Are there good gaming companies anymore?

[Dhrizzle]

Firstly Blizzard themselves admitted they got it wrong. In addition when the govenment starts questioning your behaviour its safe to say you got it wrong. Do you really think the reaction would have been the same had he stood up for Gay rights? Lets not forget they had no problem with thier staff wearing rainbow Blizzard badges.

Yes well done, let's all focus on how evil and horrible Blizzard are, it's clearly more important than what the Chinese government were doing in Hong Kong.

[VinceVega]

Seriously Paradox? Okay the only thing i can say about Paradox, they do sick number of DLC's for thier games. Look at Crusader Kings 2 for example. Or Stellaris.

Paradox is amazing. Love nearly every game of them. DLCs are not needed as you can always player older version if you want to. Games keep being intersting with added new stuff. I have not ONCE bought something from them where i did not think it was not worth the money. Best "big" developer of all of them right now IMHO.
Especially stellaris and crusader kings.... so good....

[Kathranis]

Sure. There are plenty of publishers and studios that don't just do the abusive AAA thing.

Though I think people in this thread are probably a bit naive about the big Japanese publishers (Square Enix, Capcom, Bandai Namco). You hear a lot less about crunch from Japanese studios but they've got a different corporate culture over there that by default pressures employees into doing overtime. And while they've been generally less egregious when it comes to unfinished games and paid DLC, that's not always the case (see: The Avengers).

[bloodwulf]

Stop attributing Good and Evil motives to companies. Despite what the US Government may think, Companies are not people. Most companies exist for one reason alone, to make money. They are businesses, and they have a product to bring to market. These companies are not your friends, despite what their marketing team portrays. They don't answer to you the consumer, they answer to investors and shareholders. This does not make them evil. They can still make consumer friendly games, but its not out of a desire to do "good" as much as it is a plan to make money. Some companies make their money by packing their games full of Gacha mechanics and loot boxes, these are not evil companies, they just have historically proven this route works to make money. Some companies make a game you buy once and get free dlc, these are not good companies, they just know that they can meet their profit and revenue metrics by doing so.

[David Shephard]

I also want to play some good games. Because I have great interest in gaming. Keep me updated. Thank you!

[ldev]

id software.

Probably this. I've enjoyed Quake 4 and Doom 3 - as games they were pretty alright, they were shit doom/quake games, but as games in general - not bad. And then Doom released. O boi.

Rage 1/2 - mediocre games, but not bad.

---

Paradox Interactive? They release their grand strategies. And while people joke that Europa Universalis 4 with all DLCs costs like 150 eur, it's 150 eur over 7 years, and I've spent a couple of thousand hours playing it, so not that expensive. Altho they did some shady shit even if they backed down after backlash...

From Software - they're just releasing their Souls games without much drama that are great games. New Armored Core would be cool, but hey.

[omeomorfismo]

from software makes great games that are mostly free of political and social issues.

lol, saying this when the way of white is literally a parody of the christian clergy and senpou monks are basically all little mengele.

oh, and the omnipresent waifu that serve you like the dirtiest hot dream of any old fashioned japanese xD

[Dezerte]

Seriously Paradox? Okay the only thing i can say about Paradox, they do sick number of DLC's for thier games. Look at Crusader Kings 2 for example. Or Stellaris.

I think they are a bit "excessive" when it comes to DLC and pricing of said DLC, but their free patches are pretty good as those usually include some new mechanic and/or feature and not just bug fixes. They're not my favourite when it comes to their ethics but they're still decent.

[MrFawlty]

Yes well done, let's all focus on how evil and horrible Blizzard are, it's clearly more important than what the Chinese government were doing in Hong Kong.

Thats what happens when they get it wrong and overact. You highlight the very thing you are trying to avoid.

[Arrashi]

Team shanghai alice. Yet to be disappointed by them.

[Orby]

I really don't jump on this notion that there are 'good' game companies. Just good games.

This whole idea of sucking up and playing buddy buddy with game developers never sits right with me.

[Kokolums]

Just last year, everyone was saying we still have CD Projekt Red as the “good guys” of gaming... then Cyberpunk came out.

Are there ANY good game companies anymore? Square Enix?

I trust Nintendo to make fun games. But I admit I have not bought recent products. I'm not willing to shell out $400 for a Nintendo console and some games.

- - - Updated - - -

Should remember Blizzard did just make national news for banning a tournament player for speaking out against China.

Not only that, but Blizzard seriously attempted to "correct" the problem by issuing left-wing political statements at the next Blizzcon, which ties them to the democrat party, and it is the democrat party that sides with China over Hong Kong. So they STILL effed up.

[Seranthor]

Just last year, everyone was saying we still have CD Projekt Red as the “good guys” of gaming... then Cyberpunk came out.

Are there ANY good game companies anymore? Square Enix?

kinda depends on your definition of 'good company'

[oplawlz]

They're all good until they get too big and the greed begins to overshadow the passion.

Pretty well sums it up. Once shareholders are involved shit is bound to go sideways.

[Seranthor]

People believe that Blizzard over reacted.

Player agrees to rules, Player breaks rules knowing what the punishment could be. Blizzard acts against rulebreaker.

[Uoyredrum]

id software, New Blood Interactive, Larian, Devolver Digital

[KrayZ33]

If I had to name one it would probably be Creative Assembly.

Their DLC stuff is usually worth it (except for the blood/gore-DLC) and it feels like they actually have fun adding new stuff and creating their Total War games.

And I have fun playing them.
Same with Paradox Interactive - their games might be "barebones" when they come out but even at that state they entertain for hundreds of hours and you can safely assume that a lot of stuff is added along the way.

Stellaris felt like playing a new game for 3 times now and I'm still having fun.
CK2 was a lot of fun throughout the whole experience.
CK3 is fun and I'm currently waiting on DLC.

But that's me accepting the new pay-model:
"Base Game -> DLC + Free Stuff -> DLC + Free Stuff ..... "

games have these days. As long as it's actually DLC that adds something to the game, I'm fine with it.
Cosmetic sets or lootboxes or XP boosters in a SP game can suck my dick.

[MrFawlty]

Player agrees to rules, Player breaks rules knowing what the punishment could be. Blizzard acts against rulebreaker.

No one saying he didnt break the rules its the action taken that caused the problem.

[PACOX]

Stop attributing Good and Evil motives to companies. Despite what the US Government may think, Companies are not people. Most companies exist for one reason alone, to make money. They are businesses, and they have a product to bring to market. These companies are not your friends, despite what their marketing team portrays. They don't answer to you the consumer, they answer to investors and shareholders. This does not make them evil. They can still make consumer friendly games, but its not out of a desire to do "good" as much as it is a plan to make money. Some companies make their money by packing their games full of Gacha mechanics and loot boxes, these are not evil companies, they just have historically proven this route works to make money. Some companies make a game you buy once and get free dlc, these are not good companies, they just know that they can meet their profit and revenue metrics by doing so.

Too based.

Company did something I don't like or made a miscalculate....company evil!

[Eninya]

You're pretty much looking to indie game companies now. Supergiant is rapidly growing into a legend right now, and Hades is unbelievably good.

Team Cherry does Hollow Knight, which is primarily 3 people (they officially added their coder after HK). Christopher Larken does all of the music, though he's unofficially the official musician for the HK games.

Radical Fish Games is behind CrossCode, my favorite indie game. I'm not as in-the-know of their development, since I ended up discovering the game very late in its cycle. I did hear that the main founder had developed his own game years prior that was liked, but abandoned in for CC's development.

Tom Happ solo developed all of Axiom Verge, but I believe he now works under, or directly with, Sony. I haven't been following AX2's development, so I don't know if he brought in additional people. The first game was made entirely by him over 5 years, with scant outside help for some programming stuff. (Might be worth noting, but some of the music is weak, but he admitted he wasn't the great musician--valid criticism, but pretty minor in the grand scheme given the game's ambition and overall quality.)

The biggest thing about game quality I see is how much the original vision remains intact. Tom Happ pointed out that Axiom Verge was so consistent and implied that the overall quality of the game was because he was the sole developer and didn't have to really compromise on that. Though, he does point out it's a double edge, since it means he has to learn things out of his expertise and it slows down development.