The company responsible for launching the video game. In the case of large productions (games from the AA and AAA categories), the publisher is usually a business entity specializing in it, with adequate financial and marketing facilities.
The division of responsibilities between the game producer and publisher varies, depending on the conditions under which the cooperation takes place (e.g. brand rights issues). In general, the publisher maintains the commercial side of the project, answering, among others for covering the costs of creating a game, processing it into a physical product (embossing on an optical medium, packaging, etc.), business contacts with sales networks and running an information and advertising campaign.
At the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the Chinese giant Tencent was the largest video game publisher in the world.
The development of digital distribution as well as the creation of crowdfunding platforms (e.g. Kickstarter) has facilitated the adoption of publishing competences by independent developers. Thanks to this, a large percentage of games appear on the market without the participation of a separate publisher. On the other hand, the costs associated with the production of high-budget titles require the involvement of massive expenditure, which is available only to large publishers.