Bethesda Softworks has earned the title of Publisher of the Year from the PSU staff and community.
The Maryland-based publisher’s hit title of the year, Fallout 4, launched November 10 for PS4, Xbox One and PC and was met with huge praise from critics and fans alike. Earning a whopping 9.5/10 from our own review, the latest entry in the Fallout series received more than 160 awards at the 2015 E3 event, including Best RPG.
Best Publisher – Bethesda
Part of Fallout 4’s success was no doubt due to Bethesda’s marketing and advertising campaigns, which included production of a game-inspired beer and a gorgeous live action trailer. Bethesda shipped approximately 12 million copies of the game for launch day, which is impressive considering the large amount of pre-orders and collector’s editions already prepared. Steam hosted a record 470,000 Fallout players on its service at once.
Fallout 4 may have been Bethesda’s biggest title of the year, but it certainly wasn’t the only one that impressed. The company also developed and published the addictive Fallout Shelter app which, alongside Fallout 4, marks the first release of Bethesda-developed content since Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2011. Fallout Shelter became the most downloaded game in 48 countries, and continues to be maintained, updated and free-to-play. Other published titles included the superb Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, as well as console versions of Elder Scrolls: Online, and Dishonored for next-gen consoles. Next year, we can look forward to Doom and Dishonored 2.
Among the finest publishers in the world, Bethesda is continuing to expand its development portfolio. The company announced earlier this month that it had opened a new studio in Montreal, Quebec. More than 40 developers are already hard at work there on Bethesda’s next golden egg.
Runner-up – Square Enix
Bethesda narrowly defeated Square Enix for the top publisher spot among PlayStation readers. This year Square Enix launched fan-favorite Life is Strange, as well as the Heavensward expansion to Final Fantasy XIV. The studio also announced the remake of Final Fantasy VII to the delight of gamers everywhere, and has continued to build hype for Final Fantasy XV, which we should see in 2016 (maybe next summer). Congratulations to both of these publishers for top honors from PSU. Keep that quality content coming!