Which development company do you still trust and admire?

[Stip45]

Team Ico (Hurry up and finish the Last Guardian already!)
Atlus, though I HATE how they constantly screw up European release dates (Half a year since Persona 4 Arena's release in the US and still no release date is just plain unacceptable)
ThatGameCompany (Journey, Flower, Flow)
And I guess Valve, although I'm not that much of a shooter fan.

 

[josemlopes]

Splash damage

Really man? Splash Damage? I guess I cant tell you that you cant like something but liking Splash Damage is a bit of a stretch, now I'm curious to know why?

OT: CDPR, Valve, Rockstar, somewhat Epic (the games are good and polished but there are some nitpicks about the pricing of some content, Microsoft is probably involved in that thought), and also somewhat Volition (THQ may be a bad influence on them with the Red Faction franchise and the left out content in SR3).

 

[mitchell271]

I like Telltale, Valve and Platinum. Like the OP, I used to love Bioware. KOTOR remains one of my favourites, Mass Effect 1 is another one but everything after DA:O has been "meh".

 

[Lovely Mixture]

-From Software
-Vanillaware (though they haven't made too much as of yet so it's possible I'm being too nice to them)
-Indie developers (notably Edmund Mcmillan, maybe Shanghai Alice)
-Frictional Games
-Vostok Games (formerly GSC Game World)

I don't hate Valve, but I'm not trustworthy of them because I think they aren't taking enough risks. I think Rockstar is fine, but I haven't played any of their recent games so I don't think I'm a valid judge.

 

[MrBenSampson]

Bioware was my favourite developer up until ME2. ME1 felt like a spiritual successor to KotOR, but ME2 felt like a Gears of War clone. I loved Dragon Age: Origins, but I never considered getting the "sequel" after trying the demo.

Currently I'm on the fence with Rockstar and Bethesda. Comparing the multiplayer of RDR to GTA4, I get the impression that they held back a lot of content for DLC. Skyrim feels empty in comparison to the previous games. The only things I like about it are the character models, diverse landscapes and weapon/armour designs.

The only company that has yet to dissapoint me is Valve. Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 are my favourite multiplayer games, and I grew up playing the Half-Life series.

I really miss Pandemic, but I stopped buy their games once I noticed the EA logo.

 

[2xDouble]

"Adore" is a little strong, but I do still admire several game developers: Traveler's Tales, ArenaNet, and Mojang tend to top my lists. Not necessarily for the games they produce, they're all consistently entertaining, but for who they are and what they believe in.

 

[kazann]

"Adore" is a little strong, but I do still admire several game developers: Traveler's Tales, ArenaNet, and Mojang tend to top my lists. Not necessarily for the games they produce, they're all consistently entertaining, but for who they are and what they believe in.

yeah admire fits better anyway.

edited.

 

[sanquin]

I don't adore or trust any gaming company any more. I used to trust a few, but that got destroyed in the last 5 years. I now very carefully review any and all games I'm thinking of buying, no matter the company. I don't buy games on release date any more either, until I've heard/seen user reviews of the game as well.

 

[teebeeohh]

platinum
atlus
obsidian
and the almighty valve

 

[Zio_IV]

Atlus
Arc System Works
Fromsoft (though with them it's more like a 16-year abusive relationship that I can't seem to get angry at).

And though I've had nothing but bile for Capcom for a good while now, I've decided to give them one last chance for having given me Dragon's Dogma. If they can do good things with this new IP, I won't forgive them, but I will stop hating them.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Valve because... well they made STEAM, and Half-Life, and Portal, and L4D, and Counter Strike.

Gearbox because Borderlands never ceases to be awesome, and Randy is just so cool.

Bethesda, because of Elder Scrolls, and Fallout 3.

 

[aguspal]

Other than Bioware, I dont really dislike any company at first sight. At most I am indifferent to them.


But then again, if the company made at least 1 game that I enjoy, then I already inclined to like them anyways. I dont really care much about their bunisses practices, Again, they make me good games, I like them and they dont annoy me. Its easy, really.

 

[Zenn3k]

Valve for sure.

Pretty much anything NOT owned by EA, Microsoft, or Activision is still fairly good.

Then again, most of the what I play now are indie games, seems the more money you take on to game development, the worse the final product becomes.

 

[Darzok]

I trust.

CCP little unsure here given how they have cheated in there own game.

Valve there just great guys.

Rockstar done nothing but make great GTA games and others.

Relic/THQ only guys able to make great warhammer games.

GGG they seem to care about the player base as can be seen in POE forums alone.

piranhagames/infinitegamepublishing making some good MW games and seem to be working with the player base.

I am not sure if i fully trust Sony there kind of hit and miss now.

 

[crazy_coug99]

I'm gonna go with Naughty Dog. They created some of my favorite game sagas with Jak & Daxter and Uncharted. They always put out some interesting and creative material that is always remembered. I can't wait to see what they do with The Last of Them.

 

[schtingah]

The only game developer I will buy every game of without thinking is still BioWare. I've yet to play a game that i didn't thoroughly enjoyed from them.

Generally though, I don't really look at the name of the studio when thinking about buying a game.

 

[deth2munkies]

Riot, Valve, CDProjekt and Obsidian are all studios that I keep my eyes on.

 

[thesilentman]

From Software still wins here. As long as they make mechanically great games, I see no reason to stop buying from those guys.

Atlus... I just started playing Persona 4 Arena. Now I want to play Persona 3 and 4, but PS2 games are being pulled from the shelves... :-/

Valve... I still trust them, a lot more after they brought Steam to Linux, but I keep criticisms in case they slip up.

 

[alphamalet]

After what Bethesda did with Skyrim and the PS3, I can't believe there are so many people saying they "trust" them. It's disturbing. Even if the issue didn't affect you, what they did was disgusting.

 

[Eccentric Lich]

Man, if this had been asked even 5 or 6 years ago, I'd have a list. As it stands now, the only companies I still trust to make good, playable (as in not riddled with bugs or shitty gameplay mechanics)are Arc System Works and Game Freak. Valve's still good, but they barely release anything.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still take chances on other companies if the games look good, but I'm much MUCH more wary than I used to be. These days you need to look out for a lot. So many games are painfully short, released completely unfinished or untested (Bethesda), dumbed down compared to previous games in the series (again, Bethesda and also Nintendo), or full of money-grubbing on-disk DLC (Capcom and the EA conglomerate monster).