Game Developers you (still) have faith in

[Karifean]

So the gaming industry landscape has kinda changed. Companies have fallen off, or turned evil, and others have risen up. Square Enix themselves of course being one of the more divisive companies nowadays that has disappointed a lot of people.

What game development studios/companies do you currently have the most faith in to be making good quality games? The kind you follow and get excited for all their new releases, or closest to it anyways. Feel free to expand on studios you've *lost* faith in or studios you would gladly believe in but they just keep doing stuff you don't appreciate (i.e. does Atlus just focus too much on milking their flagship series?).

[Spuuky]

I have tremendous faith in Larian.

[Lord Golbez]

Atlus. Do they milk their flagship series too much? Sure, but I ignore that noise, and I'm fine with it as long as they continue to deliver quality Persona titles. I don't have complete faith in any developer, but they're doing alright for now.

[Fynn]

Honestly? Nobody. But that’s alright, actually.

[Karifean]

For me, definitely Nihon Falcom first and foremost. They've been on top of their game and I trust that their action and turn-based RPGs alike will be great in the years to come. I also have faith in Toby Fox that DELTARUNE will be a beautiful whole once it's done, but that's probably many years off.

Notably, I'm not really trusting of Atlus, Squenix or ZUN in the same way. Atlus' priorities aren't in the right place, and while Persona 5 was a super fun game, it was still centered more around being appealing than being the best it can be which isn't very confidence-inspiring. Squenix hasn't made a game I loved since FF XII. And ZUN just has his ups and downs a lot and Touhou 16 was pretty forgettable. Blizzard has also lost me, they had their good years and now they're over. Key as well hasn't made a great game since Little Busters (Rewrite was great but they were more the publisher of that than the developer).

I'm kinda torn on 07th Expansion. I'm sure Ciconia no Naku Koro ni will be great, but Ryukishi's works tend to be only explicitly good when they're long epics. If he comes out with shorts I'm not gonna be looking to play them by any means. Long stories though? Hell yes.

[Wolf Kanno]

No one really, though if I had to name someone, Atlus is still a fairly strong company even if they do make questionable decisions. Capcom also seems to be in one of their grace periods currently, but we'll see how long that lasts. I also feel FROM Software continues to make pretty solid efforts. They don't make games that appeal to everyone, but if you like what they do, they do it pretty well.

I feel Squenix is trying though, so I'm not really going to fault them too hard, but I also know they have never been the company I fell in love with and will likely never be again. While Konami is still a shit company, they have recently extended a very small olive branch in the form of the Castlevania collections. Doesn't mean I've forgiven them for nuking their console game business.

[WarZidane]

To the extent that I'm actively and excitedly looking forward to all of their releases, just Falcom.

That's okay though, and it's not like I've "lost faith" in other developers. There are plenty of games I look forward to from developers like S-E, Atlus, CDPR and so on, just not to the same degree.

[Lord Golbez]

While Konami is still a trout company, they have recently extended a very small olive branch in the form of the Castlevania collections. Doesn't mean I've forgiven them for nuking their console game business.

Konami has so many great, beloved IPs, I can't forgive them for letting them rot for their pachinko business. If they're not going to use them properly (pachinko is not using them properly), sell the rights to someone who will. I'm sure there's plenty of good developers who could do justice to their creations.

[Wolf Kanno]

While Konami is still a trout company, they have recently extended a very small olive branch in the form of the Castlevania collections. Doesn't mean I've forgiven them for nuking their console game business.

Konami has so many great, beloved IPs, I can't forgive them for letting them rot for their pachinko business. If they're not going to use them properly (pachinko is not using them properly), sell the rights to someone who will. I'm sure there's plenty of good developers who could do justice to their creations.

After what happened with Castlevania and Silent Hill during the PS3 years, I can't really agree another developer could do justice to some of their IPs, especially since most developers have their own style and thus working on a foreign IP would largely make it feel like them instead of the IP fans know. I'm actually fine with Konami just killing their IPs. Some things just come to an end.

[Lord Golbez]

I'm still not over Suikoden never coming to a satisfying conclusion. The rest I'd be fine withh ending.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm still not over Suikoden never coming to a satisfying conclusion. The rest I'd be fine withh ending.

I know your pain, but it's just never going to happen. Murayama doesn't seem remotely interested in finishing it and lord knows where Junko Kawano is now. I just can't imagine it ever getting finished outside of one of the two saying what they would have done in an interview.

[Vermachtnis]

I'm with Wolf on Capcom and FROM.
Capcom's okay right now. I'm still mad about Legends 3. But Devil May Cry 5 and Monster Hunter: World are fantastic. And the Iceborne expansion looks great. That Tigrex roar. And that Ace Attorney Trilogy.

And Square has my hope up with Shadowbringers. They brought in Yoko Taro to write the raid. And the 7 Remake might be making some headway. Still have my doubts on Nomura.

ARCSys is borderline. They make a great fighting game. But half the cast of Cross Tag Battle was paid DLC. And they weren't even extras. They were in the game proper.

[Darkhero]

Does M2 count?

[Fox]

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.

Yakuza as a broad franchise is looking stronger than ever at the moment, and in fact SEGA as a whole are being, I would say, pretty solid. With the occasional baffling screw up. But most of those tend to be Sonic so that's to be expected.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Despite my being critical of FFXIII and XV, I still enjoy Square’s games decently enough. The only thing that I wish with Square is that we’d get some more experimental IPs like the ps1 era and earlier. World of Final Fantasy felt like a nice step back in that direction. The World Ends With You was another great one. Either way, I still have faith in the company in at least making games I’ll at least enjoy.

Atlus is another I have faith in generally.

Nintendo almost always churns out quality stuff.

That’s probably it at the moment.

[Jessweeee♪]

Square is doing some shady things with DLC lately but otherwise I still do have faith in them. FFXIV has been pretty top notch, and I feel like the development team and the players have a good relationship.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

While Konami is still a trout company, they have recently extended a very small olive branch in the form of the Castlevania collections.

I just assumed this was an attempt to swipe a couple sales off the Bloodstained hype.

Which finally comes out next month :excited:

[Scruffington]

Capcom, FromSoftware, Square Enix, Atlus, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, and Guerilla Games are all developers I have a tremendous amount of faith in.

Capcom has been the best developer at consistently producing quality titles over the last several years. Resident Evil 7, Monster Hunter: World, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and Devil May Cry 5 have pretty much established them as one of the premier game makers in the industry.

I haven't disliked a single FromSoftware game within the last 8 years. Between the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, they are nothing short of outstanding.

Square Enix gets far more hate than they deserve on here. Based on my experience with FFXIV so far, and my enjoyment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, I am optimistic about the future of the Final Fantasy series.

Atlus made the best game of all time in Persona 5, and they're adding even more content to it in a re-release called Persona 5 Royal in 2020. Tons of faith in them.

Naughty Dog hasn't made a single bad game from the PS3 era onwards. Everything they make is outstanding, and I can't wait for The Last of Us Part II.

Sony Santa Monica just produced one of the best games of all time in God of War, so I have a lot of faith in what they do with the series next.

Guerilla Games is a developer I had never been introduced to prior to Horizon: Zero Dawn, yet that game blew me away in pretty much every aspect. I have faith in them to pull off a sequel that is every bit as good as the original.

[Slothy]

What's this faith of which you speak? I honestly wouldn't say any.

With guys like Capcom I've loved the recent RE titles but the crap they've been pulling with Street Fighter is downright offensive. Even with FromSoft there's precisely one guy managing to direct consistently good titles there. So I guess I have faith in him. Literally no company though.

Frankly the entire concept of having faith in any company in any industry strikes me as ludicrous these days. I wait until a product is actually out and people have used it now before making such decisions. Certainly am done pre-ordering games from any company and have been for a while. Pre-orders only ever benefit the company, never the consumer.

[Scruffington]

With guys like Capcom I've loved the recent RE titles but the crap they've been pulling with Street Fighter is downright offensive.

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition released to overwhelmingly positive reception. It currently sits at about an 88 on Metacritic which is a superb score, and it brought many features that fans had been asking for such as single player content and second V-triggers. So I'm really not sure what you're referring to.


Even with FromSoft there's precisely one guy managing to direct consistently good titles there. So I guess I have faith in him. Literally no company though.

I have no idea what your argument is. Hidetaka Miyazaki is literally the president of FromSoftware. To say that you have faith in him is to more or less say that you have faith in FromSoftware as a developer because, you know, he runs the show there.

He's also been responsible for directing 5 of FromSoftware's last 6 major releases, and even the supposed black sheep of the series (Dark Souls II) was very well received. So all of your comments would suggest that you do, in fact, have faith in FromSoftware. :p


Frankly the entire concept of having faith in any company in any industry strikes me as ludicrous these days.

What about it strikes you as ludicrous? Can you elaborate on this?


Certainly am done pre-ordering games from any company and have been for a while. Pre-orders only ever benefit the company, never the consumer.

Preorders almost always give some benefit to the consumer via in-game content, and they are available at most places completely for free. Just this week I was able to preorder Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers at no cost to myself, and I got a code for some in game items in Final Fantasy XIV that I've been able to use. So yeah, I would say I benefited quite a bit from preordering.

Also, if you're a fan of a game or a series of games created by a company, wouldn't you want to support them so they could continue producing games you enjoy? Preorder numbers are sometimes used by companies to showcase consumer interest in a product, which will appease shareholders. Making your shareholders happy could allow you to get a bigger budget for the next game in the series, resulting in a better game that fans of your series could enjoy. It's a complicated topic, but to say that preorders never benefit the consumer isn't true.

[Wolf Kanno]

While Konami is still a trout company, they have recently extended a very small olive branch in the form of the Castlevania collections.

I just assumed this was an attempt to swipe a couple sales off the Bloodstained hype.

Which finally comes out next month :excited:

I'm not complaining, I get both a new Igarashi style Metroidvania game and the ability to play the Classicvania titles all around the same time. Konami might be marketing off Bloodstained's hype but Castlevania fans win either way.

[Slothy]

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition released to overwhelmingly positive reception. It currently sits at about an 88 on Metacritic which is a superb score, and it brought many features that fans had been asking for such as single player content and second V-triggers. So I'm really not sure what you're referring to.

Go read up on its monetization practices. They take advantage of their customers to a disgusting degree. And if you think the reception was overwhelmingly positive then you never saw the fan backlash when they released half a game for full price and also immediately began nickel and diming people with microtransactions for things like characters. In a fighting game. Where having all of the characters is kind of important and you're never more than a stones throw from a company making things pay to win.


I have no idea what your argument is. Hidetaka Miyazaki is literally the president of FromSoftware. To say that you have faith in him is to more or less say that you have faith in FromSoftware as a developer because, you know, he runs the show there.

He's also been responsible for directing 5 of FromSoftware's last 6 major releases, and even the supposed black sheep of the series (Dark Souls II) was very well received. So all of your comments would suggest that you do, in fact, have faith in FromSoftware. :p

Being president is not the same as directing a title. And Dark Souls 2 is a game that I honestly liked less and less the more I played it. I don't give a trout how well received it is. My post is about my opinion. Not the rest of the worlds.


What about it strikes you as ludicrous? Can you elaborate on this?

Because even the most talented companies with the best intentions can make a bad game and being willing to do things like put up money to pre-order a game no one has played yet is never to the benefit of the customer and basically amounts to slapping money on the table in the HOPE that a game will be good. It's silly.


Preorders almost always give some benefit to the consumer via in-game content, and they are available at most places completely for free. Just this week I was able to preorder Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers at no cost to myself, and I got a code for some in game items in Final Fantasy XIV that I've been able to use. So yeah, I would say I benefited quite a bit from preordering.

What you actually mean is preorders benefit the consumer because the company generously gives you the bonus content that would have been included standard in the game years ago. Companies shouldn't get credit for carving out content to encourage pre-orders and which they later sell separately to those buying later to get even more money. I won't take part in game companies further nickel and diming me thanks.


Also, if you're a fan of a game or a series of games created by a company, wouldn't you want to support them so they could continue producing games you enjoy?

Why would I give a company that ultimately doesn't care about me my business without even knowing if the product is any good? I'll buy good games. I don't give a trout about whether a companies previous games have been good as it gives me zero indication that the next will also be good. FFXII is one of my favourite Squenix games they ever did and FFXIII is one of the worst RPG's I've ever played. So no, I'm not going to risk supporting bad games on the promise of better games down the road.


Preorder numbers are sometimes used by companies to showcase consumer interest in a product, which will appease shareholders. Making your shareholders happy could allow you to get a bigger budget for the next game in the series, resulting in a better game that fans of your series could enjoy. It's a complicated topic, but to say that preorders never benefit the consumer isn't true.

First off pleasing shareholders has little to do with getting more budget for your next game. You realize most shareholders never invest any money in the actual company right? And that share price is ultimately independent of how much money a company actually makes and can invest in future titles? Hell unless your share price permanently tanks it's really not even going to affect how much these companies can borrow. And bigger budget does not equal better game. The opposite is true at least as often if you want to go down that road. Maybe more so since modern AAA games are mostly about making as much money from you as possible rather than being fun.

Oh and one other thing: shareholders are by and large idiots. They expect infinite growth. If you don't do better than last year then you're a dismal failure and they jump ship in a heartbeat. Doesn't even matter if that newest game earned half a billion dollars in 3 days if last years title made half a billion in 2.5 days. Trying to appease the unreasonable expectations of complete morons has not made games better, it's made them objectively worse.

So I still stand by exactly what I said. There is no benefit to the consumer from pre-ordering. The only type of purchase a consumer can make that is actually beneficial to them is one that's fully informed when the product is actually out, and using that information to buy good games. Not the promise of good games.

Now I look forward to your next reply that tries to convince me I'm wrong using measures that don't matter to me and more arguments that boil down to supporting companies because they promised good games. Or business arguments that just aren't. I'll very much enjoy ignoring it I think.

[Spuuky]

I have tremendous faith in Larian.
UPDATE: I didn't realize quite how much faith, until the news today that they are (probably) making Baldur's Gate 3 and I had absolutely no reservations, only unrepentant Hype.

[Wolf Kanno]

As of late, Hideo Kojima actually. Death Stranding looks bizarre in story and rather mundane as a game, but I know from experience that Kojima usually delivers on what he says, so I'm actually still excited for this game and his new studio.

Speaking of individual designers, I still have a serious soft spot for Hironobu Sakaguchi. While I would never say all of his works are the "greatest things ever!" I would say I've yet to play something he's worked on that I didn't enjoy. It will be interesting to see what this new IP he's working on will be. Though like many people out there, I'd really love to see him come back to working on console gaming.

[Scruffington]

Go read up on its monetization practices. They take advantage of their customers to a disgusting degree. And if you think the reception was overwhelmingly positive then you never saw the fan backlash when they released half a game for full price and also immediately began nickel and diming people with microtransactions for things like characters. In a fighting game. Where having all of the characters is kind of important and you're never more than a stones throw from a company making things pay to win.

I don't need to read up on its monetization practices. I bought the game on Day 1. I wouldn't call anything they've done "taking advantage of their customers." About the only issues I have with the game is that fight money has been harder to earn over the years, and the DLC costumes are expensive. But what do you expect? All fighters can be purchased for free now. They need to sustain the development of future DLC fighters, and the tradeoff is that cosmetics are now fairly pricey. I think that's a fair trade, but you're welcome to disagree.

Also, when I said the reception was overwhelmingly positive I referenced Arcade Edition. An update that was completely free for existing owners of SFV.


Being president is not the same as directing a title. And Dark Souls 2 is a game that I honestly liked less and less the more I played it. I don't give a trout how well received it is. My post is about my opinion. Not the rest of the worlds.

Obviously, which is exactly why I pointed out that he's directed 5 of the last 6 FromSoftware titles. I don't understand how you could point to one game that you dislike and use that to tarnish the entire company's legacy (or at least their legacy of the last decade) as well as your faith in their ability to produce titles, but you're welcome to your opinion. I just think that if you really enjoy 5 of a developer's previous 6 titles, it usually means they're doing a solid job.


Because even the most talented companies with the best intentions can make a bad game and being willing to do things like put up money to pre-order a game no one has played yet is never to the benefit of the customer and basically amounts to slapping money on the table in the HOPE that a game will be good. It's silly.

Sure, but certain companies have legacies built on consistency. Look at Naughty Dog since Uncharted: Drakes Fortune released in 2007. Look at Nintendo with The Legend of Zelda and the 3D Mario series. These developers have earned reputations as being among the best game-makers in the industry because they always release high quality games. You can have confidence in something based on its consistency and reliability, and certain game developers have proven themselves to be very reliable. So to me, it really doesn't seem ludicrous to have faith in a developer.


What you actually mean is preorders benefit the consumer because the company generously gives you the bonus content that would have been included standard in the game years ago. Companies shouldn't get credit for carving out content to encourage pre-orders and which they later sell separately to those buying later to get even more money. I won't take part in game companies further nickel and diming me thanks.

No idea how your response applies to what I said. The Aethyrite Earrings in FFXIV were specifically made for existing players of the game so they could catch up to the Level 70 cap in time for Shadowbringers. It's not content that "would have been included in the game years ago"; it's content that's relevant for the game now because it prepares you for future content. You're free to dislike pre-orders, but I happen to take a more optimistic view about them.


Why would I give a company that ultimately doesn't care about me my business without even knowing if the product is any good?

I think it's a little dishonest to say that developers don't care about their fans, because many developers depend on a healthy relationship between the fans and the people who make games, and a healthy relationship involves treating fans with respect rather than the indifference you seem to suggest they do. Indie developers like Matt Makes Games achieve success because they show thoughtfulness and kindness to their players (https://kotaku.com/celeste-taught-fans-and-its-own-creator-to-take-better-1825305692), the makers of fighting games wouldn't exist without a community full of dedicated competitors, and companies like Capcom wouldn't have their current reputation without prioritizing games their fans will enjoy over making the most profitable games possible.


I don't give a trout about whether a companies previous games have been good as it gives me zero indication that the next will also be good.

What? This doesn't make any sense. Logic dictates that you should always proportion your confidence in something to the evidence that supports said confidence. If the evidence suggests that a developer can be consistently relied upon to produce good titles, then there is a substantiated argument for having faith in their ability to make good games in the future.


Now I look forward to your next reply that tries to convince me I'm wrong using measures that don't matter to me and more arguments that boil down to supporting companies because they promised good games. Or business arguments that just aren't. I'll very much enjoy ignoring it I think.

This is pretty dismissive and, in all honesty, disrespectful. Disappointing to read.

[Slothy]

This is pretty dismissive and, in all honesty, disrespectful. Disappointing to read.

You were dismissive and disrespectful of my FEELINGS and OPINIONS on this topic when you tried to tell me I'm wrong about how I FEEL and my SUBJECTIVE OPINION based on things I DON'T LIKE about games and the industry because you disagree and some critics I'll never meet and who's reviews have no bearing on MY OWN PERSONAL JUDGEMENTS may or may not also disagree. Turnabout is fair play.

[SeasideArms]

I don't generally care too much who developed a game and just go by whether a game looks fun to me, but FromSoft have done so much good with the Souls games that they are one of the few companies I actually kinda trust in to deliver something that is good. I have been meaning to try out the King's Field games basically just because they are the ones who made them. thatgamecompany has also been really creative with their games so far, as has Team Ico/genDESIGN. I'll also probably play anything developed by Frictional Games. I feel like their Penumbra series was painfully underrated and Soma's story was amazing.

[Vyk]

This is pretty dismissive and, in all honesty, disrespectful. Disappointing to read.

You were dismissive and disrespectful of my FEELINGS and OPINIONS on this topic when you tried to tell me I'm wrong about how I FEEL and my SUBJECTIVE OPINION based on things I DON'T LIKE about games and the industry because you disagree and some critics I'll never meet and who's reviews have no bearing on MY OWN PERSONAL JUDGEMENTS may or may not also disagree. Turnabout is fair play.

This is why I went inactive. The few times I visit anymore is just to lurk. Less drama over subjective opinion from the sidelines. My condolences

[Jiro]

I worry more about how publishers are acting than developers. Expectations are ballooning, which makes money a more imperative element, which then also holds developers further accountable to the hand that pays them. The indie and AA spheres have been doing really good stuff almost consistently, so that provides me with all the faith I need.

[Spuuky]

Well see that's one reason I have faith in Larian, they are not beholden to a publisher these days

[SeasideArms]

I worry more about how publishers are acting than developers. Expectations are ballooning, which makes money a more imperative element, which then also holds developers further accountable to the hand that pays them. The indie and AA spheres have been doing really good stuff almost consistently, so that provides me with all the faith I need.

That's exactly why I'm hoping for a return of the vital AA industry we had just a decade or two ago. Some well-designed indie games are doing so well financially, that I hope the big publishers will see projects with lower costs as viable again.

That said, I wonder how much of an issue advertising is in this day and age. With the amount of games available to the average consumer now, publishers feel that they need to spend huge percentages of the money they put into a project into the advertising alone. And I honestly don't know whether they are wrong in thinking that. But I don't know. The optimist in me still kinda wants to believe that if your art is good enough, the audience will come to you.

[Karifean]

The optimist in me still kinda wants to believe that if your art is good enough, the audience will come to you.

You'd think that but then gfdi y'all, why are WarZidane and myself the only two people who mentioned Nihon Falcom!

Seriously though I think they kinda exemplify the strange "overlooked company in plain sight", you'll find only few people who haven't at least heard of their flagship Trails and Ys series, and you'll also find only few people around who've actually played them. Kinda does give some credence to the very real power of publishers and advertisers, much as I'd like it to not be so.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

The optimist in me still kinda wants to believe that if your art is good enough, the audience will come to you.

You'd think that but then gfdi y'all, why are WarZidane and myself the only two people who mentioned Nihon Falcom!

Seriously though I think they kinda exemplify the strange "overlooked company in plain sight", you'll find only few people who haven't at least heard of their flagship Trails and Ys series, and you'll also find only few people around who've actually played them. Kinda does give some credence to the very real power of publishers and advertisers, much as I'd like it to not be so.

Well you'll be happy to know I've recently tried Ys VIII and it's not bad so far.

[Lord Golbez]

I did try Ys with Memories of Celceta and also Origins. Memories of Celceta is ... fine. A little light on story compared to my favored RPGs and also...I hate to sound shallow, but I generally don't care much for games that use that kind of perspective. I just feel to removed or something. I don't know why, but I don't like it and it takes me out of the experience.

[Spuuky]

I like the Ys series, although I'm a few games behind. The problem for me is that they spent too long not releasing games on the platform I play (PC) and I only have time to play so many games.

[maybee]

None of them. They're all greedy bastards at heart tbh. Some are worse than others, but they're all pretty much manipulative fricks. Maybe a decade ago, things might've been different, maybe even 15 or 20 years ago. But today ? Nope.


Yes, they make fun and entertaining games, but they're also not our friends so to speak. They're all greedy businessmen.