Developer Fanboyism

[Bizzaro Stormy]

There are some folks that really love the games that certain companies make. I must admit to not being one of them. I generally go on a game by game basis. I might even love the series but not really care who made it. With that said I know many of you feel differently about it than I do. So what game companies do you love and why?

 

[tippy2k2]

I always go on a game-by-game basis when choosing what to buy.

That said, seeing a certain developer will ALWAYS get me more excited about a game and will make me pay way more attention to that game pre-release than I normally ever would. Off the top of my head, only two developers make that list...

ATLUS and Naughty Dog

ATLUS gets the nod because they seem to be one of the few game developers who will try just about anything and somehow they get it to work. Helps that I'm a big fan of RPGs as well but what other company would think that a puzzle platform/visual novel adultery simulator would make a good game?

Naughty Dog in recent years also gets this nod because the games of theirs that I've played (Uncharted and my GotY The Last of Us) have all been absolutely amazing. I'm excited to see what else they come up with. I know "cinematic" is a naughty word right now but playing Uncharted is like playing an Indiana Jones movie and I love it. If they can get the emotional impact of Last of Us into Uncharted 4, I may just have to buy a PS4.

EDIT: I'll probably be doing this all day as I see others put their lists up but I will now add...

-Bioware (though I have yet to play DA:I). I have yet to play a game of theirs that I didn't at least like (if not love like Mass Effect)

 

[Tono Makt]

Bioware and Bethesda are the two that I'll look at any game they make. Fallout 3/New Vegas, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age. No other publisher will get the same treatment from me... though given how annoying the end of ME3 was and how Dragon Age has fallen off since DA:O, Bioware is on the verge of losing that status.

 

[Mutant1988]

Honestly, I don't let my appreciation of games blind me to the faults of them or the developers. I fail to see what good that would do.

If a developer makes shit I'll tell them it's shit. Doesn't matter if they are the best developer in the world.

But leaning towards fanboyism, in that I'm willing to tolerate a lot of bad decisions (Mind, not if they are intentional) and still like them as a developer, for the games they make?

SNK (King of Fighters, Metal Slug and various other properties), Sandlot (Earth Defense Force) and SEGA (Just about everything besides Sonic and A:CM).

But yeah, no developer or publisher should be expecting any kind of loyalty from me. I appreciate them only for as long as they make things that are good and don't treat customers like walking wallets to be ripped open and then discarded. I have very little patience for exploitive, restrictive and short sighted business practises.

I liked some of Ubisofts games but I no longer buy them because of their habit of releasing broken games with a metric crapton of DLC and insanely stupid design decisions (Mouse acceleration needs to DIE).

I won't buy EA games because I don't like their short sighted restrictive server format, where core functionalities of the game becomes 100% unusable once they drop support for it. Which they do, because servers cost money to maintain. I think that, rather than have them at all, we should just employ systems that don't need them. Or at least have them as an option. Thinking of LAN (Every games should have LAN functionality - No exception), privately owned servers (Not just slots on EAs servers) and split screen.

I stopped buying Starbreeze games recently, because I got fed up with their greed in churning out paid content of questionable quality in lieu of delivering promised free content in a timely manner, imposing pre-orders (Which are anti-consumer in prohibiting critical examination before making a purchasing decision) in the midpoint of the life cycle of the game, inflating prices for exclusivity while framing it as support and for employing crowd sourcing strategies for content already developed, where the value of what you pay depends on how much everyone else spends (And the big winners is the ones that don't pay anything at all).

So yeah, I don't take shit from any developer or publisher.

 

[LaoJim]

Lots really, I try to be aware of who makes what and obviously if a developer has made some or many good games before, I'm going to be interested in their next project. So examples...

Behemoth - Castle Crashers, Battleblock Theatre
Platinum - Bayonetta, Wonderful 101, Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising, Reverence etc.
From Software - Demon/Dark Souls
Codemasters - most of their racing games, (but they've been letting me down recently).
Criterion Games - Burnout series, some of the better Need for Speeds.
Cave - Deathsmiles, Dodonpachi Ressurection, Akai Katana

I'm sure there are lots more, although many studios these days get caught up churning out sequel after sequel. In pretty much all the cases the why is simply because they make good games, but...

Behemoth - love their sense of humour and their art style
Cave - Its great that a developer can survive making such unrelentingly and apologetically old-school games. I don't even like the shmups THAT much, but I still love the fact they can (somehow) survive.
Codemasters - growing up on England with a ZX Spectrum, I still remember when Codemasters was two spotty teenagers releasing games from their bedrooms, with titles like Ninja Scooter Simulator.

 

[LostCrusader]

The extent of my developer fanboyism is usually just whether I am willing to preorder a game from them or not. It usually just comes down to how much I have enjoyed the previous games and if they have burned me before. From Software and Bethesda are the only ones that fit now. Bioware and the Total War games used to be just about instant preorders until I got something bad.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

I really love :
Capcom - devil may cry series, Ace attorney series, Ghost trick

Square Enix- Hitman series, Thief series, Final Fantasy series,

Platinum- Bayonetta, Okami, Wonderful 101

Nintendo- Mario Kart, Pikimin, Animal Crossing

Vigil games - Darksiders series

Konami- Silent hill, Castlevania,

Maxis - The Sims series

Sony Japan studio- Shadow of the colossus

Namco- Ace Combat

EDIT:

I just want to add that just because I like these companies, it does not mean I am a "fanboy" but rather I will more likely be interested in their next instalment than other companies that I do not care about. All the companies that I have listed have many faults but I can see the potential/ talent in them.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Square Enix- Hitman series, Thief series, Final Fantasy series,

The Hitman series is done by IO Interactive and Thief was developed by Looking Glass Studios, Ion Storm and Eidos Montreal.

Square Enix involvement is just as the publisher, not the developer. Also, they have only been publishing games for both series (as well as the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchise) since 2009, when they took over Eidos Interactive, the former publisher for all four franchises.

Just wanted to point it out in case you didn't know. The more you know and all that.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

Square Enix- Hitman series, Thief series, Final Fantasy series,

The Hitman series is done by IO Interactive and Thief was developed by Looking Glass Studios, Ion Storm and Eidos Montreal.

Square Enix involvement is just as the publisher, not the developer. Also, they have only been publishing games for both series (as well as the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchise) since 2009, when they took over Eidos Interactive, the former publisher for all four franchises.

Just wanted to point it out in case you didn't know. The more you know and all that.

Thanks, I already know. I am just too lazy to add the developers' name to the list so I just use the publisher name instead.

 

[Maximum Bert]

There are certain Devs I favour for sure but tbh I tend to be more critical of their games than I would than if I was impartial to them. Im not just going to blindly praise every game they shit out particularity if its er shit.

Conversely there are Devs who I do not like much but I try and not let my distaste for their games in general cloud my judgement of any new one although tbf I am unlikely to try games by devs whose games have repeatedly proven not to my liking so my bias will largely remain intact.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Relic Entertainment is really the only one I'll defend to the death, because apart from their hilarious balancing issues, they've yet to make a game I've actually hated.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I used to love THQ and their 40k games. Now I spend my evenings on a widow's walk, longing staring out in a vast ocean hoping Dawn of War III will come.

 

[Silence]

Was a Blizzard fanboy until WoW-WotLk.

Now I take it game to game. Some developers have a good track record like Supergiant Games. But I don't fanboy out anymore.

 

[Scarecrow1001]

I uh...
ahem
I am a Ubisoft fanboy
Okay, I said it! Put away the torches!
I love their games, for some reason. The Assassin's Creed series being my favourite. Hell, I even adored Unity, and without a shadow of a doubt know that anyone who still hates it is being petty, due to the bugs being fixed, and the game actually being really quite good.
I also loved Watch_Dogs, and hell, I even love Rayman. I'm not quite sold on The Division, but it does look kickass.
So yeah!
Oh, also... Ubisoft really need to take a year or more off with the AC series. Even though I will preorder Victory the second I can.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Definitely Platinum Games. I've at least enjoyed all of their games that I've played and loved most of them.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I go on a game by game basis too. There was a time when I was attached to many game devs, but after seeing what Bungie did with Destiny, I've decided to assume the worst out of most companies. Probably overly pessimistic, but at least I don't get hurt by the hype train anymore.

That said, I do still keep my hopes up for Bethesda (not necessarily everything they publish though) and CD Projekt Red.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Platinum Games and Insomniac are probably the only two developers that I think are the shit.

They make great games, and I just love Ratchet and Clank.

Platinum makes the craziest shit ever and I will always love them for that.

 

[Vigormortis]

Um, what if it just so happens that I like every (or nearly every) game from certain developers, and that because I like the games so much I like those developers as well?

I suppose you could say that I take it on a game-by-game basis, but I have a lot of admiration for a handful of dev studios, simply because of my love of their associated games.

So...I don't know. How would one classify me under the OP guidelines?

 

[MerlinCross]

Certain names get me hyped but I'll be first in line to complain about some the dev did. Altus gives me more faith in a product than others though.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I'm definitely an Edmund McMillen fanboy. Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac are two of my favourite games and his flash games are awesome too. He just has a great style that I really gravitate towards for some reason.

As for bigger developers, not really. They always end up disappointing me somehow.