Is there a dev company whose games you will play, no questions asked?

[thelustyargoniandude]

I will play literally anything released by Double Fine. Psychonauts is one of my top three games of all time and, aside from Brutal Legend, I have yet to be even remotely let down by any Double Fine game. Don't get me wrong, Brutal Legend was okay, just not great. Tim Schafer could literally shit in a game case, call it "Dumbass Shit Chronicles", and I would buy it, shove that turd into my Xbox and love every second of it.

 

[Rack]

Not quite Valve because they do a lot of multiplayer stuff that I'm simply unable to play. Any single player titles though I'll get no questions asked. I'll get anything from Platinum. I think that's it though, Bioware, Blizzard and Nintendo have all dropped off that list.

What has Blizzard done? Or Bioware? Actually, what has NINTENDO done? I am so confuzzled. The last games of all of them have been really good, especially NINTENDO, I mean Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land and Skyward Sword were all very well made games.

So for me, games I will play without question:

ValVe
Blizzard
Bioware
Nintendo

Blizzard's an odd one, everything they do is high quality but between a million WoW expansions and the rather shady way they're treating Diablo I've become cautious.

Bioware seem to be on a bit of a downward spiral, Dragon Age 2 was okay but horribly rushed, Mass Effect 2 was highly polishd but had a horrible main plot. Then there's the new Command and Conquer by a studio called Bioware but seems to have nothing to do with them... Simply put I've lost confidence.

Nintendo is easy. Wii Music? Wii Fit? Nintendogs? Mario Party? We don't even have to get into how I've not got on with Zelda since Aonuma took over and don't have the patience for a million Pokémon titles.

 

[Matt Dellar]

Camelot Software Planning
Intelligent Systems
[sub]Shanghai Alice[/sub]

You, sir, just became one of my favorite Escapist users, especially on that last one.

I'll append that list with Wolfire Games, creators of Overgrowth and founders of the Humble Indie Bundle.

 

[Berlin]

I don't know offhand who makes the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games, but I'm for them.

 

[TyrantGanado]

Well, Naughty Dog is an obvious choice for me and given how much I love the Just Cause games I'll probably support Avalanche in anything they do for the time being.

However looking at games-per-developer ratio, Neversoft are well represented. I've missed only five of the twenty games they've developed:

Skeleton Warriors...
...and Apocalypse (which were released before I jumped on their bandwagon)
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (which I just never got around to picking up for whatever reason)
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (because I have no interest in Aerosmith)
Band Hero (because the track list was shit and I realised at this point Activision was taking the piss).

Thankfully Activision have allowed Neversoft to move on so let's see what the future holds for them.

 

[linkblade91]

Mine would have to be Insomniac Games. Spyro is only worth talking about if you're referring to him back on the PS1, I absolutely love the Ratchet & Clank series, and I have enjoyed the Resistance franchise as well. With the Borderlands-esque "Overstrike" IP coming our way soon, I thoroughly support the notion that it'll be awesome.

After Insomniac, I'd throw in Sucker Punch as well. Sly Cooper was (or should I say is) a great series, and inFamous was really good as well.

From Insomniac and Sucker Punch, my first assumption will continue to be that whatever's next for them is going to be great.

 

[Estarc]

Well, a year ago I would of happily said Bioware and listed some of my experiences with the games they've released in the past to justify my faith. But after the release of Dragon Age 2?

Nope, not a game developer in the world whose games I will buy on faith anymore.

 

[Electrogecko]

Wayforward has been on a roll recently with their downloadable titles on DSi/3ds.

 

[Nazgual]

bethesda, i love their games except for rouge warrior and hunted. other than those games i have loved every game they have released.

If I remember correctly Bethesda only published them.

Naz is partially right here - there are actually two different companies, Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studios.

This is a list of all the series that have been published by BethSoft:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/

...but out of those, the only games actually developed by BGS are the entire Elder Scrolls series barring Oblivion Mobile (developed by Vir2L) and Fallout 3. New Vegas was a collaboration between Bethesda and Obsidian, but only so far as Bethesda creating the engine - NV is basically a professional mod.

Before TES they made a couple of things like a Terminator game and some Hockey stuff, but that's not really modern-day Bethesda.

Calling New Vegas a professional mod is a bit harsh don't you think? I think expansion pack/spin-off is a better description.

 

[Savber]

Lets see Valve and CD Projekt RED....

Bioware comes close but after getting burned by DA2, I'm a little cautious.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Valve and Rockstar.

I remember when Bioware used to be on that list.

 

[BanicRhys]

While I never unquestionably buy a game because a certain developer made it, I can say that Blizzard has never made a game that I didn't buy and enjoy.

 

[SovietX]

Valve and Frictional Games.

Both pump out solid products and I really appreciate them.

Also, if I think back a bit, I would probably say Rare. But they kind of ruined that when they were bought off by Microsoft.

 

[The Dutchess]

Always Bioware. DA2 was still bloody good. I preorded DA2, I preordered SWTOR and I've preordered ME3. I'll probably, no definately, preorder DA3.

Although ... this new war game thing they're revamping doesn't look quite like my thing.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Valve and Blizzard.
Halflife, CS, WC3 / D2 + expansions

~1 Millions hours spent xD

 

[Triangulon]

I would say Valve. However, given the time I have spent on League of Legends I doubt I will play Dota 2. In which case the answer to your question is no...

 

[gambler778]

Rockstar Games and Bioware. Bethesda to a lesser extent, I didn't like the Fallout games very much but I'm LOVING Skyrim, so I'm anxious to see what they come out with next.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

BioWare, but now i'm in doubt about that. Starting to think that pre ordering ME3 was a mistake. ME3 will probably be the last game i buy from them. Also creative assembly, absolutely love the total war games.

 

[tsb247]

Generally no. I have been known to pick up any MilSim by Bohemia Interactive. I suppose to fully answer the question, I would have to specify that I will only buy a game from a developer with no quesitons asked if it is within a genre that they have demonstrated an expertise in.

For instance...

I will buy a MilSim from Bohemia Interactive - no questions asked.
I will buy a combat flight sim from Graphsim - no questions asked.
I will buy an RPG from Bethesda - no questions asked.

However, if those companies were to create a game outside of their area of expertise, then I would probably wait for the reviews before I blindly bought something from them.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Retro
Valve (Besides L4D. I enjoy their single player experiences, but I have issues with a game that practically requires 4 people with mics who work well together.)
Bethesda Game Studios
Imsoniac
Relic
Rocksteady
EDIT: Adding 4A games to the list, but seeing as they've only made Metro 2033 and are coming out with Metro Last Light, I feel like it's cheating putting up a developer with such a small catalog.