“Meet Mark: Publisher Critic” or “Finally Someone Says it Out Loud!”
No pin intended!
I don’t hate publishers. I think hate is a very strong word. But I think the larger a publisher grows, the more it feels it can interfere, influence or even dictate developer decisions, features and timelines. I am probably wrong, but I don’t think a developer has just come out and said it point blank.
Mark Cern, the CEO over at Red 5 Studios, developers of the upcoming F2P MMO Firefall said that the pressures put on the developers by the publishers is death to the video game industry. He cites the very valid example of Riot Games, whose smash hit MOBA game, League of Legends, has no publisher, but has more concurrent users playing it than World of Warcraft. Yes Mark, that is kind of bananas!
I for one salute the man. It takes courage to state in no uncertain terms: “Who needs publishers any more? I certainly don’t. I couldn’t care less about them at this stage”.
Eh, the studios could always refuse the publisher’s money. The guy who pays the bills gets to call the shots.
Rohan is correct that way. Signing with a publisher is a deal with the devil. That’s why I’m so glad that indie and small studio development has grown so much in the last few years.