Games Developers and Publishers
The developer and publisher relationship can often be confusing, but in it’s simplest form it can be explained as Developers make the game, and Publishers put the game into a box and get it into the shops.
Where it gets more difficult is that some publishers develop their games as well, and sometimes it’s difficult to see where specific roles lie in the developer/publisher relationship.
Developers
A developer is a group of people who make games. They design the game, program it and make all the art and sound (or sub-contract some or all of these tasks to other developers). At the end of the day they are people who create the fun.
Publisher
Publishers are not simply responsible for getting the game into the shop, but they also handle the packaging, distribution, promotion, language localisation and providing legal help when needed – negotiating licenses for example. Often a publisher will approach a developer and ask them to develop a specific game for them, providing a design overview.
Since the publisher is often the party with money, they will often seek a creative role in the games development to protect their interests. This can take the form of assigning producers or project managers to the developer to ensure that deadlines are met. This can often cause tension between the publisher and developer, as the developer may feel the publisher is trying to interfere with what they as developers do best.
Internal Developers
Some developers are self publishing, and some publishers own development studios. EA and Ubisoft, for example, are international publishers who also happen to own several development studios. These studios are known as internal studios, only develop games for their parent publisher. Both Ubisoft and EA however also publish games developed by external studios – studios which they do not own.
There is also now a growing trend towards online distribution of games, thus removing the publisher from the equation, but this is not as simple as it sounds. As described above, Publishing is not simply the job of putting the game in the box and getting it into the shop, and games still need to be advertised and promoted.