Which is the better PC publisher?

[jake_]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

Publisher is more often than not the reason why we get horrible games. They are also the ones responsible for lack of support as very few actually finance the developers post-launch tech-support. This could be a rumour or just a cruel joke, but I heard that only 2 people worked on BF2 1.5 patch. Publishers push the deadlines, often to an unreal extent. Not to mention that a lot of them also develop games.

Naturally, this doesnt save us from developers with no sense of vision who provide games which just suck.

:nod:

I think a good developer can overcome a bad publisher, but not vice versa.

[MrChris_CJ]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

well it depends really, if you look at say the relationship Valve has with EA, EA deal with the retail aspect of things they in no way dictate when Valve releases their games or any of that, they cannot interfere with the development process at all, if they did they would likely get lolled at by Gabe Newell and then get Steamed in the face

other times when the publisher has put the money into the project and is doing all the marketing etc they will have the last say, if they want something released in time for a certain sales period etc they can get it done and there is typically not a lot the developer can do about it, external development, you perhaps have a better chance (when the publisher doesn't own the dev) but otherwise....

YOU GON GET IT

[CaptainKirk]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

well it depends really, if you look at say the relationship Valve has with EA, EA deal with the retail aspect of things they in no way dictate when Valve releases their games or any of that, they cannot interfere with the development process at all, if they did they would likely get lolled at by Gabe Newell and then get Steamed in the face

other times when the publisher has put the money into the project and is doing all the marketing etc they will have the last say, if they want something released in time for a certain sales period etc they can get it done and there is typically not a lot the developer can do about it, external development, you perhaps have a better chance (when the publisher doesn't own the dev) but otherwise....

YOU GON GET IT

Basically, Valve isn't owned by EA and is big enough that they don't necessarily have to do everything EA says. IW is owned (right?), Bungie was owned before they bought themselves, DICE is owned, etc.

[MrChris_CJ]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

yer basically thats it, Dice is an EA studio as it is owned by them etc but I think EA has come to realise that Dice is one of its best assets, just depends on how much freedom they give, some publishers notice the quality of their developers and sort of let them work

others won't however.

But yeh EA has no control over Valve, who not to mention have Steam giving them £££.

[Death Merchant]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

yer basically thats it, Dice is an EA studio as it is owned by them etc but I think EA has come to realise that Dice is one of its best assets, just depends on how much freedom they give, some publishers notice the quality of their developers and sort of let them work

others won't however.

But yeh EA has no control over Valve, who not to mention have Steam giving them £££.

If they do good, generally developers relax control, if they do bad they are told what to do with little freedom or part of the team is sacked. DICE is known to have a lot of freedom as all of their titles so far have been a success in buisness terms

Activision is probably the worst of the worst, they had a "three patch rule" which meant a fourth patch could never be released up until 3 years ago, also the yearly re-editing a game and selling it as a new title is very low, which Activision does with all its most successful series

EA isnt much better, second or third bottom for me :shakehead:

[MrChris_CJ]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

yes basically, but you do sometimes get exceptions, Empire Total War for example. the past Total war games were stupidly successful but Sega felt the need to push for the release of ETW (imo when the devs didnt want to) because they were suffering financially and saw a good opportunity to launch the game in a good sales period

I think EA are trying to improve, I think they realise that a lot of gamers pay attention to these things now, but they will still have a long way to go to prove they have changed

Activision have just become dire, not to simply rave on about MW2, but it extends further to stuff like community support and interaction that just isn't there

[Death Merchant]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

yes basically, but you do sometimes get exceptions, Empire Total War for example. the past Total war games were stupidly successful but Sega felt the need to push for the release of ETW (imo when the devs didnt want to) because they were suffering financially and saw a good opportunity to launch the game in a good sales period

I know what you mean, Sega has basically blocked modding on Empire:Total war until they have milked as much DLC purchases as possible, sure its makes sense in buisness terms but modding helped Rome:TW and Medieval2 become successful, and now have basically been shown the door which is like a slap in the face, especially when they said in pre-release videos that E:TW would be "more moddable than ever"

[TGL|FalseLion]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

Sega has basically blocked modding on Empire:Total war until they have milked as much DLC purchases as possible

not to mention the nightmare that they're allowing Napoleon:Total War to turn into.

[imported_darkeye]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

Voted for, Not because Activision is better just I do play EA games. Also there are other publisher's games which many likes to play.

[[29ID]B|REC.Dusteh]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

Deffo EA, as there games are unique just like BF2 although the reg is a complete mess, there is no other game out there like it

[[Expletive Deleted]]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

At this point, there really is no GOOD PC publisher. It's just a question of which one sucks the least. Which is why I just bought these:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+42%22+Class+/+1080p+/+120Hz+LCD+HDTV/9321637.p?id=1218084717759&skuId=9321637

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Microsoft+-+Xbox+360+Elite+Console/9460763.p?id=1218108384730&skuId=9460763

And these:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Halo+3%3A+ODST+-+Xbox+360/9254111.p?id=1218069253816&skuId=9254111

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Battlefield%3A+Bad+Company+Platinum+Hits+-+Xbox+360/8802441.p?id=1206141604641&skuId=8802441

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dead+Space+-+Xbox+360/9056086.p?id=1218013388544&skuId=9056086

May as well give up and play games the way the developers want you to play them. They're making us pay the same prices these days, anyway.

[anisebal]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

If we have to select the publisher in this two names then the EA is better.
otherwise the Edios is the best in the games and also it has more types of games.

[AvalancheDiode]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

It was hard to imagine somebody being worse than EA, but Activision proved me totally wrong.

Ubi is currently even worse than Activision. We'll see how long EA can stick to its reformed image. Until then, I hate EA less than the other two mentioned.

[AvalancheDiode]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

Today's news says that EA is going to implement the Ubi-style "screw you all the time" DRM. Now I hate EA as much as Ubi and Activision.

I don't get what they are thinking, except the one that somebody is paying game publisher executives to adopt DRM. Sony could be one of the briber, since they are pushing their DRM technology via PS3 and Bluray. DICE/Valve/Blizzard all have shown that had they done something right, piracy will not hamper their profit. Unfortunately, I can see another video game crash down the road in just a few years. If you have any stocks of EA/Activision/Take2/Ubi, you should dump them now. It's only a matter of time before the console model fold, and that will happen after they blew the PC model. Only Nintendo, Valve and Blizzard will survive the coming crash unscathed, and major publishers will all die.

[(SA)2|1Sgt.Spriggs]

Re: Which is the better PC publisher?

FIGHT THE POWER! DOWN WITH THE INDUSTRIALIST PIGS!

Okay, seriously, I'd go with EA. Although they have F'ed over some gamers with the server thing, they still put out some good games.

BF2, BF2142, etc.. Nuff said.