If you have played an indie game in the past seven years, chances are you will recognise the name Devolver Digital. This video game publisher’s rapid rise to the top evokes that of record company Death Row, minus the strong-arm tactics allegedly employed by the music label’s notorious man-mountain, Suge Knight.

Rather than dangling games development’s version of Vanilla Ice over a balcony to get ahead, small game developers are signing up to Devolver to take advantage of fair contracts, creative freedom, and a label that’s honest enough to say “you don’t need a f------ publisher”.

Flippant as it may be, that was the name of a Games Developers Conference (GDC) talk given by Nigel Lowrie, one of the key players at Devolver. Created from a tight group of friends, Devolver doesn’t bother with job titles, since the workload is kept fluid and distributed appropriately. As for not needing a publisher, “That’s what we tell developers when we first work with them,” Lowrie tells me. “We understand that nobody needs a publisher - I’m not going to sit here and tell you how important a publisher is for your success.”