MSNBC: Top 5 most dependable publishers

mastiffchild - 40 days 21 hours ago

Two probs with this list myself. 1, Valve aren't even their own publisher anymore-EA are. 2, Nintendo, if they're so reliable as a publisher where the fulk is my Fatal Frame 4 which they own the rights to in the west? I always used to get the games when they weren't the publisher.

I just think that they went too family friendly as a pubisher lately and won't publish much, if anything, that isn't happy and smiley opr one of their own long running franchises. I really DON'T associate them with ANY risky titles or new IPs anymore seeing as the last one was Pikmin a million years ago(OK about 8 then!). A publisher should really also be relied upon to risk things now and then in the hope of expanding the business and as a games publisher Nintendo just NEVER do that-Sony do it a lot and even MS do a lot more than Nintendo do. EA, of late, have also started being real supporters of new IP. While we all know that R* as a dev AND a publisher are always happy to push things.

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Darkstorn - 40 days 16 hours ago

MSNBC really doesn't pander to M$. In fact, I've never even heard them refer to Microsoft. Ever.

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Saaking - 40 days 15 hours ago

Sony for #1.

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Pandamobile - 40 days 15 hours ago

Valve publishes their own games. EA is just a retail distributor and advertiser. That's why you don't see EA's logo plastered all over the game boxes and when you launch the game itself.

Valve is the digital publisher for almost 1000 games ranging from a low budget indie title, to AAA block buster games like Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Crysis, etc.

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Maddens Raiders - 40 days 15 hours ago

just as much as anyone, but 1.2 you're just flat wrong. Google is your friend.

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evrfighter - 40 days 15 hours ago

"Valve aren't even their own publisher anymore-EA are"

Wrong-o

I swear this mis-information is brought up quite a bit here @ n4g. At this point Panda must be bashing his head on his keyboard with how many times he has to correct people.

You console gamers should be happy Valve is on this list. If more publishers were modeled after Valve. You'd have a 50% off title every weekend. Free DLC. And the occassional $1.99-$5 title.

Valve should be higher imo.

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StanLee - 40 days 14 hours ago

I really would not put Valve in that list. Ubisoft, Activision, Microsoft and THQ have been more consistent publishers. What has Valve really ever published? Seriously? How does Valve end up on the list of top publishers?

Edit @ Pandamobile

Valve doesn't really "publish" those titles. When you look at a traditional publisher/developer relationship, Valve isn't in anyway taking a financial risk in supporting any of the titles they distribute through their Steam service. Sony bears the entrepreneurial risks of the titles they publish, so does Nintendo, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Microsoft and most major publishers.

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Pandamobile - 40 days 13 hours ago

No, but Valve's published the most Indie games out of any distributor. You're right about Valve not having risks for publishing games, but they're more of an outlet.

Either way, they're still classified as a publisher.

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SL1M DADDY - 40 days 3 hours ago

So reliability is not synonymous with their development either? Better luck next time MS.

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nolifeking - 40 days 22 hours ago

They couldn't spin MS being on that list no matter how hard they tried.

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Elven6 - 40 days 15 hours ago

If they did put Microsoft on the list you would be here crying foul saying they are sucking up to Microsoft or what ever fanboys like to say now a days.

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nolifeking - 40 days 14 hours ago

No, I would be asking how a publisher who can't keep a majority of the stuff they publish on there console. Then I would ask how can a company with all of 2 games to publish make a list with the elite.

Edit@Stanlee: Are you such a fanboy you don't realize that's chicken feed compared to every other dev listed, not to mention the fact that MS publishing something means almost nothing at this point. Do I really need to list the games Sony, Valve, Activision ect have published? It would make you blush for having the gall to make such an absurd comment.

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StanLee - 40 days 14 hours ago

How has Valve been a more consistently successful publisher than Microsoft? This generation alone Microsoft has published Mass Effect, Gears of War 1 and 2, Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4, Forza Motorsport 2 and 3, Fable 2, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, Crackdown and numerous other titles all critical and or commercial successes. Are you that big of a fanboy that it blinds your common sense?

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kingdavid - 40 days 14 hours ago

This list should be devs, not publishers imo.

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Elven6 - 40 days 14 hours ago

Valve hasn't published a game in ages, they don't handle it anymore, other companies do (EA, Microsoft, etc). I wasn't referring to you nolifeking but a majority of people on this site. Remember with Peter M said he thought Halo did good things for console gaming a few days ago? Bu bu bu your paycheck! sums up a majority of fanboy reactions.

Microsoft does have a pretty good publishing lineup, just because they weren't included on the list doesn't mean they were bad. Conflict of interest may have been a decision for the writer of this article, or perhaps he felt they were not top 5 material.

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Darkstorn - 40 days 16 hours ago

I think they docked them some points for this PC MW2 fiasco.

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DiffusionE - 40 days 15 hours ago

lol.....exactly what is new that they bring to the table? MW1.5 with a few new maps and another 5 hour campaign? That is hardly "influential".

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Pandamobile - 40 days 15 hours ago

Activision? You mean that company owned by that money-hungry prick Bobby Kotick?

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nolifeking - 40 days 14 hours ago

MW2 is influential in the sense of telling devs they can do as little as possible as far as improvement and still be guaranteed to sell millions to a bunch of goobers who have no idea what quality is.

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Pandamobile - 40 days 15 hours ago

Valve's published nearly 1000 games on Steam. That means you have 1000 games at your finger tips ready to be played without leaving your house. If that's not dependable I don't know what is.

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STK026 - 40 days 16 hours ago

yeah, and they also make some of the worst game once in a while, which is probably why they didn't put them on this list. TLR, IU, Project Sylpheed, pc versions of FF titles, that fighting game on the PSone and the list goes on. While I'd agree that EA also has released some crap, I don'T know any Valve game that was bad.

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Pandamobile - 40 days 15 hours ago

Publishers, not developers.

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