Gaming Publishers and Developers that actually "won" your respect.

[Absolutionis]

Used to love Blizzard, but then they made the mediocre Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. Decided to wait for the rest of their games. Starcraft 2 ended up being a delight and Diablo 3 ended up being a bullet I dodged.

Used to love Bioware, but then they made the console-only Jade Empire. Decided to wait for the rest of their games. Then they stopped existing.

Used to love EA for the Desert Strike games and their goofy-looking Sega Genesis cartridges. Then they decided to have a thousand abortions in both product and ethics.

Used to like Bethesda, but then they made Horse Armor. Never forgave them for frontiering the garbage DLC concept and bastardizing the idea of expansions. I usually wait for a complete edition of their games to come out for less than $10 before buying a game nowadays.

Valve still hasn't broken my trust. Controversy over L4D2 almost shook me. Still a great game. It's not that Valve can do no wrong. It's just that they have never intentionally done anything anti-consumer.

Creative Assembly makes great-quality games. Never been disappointed in a Total War iteration.

Arenanet makes makes Guild Wars games and all the add-ons. Great games, great people, great quality, great communication. Never been disappointed.

Rockstar unquestionably makes good-quality games. Bully wasn't really my style, but it was still good. They are the most likely candidate for making trash DLC, but they haven't gone that route. They're essentially the new Blizzard in that they control their own schedules and print money whenever. GTA4 was a great game with two full expansions. Never been disappointed. Red Dead Redemption was a shocking delight too.

Of course there are companies like Double Fine and CD Projekt RED that are simply awesome for not only their games but their outlook on gaming in general.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

Valve pretty much owns my PC, because the only games I play besides on 3DS is Steam games.

Atlus continues to deliver awesome games.

After that, I don't really look at game companies track records. Just buy games that seem interesting to me.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Atlus- Odin Sphere, the SMT games, Catherine, the Persona series, ect. But this is what really made them earn my respect (which they sort of lost after the P4A region lock incident): Persona 4 the Golden. Its crammed full of new content, two new social links that don't feel crammed in but add deeper influence on the story, fan service for the music, and they even added a joke from a famous Persona 4 internet comic (Hiimdaisy). If thats not they're way of saying we love the fans, I don't know what is.

From Soft- 3D Dot Game Heroes, and Dark Souls and Demons Souls, both original challenging games that get their charm from their nostalgic difficulty/learning curve, and fun as hell pvp system. So fair warning From: If you add an easy mode, the souls series and its charm is DEAD. Just sayin.

Rocksteady- Batman.

Platinum Games/former Clover Studios- For never making an action game that disappoints, and for ending up doing the impossible: Making a better Devil May Cry game (MGR Revengeance) then the actual new DmC.

Grasshopper Manufacturer- They're pretty much Platinum, but with crazier more original ideas and are led by the gaming industries version of Quentin Tarantino.

Kojima Productions- Cause Kojima is a nice guy who makes nice game, and I'll gladly pay $60 first day for a nice game made by a nice guy.

Rockstar- The funny thing about Rockstar is, as far as I know, they've never done anything infamous in the eyes of gamers. So the amount of trust and respect they've earned over the years can make anyone jump off a cliff with them... also they're games are pretty good.

And Valve- to find out why, read the rest of this thread. Because obvious.

 

[00slash00]

atlus: theyre one of those developers where i can see a game and be on the fence about it, then see that atlus made it and think "well, it cant be too bad."

bioware: because of mass effect. yes i know, a lot of people lost faith in bioware after mass effect but my feelings of bioware have been pretty much the opposite of everyone else. i loved them for baldurs gate 1 and 2 and then every game until mass effect that they wade was a massive letdown. even mass effect one, i thought was simply okay, but the idea of decisions carrying over to the next game intrigued me enough and mass effect 2 restored my faith in them as a company

valve: i love and respect them, but im also a little suspicious of them. with stuff like gamers gate and green man gaming, they are only now starting to have competition. im just naturally suspicious of any company that has that much power

that game company: journey. i dont think i need to say more than that

From software: love me some dark souls and demon's souls (especially demon's souls)

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

CD Projekt Red. I at first was intrigued by their absolute no drm resolve, then after dealing with their GOG customer services and the way they handled the Botanicula incident, they completed won my respect and admiration. Plus after playing The Witcher 2, I can say they make damn good games as well. I have to pinch myself to make sure these guys are real sometimes.

 

[Aarowbeatsdragon]

I've always been a huge fan of Bioware, love all the games they make, but the fact that they stuck to their guts and creative integrity and didn't change the mass effect 3 ending made me truly respect them!

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Used to love Bioware, but then they made the console-only Jade Empire. Decided to wait for the rest of their games. Then they stopped existing.

Jade Empire wasn't console-only. Well, it was in the sense that Mass Effect was a console exclusive. They made a PC port, with added content, about 2 years later.

 

[The Selkie]

With the exception of Valve (which I respect, without really being a "fan") most other companies that I respect/like have had some sort of slip up along the way. Off the top of my head:

Bungie for Halo, Oni, Marathon. Minus a little for the below-their-standards ODST.

Bethesda for Elders Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored. Shame about horse armour (and their generally iffy DLC).

Obsidian for making buggy but often brilliant games (although I'd be slow to preorder something they're working on before seeing it).

Bioware for KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Dragon Age. Shame about the day one DLC, online passes and THE ENDING (although I'm secretly ok with it, particularly how they responded to the uproar).

At the minute, I'll pretty much automatically buy any game by Bungie and any RPG by Bethesda.

 

[Genocidicles]

EA earned my respect a while back. This was when John Riccitielo first took power and turned EA around. He made them focus on new IPs like Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, an they saved Brutal Legend after Activision threw it in the garbage. It looked like EA had redeemed themselves after all the bullshit.

And then they just turned out to be even worse than they used to be, and I lost every ounce of new-found respect I had for them.

 

[Generic4me]

Rockstar. So long as we're not considering the PC versions of their games, (Or Hot Coffee from 2004) I respect them. No fucking online passes, great games, and they mind their own business and don't do stupid shit. Their DLC is pretty okay too. Plus they delayed GTA 5. To make it better. (Okay, that and holiday release) But still.

Team Meat. Yeah, they're weird and definitely perverts, but they make damn good games and have avoided doing anything utterly stupid, like wonderful DRM or shit DLC.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

cd projekt red is right at the top of this list due to their customer care/support, not to mention GoG being an amazing gold mine.

obsidian makes extremely rough games that i just keep eating up, i love them to death and everytime i see a project they are in, or check out vids with them speaking on stuff, i just see myself constantly loving/agreeing with the stuff they say.

valve is great thanks to steam and stuff like tf2, i understand steam is drm and all that shnazz, but i've never had anything but stellar support from them and it's worked like a charm for me compared to origin and other providers. also, steam sales.

otherwise, EA and actiblizz can burn in hell for all i care.

 

[thesilentman]

From Software. Those guys know how to make a game. A good nice game. Not an interactive movie, but a game I can get lost into. Playing Dark Souls made me realize the power of gaming and its advantages and such, and I have to thank from software for it. ;-)

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

Bethesda - For continuing to support the non-online single-player experience and the modding community. Hell, even if there was an option for LAN play for an Elder Scrolls game, I wouldn't be averse to it. But at least they aren't online only "for a better experience".

Grinding Gear Games - For making a real Diablo 2 sequel in a new way.

Crate Entertainment - For working with their fans to craft a new aRPG in the vein of Titan Quest.

CCP - For making a true online universe, and making it for their players, not shareholders.

Valve - For creating a quality service.

From Software - For continuing to create Armored Core games for the fans of the series, as well as creating the most intense RPG experiences ever in Demon Souls/Dark Souls.

CD Projekt Red - For making an RPG saga that breaks the mold, and treating their customers with respect.

The developers behind FFXIV - They owned up to their mistakes and are working on fixing it. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but at least they are trying. That in itself impresses me.

Blizzard North - For Diablo and Diablo II.

 

[IrenIvy]

Grinding Gear Games. As it is now, I extremely respect their approach to microtransactions in Path of Exile.