The worst game developer and/or publisher...

[rvg]

I've been thinking about who deserves such a dubious honor. IMHO Cyanide Studios takes the cake as the worst developer. Their games are consistently buggy, clunky, poorly thought out, with horrible AI etc. It's almost as id the developers simply down't want to put any effort into making a decent polished game. They've even managed to screw up with such a no-brainer licenses as Blood Bowl or Game of Thrones. I won't even mention their "authentic" crap like "Impire" or "Confrontation." A truly horrible developer.

As for publishers, for me Kalypso is the gold standard of crap releases. If there's anything out there released by Kalypso (with rare exceptions), I'm pretty much guaranteed to hate it. It's not the bugs as much as their knack for releasing uninspired, boring product. Ubisoft isn't too bad, but I refuse to buy their stuff solely because of UPlay. Then of course there's EA, but they at least manage to publish some really outstanding titles.

[rickinator9]

I don't really have any really bad experiences with Game Developers. The worst developers I can name are CA and Relic, which have in my opinion really decreased in quality. Relic's Company o Heroes is one of the best RTS games I have played, but CoH2 doesn't even deserve the name. CA hasn't released a good game since Medieval II and I admit I shouldn't have pre-ordered Rome II, since I have had zero enjoyment out of it since it was released.

I personally haven't had any trouble with Kalypso. Tropico 4 worked like a charm.

Paradox Interactive is a publisher that I don't really like. Don't confuse this with Paradox Dev Studio, whom make good games(although they seem to have gone down the dark path of 'casualization'). The few games I have bought that were published by PI(but not made by them) were either buggy, not entertaining or didn't have much replay value. My second issue is based on their policy to have devs talk to the fans on the forums. While it is very kind of them to do this, the devs aren't as good and professional in communicating as they should be. Fans ask serious questions, but often they get answered with 'Yes' or 'No'. The devs also tease the hell out of their upcoming DLC.

My biggest issue with PI is trying to appear the publisher that isn't like the other, dlc-festing, bad supporting, buggy-releasing publishers. However, PI does this itself. Just check the DLC page for CKII and EUIV and you will know it is DLC-festing. Paradox recently appointed a User Mod Coordinator, but he secretly spends lots of time on other projects as well. Some of their rules are also a bit absurd. You can't post external links on their forum. Modders aren't allowed to earn any money from their mods(not even donations) while Youtubers can monetize their video's even while playing a mod.

[Fragony]

Why the hate, EA really doesn't deserve it. The games the publish are always polished to a mirror shine, mostly the games I am not interested in but that's just a matter of taste.

Worst is Eidos I say, crappy releases, but they also kinda killed Lookinglass. Unforgivable.

[rajpoot]

EA deserves hate because over the years it's been buying up decent to good gaming studios that had made some good games. Then EA buys them out and tries to turn the series into cash cows effectively ruining them or at least sacrificing their potential in favour of mass appeal. Bioware is the latest example I know of.
EA has also been ignoring its fanbase. There have been so many ups lately....the SimCity online offline thing comes to mind.
Its not without reason that they got voted worst company two years in a row.

[Greyblades]

There are many who deserve the honour and all could be considered to deserve it equally, the only difference is the specific flavour of corproate idiocy you find most abhorrent.

[easytarget]

Fragony,

You really need to do a bit of homework on EA, not only do they deserve the hate, they've earned it consistently for more than a decade.

[drone]

EA. They may have the sports games down (and why not after the nth iteration), but the rest is a disaster.

[Nikodil]

Archon and M.U.L.E. were really brilliant games though.

[Fragony]

Fragony,

You really need to do a bit of homework on EA, not only do they deserve the hate, they've earned it consistently for more than a decade.

They make what people buy, don't see anything wrong with that as long as they deliver quality. Not my games but people want them. I wonder if the Indie scene would be as succesfull if it weren't for mainstream titles getting that big. As I see it there is something for everyone, gaming has never been better, more choice than ever.

[Gregoshi]

Archon and M.U.L.E. were really brilliant games though.

Yeah, back when EA stood for Electronic Arts.

[easytarget]

They make what people buy, don't see anything wrong with that as long as they deliver quality..

Sorry, this remark is so simplistic it just suggests you're not even trying here.

But that does not mean I don't still love you Frag.

[Gregoshi]

Sorry, this remark is so simplistic it just suggests you're not even trying here.

No, Frags is right to an extent. EA has some huge franchises like the sports games that rake in big bucks every year. I don't play those games but I do read some of the reviews and they seem to be improving on the game experience every year (with an occasional set back). Granted, they screw up other franchises too, but they wouldn't be as big as they are if everything they did was crap.

[easytarget]

I'm not talking about screwing up franchises, although they have been known to do that, I'm talking about the business practices of the company primarily.

[Fragony]

I'm not talking about screwing up franchises, although they have been known to do that, I'm talking about the business practices of the company primarily.

Doesn't get in anyone's way, Indie games are thriving. Big enough to coexist

[Beskar]

EA has a history of buying companies/technology, stealing it, and shutdowning down those companies and firing the employees. This is what happened with the original Madden, for example, they used someone elses work.

You can easily argue "it isn't unlawful" but it is one of many 'douchey' practises by EA.

[Fragony]

EA has a history of buying companies/technology, stealing it, and shutdowning down those companies and firing the employees. This is what happened with the original Madden, for example, they used someone elses work.

You can easily argue "it isn't unlawful" but it is one of many 'douchey' practises by EA.

It's a business. Creativism has more gravitas than it ever had when it comes to gaming right now. Count your blessings.

[Husar]

Worst publisher? UbiSoft.
They've tried more and worse DRM than EA ever has and their games are bland and superficial despite all the hype they spread earlier. Like how you could supposedly carefully choose your faction affiliation in Far Cry 2 and then it was entirely linear and predetermined...

A close second is probably Activision for the whole Call of Duty sequel stuff and releasing 30 bucks map packs.

CA are a pretty bad studio for releasing every game with the same old broken AI despite the ever repeating promises that "this time we really made it new and awesome!"

Blizzard are a bad studio simply because their products seem about as harmful as cocaine to many people.

And then all the studios that remove player choices, interfaces, options and interaction from their games in the name of accessibility are really, really bad just for doing that.

[Gregoshi]

You can easily argue "it isn't unlawful" but it is one of many 'douchey' practises by EA.

Totally agree.

[Fragony]

Totally agree.

I don't, they are runned like any other company. Look for the silver lining, indie companies are thriving because of mainstrean gaming getting huge

[Gregoshi]

I don't think I'm going to put the feather in EA's cap for making gaming mainstream.

[Fragony]

I don't think I'm going to put the feather in EA's cap for making gaming mainstream.

Side-effects make up for it. Small studio's with good ideas aren't waiting to be fished up again, they can kickstart their project if there is a demand for it. Hollywood never destroyed arthouse cinema either by releasing a blockbuster.

[Beskar]

Side-effects make up for it. Small studio's with good ideas aren't waiting to be fished up again, they can kickstart their project if there is a demand for it. Hollywood never destroyed arthouse cinema either by releasing a blockbuster.

Kick Start is very modern and not entirely successful to date. Only a few titles have 'made it'. But buying companies to take their source code and IP then firing everyone, just so you can make money from it, is a scumbag practise.

[Fragony]

Kick Start is very modern and not entirely successful to date. Only a few titles have 'made it'. But buying companies to take their source code and IP then firing everyone, just so you can make money from it, is a scumbag practise.

It certainly isn't classy but it's not a few nerds building something out of conviction that get screwed by an evil company. This comes with the game-industry being a much more signifificant industry nowadays. You can vote against it with your wallet but these games just sell. And you aren't being cheated if you buy it, their games are always really well made and full of content.

[rajpoot]

It certainly isn't classy but it's not a few nerds building something out of conviction that get screwed by an evil company. This comes with the game-industry being a much more signifificant industry nowadays. You can vote against it with your wallet but these games just sell. And you aren't being cheated if you buy it, their games are always really well made and full of content.

Dragon Age 2 would like to have a word with you.

[Husar]

Kick Start is very modern and not entirely successful to date. Only a few titles have 'made it'. But buying companies to take their source code and IP then firing everyone, just so you can make money from it, is a scumbag practise.

Could also blame the one who sold the company in the first place. I don't think they can just buy companies if the current owners do not sell, or is that how it works now?

[easytarget]

Frag,

No idea what you're talking about, can't think of anything remotely interesting EA makes I'd even think twice about buying.

Husar,

Not sure you thought this out much before posting it, you can't blame a company selling something for what is done with it once purchased. If that were the case we'd have a party holding gun manufacturers and alcohol producers strictly liable for what is done with their products.

[Greyblades]

...a bit of a bad example; you really should be holding gun manufacturers resposible for who gets thier hand son their product.

[Beskar]

I think what goes through their minds is "Nice, a big publisher wants to back us" and the owner going "Money!". Only winner is really the ex-owner who runs off with it. The employees don't really have a say in it.

[Fragony]

Frag,

No idea what you're talking about, can't think of anything remotely interesting EA makes I'd even think twice about buying.

Then don't buy it, there is no gun pointed at your head. I am not interested in most of what they release either, I don't like sportsgames and racers (except Waverace, Nintendo ffs make a new one). But you can hardly blame a company for releasing things that make money.

[Veho Nex]

Ubisoft is my most hated company with EA in close second