The Best Video Game Publishers Of 2013
Video game publishers are often seen as the Big Bad Wolves of the industry.
That can be the case: Some publishers have been known to rush game releases, pumping out less-than-finished games, and over-charging for downloadable content (DLC) among other questionable practices. This has been kindling fueling the Kickstarter fire, with indie developers circumventing the publishers by asking the crowd to fund their projects directly.
But plenty of high quality games are still released through the traditional publisher model.
Here are the three top video game publishers of the year:
Bronze Medal: Rockstar Games
Silver Medal: Nintendo
Still, without really pushing into much new territory, we’ll give Nintendo the Silver.
Gold Medal: Ubisoft
On some level, Ubisoft gets the Gold Medal because of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, one of the best games of the year, cybernetic hands down, and a breath of creative fresh air in the video game market.
But Ubisoft also developed and published the charming Rayman Legends; the Western shooter Call of Juarez: Gunslinger; the really fun stealth military shooter Splinter Cell: Blacklist; and the surprisingly terrific Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
Of these, both Blood Dragon and Black Flag have made my own personal list of contenders for Game of the Year.
All told, a really impressive year for Ubisoft both in terms of quality releases and unshackled creativity. If anything, Ubisoft has shown a willingness to evolve as a company, going so far as to delay two big games—South Park: The Stick of Truth and Watch Dogs—into 2014 to make sure they met quality standards. I’d like to see more of this in the industry, and so Ubisoft walks with the Gold.
Forbes.com
