. They want a profit AND to give developers creative freedom. How else could you explain TLG being in development hell for so long?
Any other company would've axed that shit years ago.
PinkCrayon
Member
Take Two and the Eidos parts of Square.
Bobs Big Boy
Member
Take Two does a lot right. They had me at XCom.
This thread makes a pretty good case for Take-Two being the best third-party publisher of this generation. Borderlands 2, Civ V, the NBA 2K series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, most of Rockstar's output and BioShock are all very large, critically acclaimed games, and really, they don't publish too much besides. Even Spec Ops: The Line, despite being kind of a mediocre game, is interesting, and if it were published by Sony it'd be "Important and brave," instead of merely interesting.
I want to say Interplay, but then Van Buren comes to mind, and some other shitty things that happened. So I'm going to say Valve because of Half Life and Portal games, and, not any less importantly, because they have Wolpaw and Faliszek. I loathe to say Square Enix because they had nothing to with Thief, Hitman or Deus Ex, so maybe Eidos?
After Omitting Valve and CDPR. I would say Sony and Take-Two are probably the best at innovating, being successful in their risks, and willingness to put out innovative games without being slaves to a few big annual franchises. I also think Bethesda is becoming a force in the publishing world. They are started in amass a pool of talent, and have had a few solid releases that weren't from the game studio themselves.
Sony easily for me. Since I really don't give a crap about sales I have to say playstation having to struggle this gen has been a blessing in disguise. It made sony work harder than ever before and build one hell of a first party line up. I think the results of this is going to be more evident next gen. So excited!
EA and Ubi takes second place together. Some solid franchises from both this gen
EA and Ubi takes second place together. Some solid franchises from both this gen
Tallshortman
Member
Sony for me (new IP's, interesting and diverse games, constantly pushing the envelope technically, gives their studios the time and funds to do what they want). Then EA, they just make games I like, support the PC, and actually do take some risks on new IPs. Nintendo is probably great if you're working for them but their games don't interest me that much anymore. Activision dead fucking last. They're so hilariously dead last to me. Bethesda is also near the bottom because I'm been burned by them too many times with game breaking bugs.
1. Sony
2. EA
3. Take 2
4. SE (Sleepy Dogs, Deus Ex)
5. Ubi
1. Sony
2. EA
3. Take 2
4. SE (Sleepy Dogs, Deus Ex)
5. Ubi
they publish all those games on steam silly!
malingenie
Member
Everybody love Everybody
revolverjgw
Member
Sony, huge quantity, high quality, wide variety, always pushing new IP.
I've been kinda feeling Namco Bandai lately. Because they actually seem committed to releasing quality RPGs in the US (Dark Souls, Graces F, Xillia and Ni No Kuni).
Other than that, definitely Nintendo, even more so now that they have Monolith under their wing. NoA is horrible though.
SEGA had a much better generation than last, released a lot of great new IP titles like Valkyria and Binary Domain. Hell they even managed to bring Sonic back from the abyss. I just really wish they continued with working with both tri-Ace and Platinum, since it lead to a lot of goodness.
Other than that, definitely Nintendo, even more so now that they have Monolith under their wing. NoA is horrible though.
SEGA had a much better generation than last, released a lot of great new IP titles like Valkyria and Binary Domain. Hell they even managed to bring Sonic back from the abyss. I just really wish they continued with working with both tri-Ace and Platinum, since it lead to a lot of goodness.
'Oh, it'll just self itself, but seemingly never fucking does' approach is fucking atrocious on Sony's part. As much as I dislike Microsoft's blanket co/marketing with Halo 4, it was in my face constantly, I was never not aware this game was coming out and how amazing it is.
Hell, there was a glowing nightline piece the other night on how Halo 4 was the game of black Friday. Microsoft affectively marketed the living fuck out of H4 and deserve every sale they get, unlike Sony who'll just leave it to chance and Robot Chicken.
Nintendo. The overall quality of their output is unprecedented. The published (and made) the best game of all time, the current GOTG, the current GOTY and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Their best games are not only Nintendo's best, they're the best ever. And their A+ list dwarves every other company in existence. Beat that
(imo ofc)
(imo ofc)
Nightstick11
Banned
(no particular order)
Nintendo:
Nintendo's first-party offerings are simply unmatchable. They hit a gamer's every want and desire. Even just a casual glance at their list of studios blows Sony and Microsoft's first-party studios out of the water: EAD Group 1, EAD Group 3, EAD Tokyo collections, Retro, and especially Intelligent Systems and HAL Laboratory. Definitely not surprised that it looks like it could sustain a system on first-party output alone.
Take Two Interactive
Out of the Big Three of the third-party studios, Take Two is the only one in my opinion that isn't "evil". They don't destroy developers, they don't run franchises into the ground, they foster innovative games and take a lot of risks (RDR, LA Noire). Their output is consistently high-quality, and the NBA 2K series in particular is fantastic. GTA and Red Dead are also top-notch
Valve
I count them for Steam alone. I love Steam. You should love Steam too.
Nintendo:
Nintendo's first-party offerings are simply unmatchable. They hit a gamer's every want and desire. Even just a casual glance at their list of studios blows Sony and Microsoft's first-party studios out of the water: EAD Group 1, EAD Group 3, EAD Tokyo collections, Retro, and especially Intelligent Systems and HAL Laboratory. Definitely not surprised that it looks like it could sustain a system on first-party output alone.
Take Two Interactive
Out of the Big Three of the third-party studios, Take Two is the only one in my opinion that isn't "evil". They don't destroy developers, they don't run franchises into the ground, they foster innovative games and take a lot of risks (RDR, LA Noire). Their output is consistently high-quality, and the NBA 2K series in particular is fantastic. GTA and Red Dead are also top-notch
Valve
I count them for Steam alone. I love Steam. You should love Steam too.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Retro Studios due to the fact that they haven't disappointed me yet.
Ventilaator
Banned
Every game I own that says Atlus on it is absolutely fantastic. Not so with any other publisher.
Tallshortman
Member
I've seen more Vita ads than Halo ads by far and my watching habits are usually that of the typical 18-29 year old male demographic. I agree Sony's marketing is usually lacking on their exclusives that aren't a few like god of war and uncharted but they aren't non-existent. Also, MS has probably a ridiculous marketing budget for Halo 4 seeing as they aren't exactly swimming in first party exclusives.
AHA-Lambda
Member
First reply nails it.
Interferon
Member
Sony definitely
I'm not saying Sony because they are a terrible publisher when it comes to marketing or getting hype out for something.
Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Resistance 3, even PSASBR have all been sent to die. And Journey only got successful through word of mouth.
The quality of SCE developers is amazing but as a publisher Sony needs to get some footing because I'm placing the blame all on them for releasing amazing games that will be overlooked if they don't take action.
Right now, I have no clue what they are planning.
Nintendo is decent, but I feel their games have gone a notch down since previous years. They seem very secretive and I can't really find much info on their things so I can't really comment on them.
I don't care about MS. Won't comment on them either because I've never owned anything from MS besides my OS on my PC and thats how I plan on leaving it.
Konami, Square seem to be slow this gen. Capcom is intent on screwing everyone over. Activision just seems greedy and I can't stand most of their games, THQ is dead, can't comment on EA since I don't really play many of their games.
I would have to decide between Ubisoft and 2K. Ubisoft for no platform biasing and giving something to each of the 1st partys, if it wasn't clear enough at E3, they did by far the best job, They may have rehashed AC quite a bit, but its okay. Rayman Origins is thrown, Watchdogs, they are cool.
Now I am not a big 2k Fanboy, because I haven't really played bioshock and only played a bit of borderlands but I agree that they are putting out quality AAA titles. GTA V, Borderlands 2, and bioshock infinite all seem very interesting.
Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Resistance 3, even PSASBR have all been sent to die. And Journey only got successful through word of mouth.
The quality of SCE developers is amazing but as a publisher Sony needs to get some footing because I'm placing the blame all on them for releasing amazing games that will be overlooked if they don't take action.
Right now, I have no clue what they are planning.
Nintendo is decent, but I feel their games have gone a notch down since previous years. They seem very secretive and I can't really find much info on their things so I can't really comment on them.
I don't care about MS. Won't comment on them either because I've never owned anything from MS besides my OS on my PC and thats how I plan on leaving it.
Konami, Square seem to be slow this gen. Capcom is intent on screwing everyone over. Activision just seems greedy and I can't stand most of their games, THQ is dead, can't comment on EA since I don't really play many of their games.
I would have to decide between Ubisoft and 2K. Ubisoft for no platform biasing and giving something to each of the 1st partys, if it wasn't clear enough at E3, they did by far the best job, They may have rehashed AC quite a bit, but its okay. Rayman Origins is thrown, Watchdogs, they are cool.
Now I am not a big 2k Fanboy, because I haven't really played bioshock and only played a bit of borderlands but I agree that they are putting out quality AAA titles. GTA V, Borderlands 2, and bioshock infinite all seem very interesting.
I agree.