I agree, you’re not a crazy loon. I would bet that if you met and talked to the bucket of people you call “Publishers”, you’d probably find them less scorn-worthy than you imagine. It’s been my experience that:
- They are passionate about gaming, and genuinely want gamers to happy and feel like they’re getting a good deal.
- They not infrequently get the blame for decisions made by studios and developers.
- They often choose not to defend themselves in part to preserve developers’ images.
- They are driven to create new ways to make money because the cost of making games keeps increasing, while the price of games is largely stagnant.
And it’s easy to forget: The primary function of most publishers in gaming is to hand large wads of cash to developers so they can actually make the games without having to add “fundraising” to their core set of skills.
