Do You Prefer Video Games Made by Big Game Publishers or Indie Pubs?

by Fef Posted 2012/09/12 18:00:00

Related Topics: Games, Google, Marketing, Apple, Technology, Game Publishers

205 votes
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	Big Game Publishers	100 votes	49%
	Indie Pubs	56 votes	27%
	Who's got time for GameZ?	49 votes	24%

I worked at Activision and another big video game publisher before I worked in "dot-com." We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and sometimes millions of dollars designing, marketing, distributing and supporting video games. We made OEMs, localized version, updates, expansion packs, etc...

Times have changed since the 1990s. Technology and free markets have evolved to allow independent video game companies to pop-up and make millions selling inexpensive games. Small video game companies now make simple games with easy distribution through Apple's iTunes and Google's Droid marketplaces. A few developers -- or even a single programmer -- can make a hit game like Minecraft.

apples itunes googles droid marketplaces developers programmer hit game minecraft

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Tw!stəd_S!stər 2012/09/13 02:30:02

Indie Pubs

+4
Indie Games rock

>> See Replies

More polls by Fef

Rich 2012/11/14 15:15:15

Big Game Publishers

Every now and then I'll come across a really good indie game like Limbo, but I prefer the more well known titles.

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sole to soul 2012/09/29 19:00:00
Saga 2012/09/22 09:47:36

Who's got time for GameZ?

Games bore me too easily .. :3

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T3rm1n4t0r 2012/09/21 08:09:19

Big Game Publishers

It tells me that it's a very good game

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KB 2012/09/21 03:22:16

Big Game Publishers

It doesn't matter as long as the game doesn't suck. I've played games from Renegade Kid, which is an indie company that made Moon and the Dementium series (Hopefully they'll make a third Dementium.) for the DS and they're a load of fun. But I also love big company games like Pokemon, Mario, and most of what Activision has made.

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robert.goldsmith.14 2012/09/18 16:19:19

Indie Pubs

+1
It depends on the game and the game quality. I've seen great big corp games and very trashy big corp games. Likewise with independent publishers. Just be weary of EA. They have a tendency to destroy game quality just to crank out games for profit. Dragon Age 2 is the perfect example of how EA can ruin games.

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InfernalDisaster 2012/09/18 02:28:52

Big Game Publishers

+1
My favorite games of all time have been made by big publishers.

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Anonymous Loner 2012/09/16 16:32:26
CrazyJason 2012/09/15 18:51:28

Who's got time for GameZ?

+1
"Angry Birds" really isn't all that fun.

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SilveryRow 2012/09/14 10:01:29

Indie Pubs

+1
Indie is the way to go; avoid producers ignorant of the development process who push to get games released too fast and end up with an inferior product and burnt out developers.

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simplex5 2012/09/14 03:55:24

Who's got time for GameZ?

I think video games make us brainless.....Kids are more violent, these day due to games.

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Anonymo... to simplex5 2012/09/16 16:38:43

It depends on what genre of video games you're talking about. If you're talking about brainless, generic shooters, then yes that it is turning this generation into violent dumbos. But studies have shown that kids who play video games have greater imaginations compared to others. I'd say that educational video games and platformers are the best.

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Solid Snake 2012/09/14 02:20:19

Big Game Publishers

I've reached the sneaking point

Kept you waiting, huh?

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Ben 2012/09/13 18:31:34

Who's got time for GameZ?

I'm using this as my "other" option. I like both indie games and big name games. I love seeing all the indie games availibe for low prices on Xbox Live. Tehre are some great ones out there. But, I equally love those $60 titles like HALO.

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SW 2012/09/13 16:59:36 (edited)

Indie Pubs

PLAY MINE!

www.kongregate.com/games/apps...

!!!!

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S123 2012/09/13 15:18:40 (edited)

Who's got time for GameZ?

I don't play video games.

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BlackwinterG36C 2012/09/13 13:55:40

Big Game Publishers

I love My Call of Duties, Battlefields, Fallouts, Street Fighters, Tekkens, Soul Caliburs, and Mercenaries. Indie games just seem so 8-bit and 16-bit gen. Not to mention I get my bang for my buck with a game like Call of Duty.

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Anonymo... to Blackwi... 2012/09/16 16:41:07 (edited)

Call of Duty is a brainless, generic shooter with the same games released each year. Not to mention that a five year old could write the "plots". Same goes for Battlefield, but I'm not sure about Fallout since I never played it. I suggest you get a Playstation 1 or Nintendo 64.

Note: I respect your opinion, don't take my reply as offensive.

Another note: You should try some indie games, they're much more unique, artistic, and they're fun. But Big Game Publishers do have more access to better technology, so a lot of times their games have better graphics. I suggest you look up Limbo, Thrive, Rayman 1.5: Revenge of the Dark, and the sorts. Trust me indies and fan-games rock.

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Blackwi... to Anonymo... 2012/09/17 01:50:46

I HAD a PS1 and a N64 I've been playing games since 1987 with the good old NES. I've been a mainstream hardcore gamer since 1987. I've watched Arcades die. I've seen the rise and fall of Sega. Some of my favorite games are Darkstalkers 1 and 3 on the PSX (Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers 2 was on the sega saturn!). I played Golden Eye and Perfect Dark's brains out. I also enjoyed Killer Instinct 2 and Mario Kart 64. The 8-bit era wasn't that great. For every Contra and Mario Bros 3 there was crap like 5 TMNT1s and 5 Dick Tracys.

As for Indie games THE last game I bought was Skull Girls. Which could be considered an Indie game. I'm not into platformers anymore because almost half the games of the 8-bit and 16 bit era were side scrolling platformers. The genre has plateaued to me. 3D platformers are ok. I STILL play EVERY Tomb Raider that comes out minus like 2 (The 2003 one ESPECIALLY). I LOVE fighting games especially 2D cell shaded like Street Fighter Alpha series and Darkstalkers. 3D Fighters are awesome too.

Call of Duty is THE number 1 selling and played game for a reason. Its a excellent game series. I've been playing it from COD4 and up. The singleplayer is AWESOME the MULTIPLAYER IS AWESOME. The Co-Op is mixed. I originally bought COD4 till kill time for MGS4. But I ended u...

I HAD a PS1 and a N64 I've been playing games since 1987 with the good old NES. I've been a mainstream hardcore gamer since 1987. I've watched Arcades die. I've seen the rise and fall of Sega. Some of my favorite games are Darkstalkers 1 and 3 on the PSX (Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers 2 was on the sega saturn!). I played Golden Eye and Perfect Dark's brains out. I also enjoyed Killer Instinct 2 and Mario Kart 64. The 8-bit era wasn't that great. For every Contra and Mario Bros 3 there was crap like 5 TMNT1s and 5 Dick Tracys.

As for Indie games THE last game I bought was Skull Girls. Which could be considered an Indie game. I'm not into platformers anymore because almost half the games of the 8-bit and 16 bit era were side scrolling platformers. The genre has plateaued to me. 3D platformers are ok. I STILL play EVERY Tomb Raider that comes out minus like 2 (The 2003 one ESPECIALLY). I LOVE fighting games especially 2D cell shaded like Street Fighter Alpha series and Darkstalkers. 3D Fighters are awesome too.

Call of Duty is THE number 1 selling and played game for a reason. Its a excellent game series. I've been playing it from COD4 and up. The singleplayer is AWESOME the MULTIPLAYER IS AWESOME. The Co-Op is mixed. I originally bought COD4 till kill time for MGS4. But I ended up becoming a devoted COD player. I play it on the PS3 by the way. Which is tough to be. Which is why I'm currently playing Battlefiled 3 which IS the cutting edge if you are a graphics whore.

I love my G4TV and Gametrailers and sometimes EVEN IGN. I am an informed gamer I KNOW what's out there. I'm just not into the whole indie games scene. Maybe its because I'm on PSN, maybe its because I prefer current gen games and gameplay. But thats my preference.
(more)

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Anonymo... to Blackwi... 2012/09/17 01:57:10

Disregard what I said, I like how you have a mixed taste and that you're open to plenty of different genres/games/consoles. :)

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Blackwi... to Anonymo... 2012/09/17 02:05:59

I'm 32. I'm in the 20-40 age demographic that dictates the top sellers and trends in gaming.

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Anonymo... to Blackwi... 2012/09/17 02:15:32

Well I figured you had to be somewhere in that age range after you said you've seen the death of popularity in arcade games, as well as the fall of Sega.

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pdt_ski 2012/09/13 07:52:07

Big Game Publishers

Much better games - for the ones I play. Infinity Blade, Halo... these kinds of games require an army of programmers and game designers who still don't see their families much. Indies can't do that.

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XQNP 2012/09/13 06:34:25

Big Game Publishers

But only because big publishers have historically had access to better technology and personnel. Things are changing.

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BellaLuna 2012/09/13 03:04:50

Who's got time for GameZ?

+1
Should have had more to choose from. I like both but forced to take third option cause both isn't here to choose from.

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Tw!stəd_S!stər 2012/09/13 02:30:02

Indie Pubs

+4
Indie Games rock

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ChellBe... to Tw!stəd... 2012/09/13 15:41:40

+1
I love LIMBO

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Classic... to Tw!stəd... 2012/09/13 16:26:29

must look it up.

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thє вluє wαndєrєr 2012/09/13 01:28:26
Brispir 2012/09/13 01:18:08

Indie Pubs

+1
If we're talking about games made in this decade, then Indies. It didn't used to be this way, but now it seems like game companies are just content to send us whatever, and rarely does a good game get produced. Sometimes, a great game will get put out (like Skyrim for instance) but if you talk about the average game produced, then indies put out the best game on average.

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Jimbo 2012/09/13 00:39:27

Big Game Publishers

+2
There are a lot of great indie games out there.
I think Indie games are going to get much better when the OUYA comes out (cost $99).

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Classic... to Jimbo 2012/09/13 16:30:36

+1
WHY BASED ON ANDROID? >_>

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Jimbo to Classic... 2012/09/13 18:58:05

Anyone can develop games for it.

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Classic... to Jimbo 2012/09/14 00:42:55

+1
yes, but the same is true of generic Linux or BSD, and those platforms don't require fiddling with Java and XML files just to get a basic game running.

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Jimbo to Classic... 2012/09/14 01:31:55

I think they chose Android because it will be easy to port games make for phones.

One of the developers made the custom version of Android that the Amazon Fire uses.

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Classic... to Jimbo 2012/09/14 01:41:51 (edited)

+1
I think they chose Android because there's already a large developer community, much larger than Linux (for games at least) or BSD.

It is still, in my opinion. far easier to make games for a PC platform.

Also, they stole my idea, but I was waiting on improvements to Minix3 and a port of Gallium3D to it (and lack the acquaintance with such skilled people).

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Jimbo to Classic... 2012/09/14 02:55:39

+1
That sucks. It's a great idea. You can still do it. I think there is a market for low cost gaming consoles. I am going to buy the OUYA on principle.

OUYA got their money from kickstarter.com.
http://www.kickstarter.com/pr...

I actually know a few people in the gaming industry. My sister works for Bioware (EA Games), my brother in law is a developer for IGN, my nephew makes Android apps and games and my wife is a software developer (not in the gaming industry).

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TEPP to Jimbo 2012/09/14 03:20:20

+1
EA and IGN?
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?

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Jimbo to TEPP 2012/09/14 06:46:46

I have.
But I get a lot of free games.

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TEPP to Jimbo 2012/09/15 23:19:35

+1
I think my previous statement works perfectly as a response to your reply;
"EA and IGN?
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

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