In an 'All Digital' future, will publishers exist?

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed already, but i did a quick search and didn't see anything.

I was browsing Reddit and I came across this article http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/opinion_kohler-we-need-no-one/ and I started wondering what publishers would be needed for in an All Digital future. Currently, publishers are needed to provide the infrastructure to market and distribute boxed product. However, digital platforms like Steam and iOS allow much smaller companies to publish games on their own. If this business model were extended to all platforms, why would developers need publishers? What would stop a company like Rockstar from just uploading GTA V to the service themselves, and keep 2K out of the loop? (ownership and contracts notwithstanding) Cutting out the publisher (and potentially retailers too) would dramatically lower the cost to develop and sell games, far more so than just the costs for discs and plastic cases.

There are still benefits to having a large publisher even just for digital games. They are able to provide the enormous capital needed to pay developers and market games on TV, billboards, etc. However, with recent news of troubles with these publishers (THQ stock, EA layoffs) it seems that developers could function far more efficiently on their own. The market usually rewards the companies that can drive their costs down the most while still maintaining their business.

I certainly don't have this all figured out, but I'm curious what the GB community thinks. If a developer can get their game to you on their own, will there be any need for big publishers?

Publishers will just be the companies that can pull the most independent devs together, for every developer to build their own digital distribution platform would be a ton of work. If someone like Steam can take a small chunk of the dev's profits and offer their services, many smaller groups will want to join in. Steam is a publisher.

In such a future, they'd essentially be gaming pimps.

Money

Yes, because they can provide marketing, capital and other types of aid. Their purpose might be different, but they'll still be around.

Publishers still exist for the DD stuff that's out there now, and they will continue in that fashion. Also, talk of an all-digital future scares me. Please stop.

Yes, they're handy. Mostly for the money they can supply as well as marketing and other business stuff. The issue is that most publishers are just evil.

Toss in the fact that no medium has gone all digital yet and probably won't for a very long time, and you have a need for publishers to continue to exist, though it is admittedly easier than ever to give publishers the finger and make something yourself.

(A fiver says that this will devolve into a "digital is the future" vs "physical will never disappear" thread within four pages.)

They would simply shift focus off production of physical media.

For sure. Publishers aren't just there for printing disks. If developers could maneuver the difficult world of advertising and market on their own, they would.

yes, probably provide advertising for the company.

Developers need a publisher long before they reach distribution and marketing. That 50 million dollars to make the game in the first place ain't going to appear out of thin air.

No such thing as an all digital future. A lot of people love their game stickers and posters and art books and figurines and boxes, not to mention that a disc with the software on it is the easiest quickest way to install a game.

@AhmadMetallic said:

No such thing as an all digital future. A lot of people love their game stickers and posters and art books and figurines and boxes, not to mention that a disc with the software on it is the easiest quickest way to install a game.

My PC has no disk drive.

@AhmadMetallic said:

No such thing as an all digital future. A lot of people love their game stickers and posters and art books and figurines and boxes, not to mention that a disc with the software on it is the easiest quickest way to install a game.

My PC has no disk drive.

It would depend on how the infrastructure of these consoles and services change. It's still hard for many smaller devs to get onto services like XBLA, Steam and PSN. They're still very closed systems reserved for the elite. A publisher gets your foot in the door. A publisher gets you access to the right people. A publisher gets you access to the platform. Things will need to change before publishers are out of the loop.

Publishers can also bankroll expensive projects. Kind of like producers in Hollywood. By the time a developer gets to the level of financial security where that's no longer an issue, they usually turn into a producer themselves. See also: Bethesda.