When games needed funding, marketing and the release of their game on certain consoles. This could only be done through the assistance of a publisher. Although this was a straightforward idea during the recent years of game development, a gradual evolution has taken place regarding the role of a publisher and also how independent game developers can be with regards to developing and releasing their games. 

In the article “From Gatekeepers to Guns for Hire: The New Role of Indie Game Publishers” written by Ben Kuchera, it highlights the changes with what being a publisher means to game developers. Typically, most of the legal paperwork including; funding, taxes, negotiating, advertising, market research, logistics, among other things, is handled by the publisher, and the planning and development of the game is left to the developers. But now, many developers successfully release their games without any interactions with publishers. As a result, modern publishers have emerged that focus on areas developers may need help with. As pointed out by Kuchera, developers are searching for the services that publishers can provide therefore allowing the developers more time and focus to be placed on development (Kuchera, 2014). This relationship ends up being mutually beneficial and allows for the creation of new publishers with different strengths and services in order to appeal to the wide variety of game developers. With various examples provided in the article with games like: Luftrausers, Hotline Miami, Samurai Gunn among others, all have something in common. That through the use of modern publishers catering to the different services needed depending upon the project, it allowed for a higher level of success (Kuchera, 2014). The article also lists a few of these modern publishers; one of them is called nkidu. On the nkidu blog one of the posts explains a few areas in which publishers can help, with things like dealing with platform holders, public relations/marketing and business consulting (nkidu, 2015). Another example of a modern publisher is behind one of the major console platforms, Xbox, which has recently created a program -called ID@Xbox- where developers can publish their games on the Xbox platform (Kuchera, 2014). In some scenarios, hiring a publisher who has experience that a developer might not have can prove to be greatly beneficial, and allows greater focused to be placed on developing the game. Adding to that one of the reasons why developers want help from publishers is not for funding but instead, for promotion. As a result of constantly having more and more games on the market it is harder to stand out. This highlights the needs of game developers and drives publishers to adapt and become more flexible with their services. An example presented in the article is, how one game may need a publisher just for promoting a game while another may need a QA team and help on development (Kuchera, 2014).

To conclude the notion that publishers are an obligatory component in game development is not true for all games. But the idea of what a publisher is and what its roles are have changed. Developers from conception stage to release are able to complete their games without ever using a publisher but some publishers have adapted to this shift, in order to appeal to the game developers and provide their services to create the best product possible.

References

Kuchera, Ben. (15 April 2014). http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/15/5610458/indie-game-publishers

Nkidu. (May 22 2015). http://www.nkidu.com/2015/05/22/11194/