Who is your favorite boutique or small game publisher?

[Zed Clampet]

My original headline was going to be "Who is your favorite indie publisher" and then I realized that didn't technically make any sense, but that's really what I'm asking. We all know what an "Indie" game is and that doesn't really change if the game had a publisher.

Unsurprisingly, I'm not sure I have a good answer for my own topic, but I like the list of games that Annapurna has published which includes: What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home, Journey, Outer Wilds, Telling Lies, Kentucky Route Zero, and quite a few more. Of course, they are also publishing big games now, like Control 2 and Silent Hill: Townfall.

(Note: I'm a little concerned about throwing my support behind Annapurna due to some controversies I don't understand that seemed to culminate in all their employees walking out about a year ago, but after reading the "History" section of their Wikipedia page, I still have no idea what happened. I've rarely seen anything so convoluted and confusing)

What got me thinking about this was that Lushfoil Photography Sim (published by Annapurna) came out today. I don't see how anyone could think that game was going to make money, so I consider that a good will gesture towards the indie and gaming community. Add $11.99 to my total in that other thread

 

[Pifanjr]

I don't really know many indie publishers, at least not off the top of my head.

Kitfox games comes to mind, they published Dwarf Fortress and apparently also Caves of Qud, which looks amazing. The only other game I recognize is Boyfriend Dungeon, which my wife got as a gag but ended up really liking.

Another that comes to mind is Klei Entertainment, but I only really care about Don't Starve and Mark of the Ninja, which they self-published.

 

[Pifanjr]

Humble Bundle deserves a mention here as well. They've published quite a lot of indie games. I personally especially enjoyed Forager and Crying Suns, but they also published Slay the Spire.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Humble Bundle deserves a mention here as well. They've published quite a lot of indie games. I personally especially enjoyed Forager and Crying Suns, but they also published Slay the Spire.

Who's that publisher that used to do the funny E3 shows with a woman playing the part of a heartless, corporate speak executive?

....Devolver Digital! Told you my brain still works (actually I pasted that first sentence into CoPilot)

...30 minutes later...

Sorry, I was looking through Maria Zook's (corpo speak exec) Instagram for no reason. Anyway, I don't know what they've published except for Hotline Miami, but they could be a contender for this.

...wait, did I read that Humble closed its publishing business or am I confused again?

 

[BeardyHat]

Probably New Blood.

DUSK was amazing, I'm looking forward to Gloomwood, Fallen Aces is pretty great, but I'm trying to hold off playing until they have more chapters, Blood West seems very cool, but I haven't spent much time with it yet and I've owned Amid Evil for ages, but still haven't really played it yet.

Boom Shoots and Im Sims (sort of).

 

[Pifanjr]

Who's that publisher that used to do the funny E3 shows with a woman playing the part of a heartless, corporate speak executive?

....Devolver Digital! Told you my brain still works (actually I pasted that first sentence into CoPilot)

...30 minutes later...

Sorry, I was looking through Maria Zook's (corpo speak exec) Instagram for no reason. Anyway, I don't know what they've published except for Hotline Miami, but they could be a contender for this.

Devolver Digital published a couple of games I played, but I think Humble Games (which is the name of the publishing part of Humble Bundle) is winning for me so far.

...wait, did I read that Humble closed its publishing business or am I confused again?

It seems they had to let all or most of their employees go, but they didn't close it entirely. At least not yet.

 

[Zloth]

Slitherine has some good games, like Distant Worlds and Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. THQ Nordic is getting a bit large for this topic's subject, but it might fit.

The little publishers are getting forgotten for me, though. It's typically either a big publisher, self-published, or even both for Larian and CD Projekt.

 

[Frindis]

Netcore Games with Tales_of_MajEyal
ChuckleFish Games with Starbound
Dead Idle Games with On A Winter's Night Four Travelers
Za/UM with Disco Elysium

 

[Zed Clampet]

I guess the biggest boutique game publisher is PlayWay. in the last 10 years they've published 119 games.

A few of their notable games:

Car Mechanic Simulator series
House Flipper series
Crime Scene Cleaner
911 Operator
Agony
Barn Finders
Drug Dealer Simulator
Junkyard Simulator
Lust for Darkness
Mr Prepper
Robinhood Sherwood Builders

Some of these were published by companies that they owned, like Drug Dealer Simulator, and some of these companies have since been sold off.

 

[neogunhero]

May be a bit large for this topic, but I've always liked Avalanche Studio's games and the ones they've published. They made the Just Cause series and Mad Max 2015. I really enjoyed JC3 and have a nicer view on JC4 than most people. They have also published some other good games like Generation Zero and theHunter: Call of the Wild.

New Blood as well. Everything they touch is amazing.