A Publisher Is Usually Necessary (Destiny)

by digital_ronin, Monday, January 14, 2019, 11:10 (1941 days ago) @ ManKitten
edited by digital_ronin, Monday, January 14, 2019, 11:40

A publisher is usually necessary when building a AAA game. The publisher pays/helps pay the bills during the creation/development period, with the idea that they will make more money on the release of the game. Making a AAA game is a huge expense which is probably why Bungie needed Activision to begin with and why Activision wanted a contractual release cadence.

There are a few exceptions to this Epic has a large money maker in the Unreal Engine licenses (although I'm not seeing Unreal Engine used as much as it used to) to bankroll the initial development of Fortnite. Some games have been able to use Early Access, like PUBG, to help keep the lights on.

Publishers also have access to localization teams to help get your product out to a worldwide audience and marketing and sales teams in those territories.

While digital distribution has made a lot of this easier, and having an established IP like Destiny will help too, this is still a competitive environment and publishing isn't easy.