The gaming industry has long had a sort of “cold war” between publishers and developers, with one side secretly (or in some cases, not so secretly) resenting the other. For his part, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is grateful for the work that publishers do to take boring minutia off of his plate.
“Publishers are a blessing to me,” said Pitchford to MCV. “The last thing in the world I want to do is spend my time thinking about how to get boxes on trucks and send them to stores. I don't want to deal with manufacturing, I don't want to deal with sales, I didn't get in the business to do those kinds of things. I want to create and I'm thankful that there are publishers who like doing that and who are efficient. I'm grateful that there are people who are inspired by that stuff. I'd hang myself if that was my job.”
“It's a partnership, like a marriage,” Pitchford continued. “We choose each other and there is a constant dating process. That's part of what happens here at DICE, an infinite moshpit of courtship. It's amazing how much business gets done here. Maybe deals aren't closed but there's a lot of relationship management going on. It's like speed-dating.”
Gearbox has worked with a variety of publishers over the years, including Microsoft, Sega, Activision, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. Pitchford has also been critical of Valve (who has been a digital publisher for some of their titles) and their Steam service.
