Summary at bottom.
I don’t agree with the “names don’t matter” when it comes to games. Names matter to American consumers as well as Japanese, but it’s usually the Studio name. I know lots of people who will buy a game simply because Infinity Ward/Treyarch, Bethesda, BioWare or Gearbox made it etc and they enjoy their games. Some of us take it a step farther, myself included, and want to know who worked on that game that I enjoyed so much. And when I’m looking into a new game and I find Game Z from Y Studios I’ve never heard of, if I happen to come across an article that mentions that a few of the people that worked on Game X that I loved formed a company called Y Studios and made Game Z that certainly influences my decision. I will more likely give that game a shot. The Bigger the role they played and the more of my personal hits list that they worked on will influence my decision even more.
What makes it even more interesting is in Call of Duty’s case with 2 Studios alternating out new CoD titles. I know people on both sides of the fence that wouldn’t buy a CoD if it was made by the other studio because they hated their ideas. The FPS crowd is usually considered one of the most superficial & least picky when it comes to caring about game quality because of how simple the games are and yet they won’t buy the same game because it’s made by another studio. There’s also divides between CoD and Battlefield. They’re both shooters but some fans won’t be caught dead playing Battlefield if they’re CoD fans and vice versa. Not to mention the old Nintendo vs Sega rivalries of the 90s. Name recognition and bias certainly matters to western gamers too whether they realize it or not. Just to be clear if you won’t buy a console/game from another developer because you don’t like that studio for whatever reason you are being influenced by or biased towards the Name.
I also know western gamers that worship the ground certain game designers walk on and it’s not hard to find them either just a simple forum search of some games by well-known designers will turn up threads praising their name. People like Miyazaki (Dark Souls) and Kojima (Metal Gear) aren’t popular only in Japan, a large amount of their fan base is U.S. Gamers and they will buy any game those guys touch. For them you don’t even have to search forums there are articles dedicated to their popularity among western gamers. Western Game Designers don’t have that adamant of a following but they should still be recognized and appreciated for their contributions to Videogaming. Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Brian Fargo (he’s loved and hated), Cliffy B, Leonard Boyarsky, Chris Taylor, Warren Spector along with others mentioned in this thread : Feargus Urquhart, Tim Cain, Josh Sawyer, John Carmack, George Romero, Chris Avellone, and American McGee, Shigeru Miyamoto. Along with many more that we owe thanks to for pushing the envelope, breaking boundaries, working around the clock to bring us our much beloved titles and growing the industry into the smorgasbord of games on offer that we have today. Without them gaming might have died out in the 90s.
TLDR: Names matter to gamers but it’s usually Company/Studio names, but the Names of People should matter more to gamers, especially adult gamers. The people that work on your games are like the authors of your books and should be appreciated for their contributions. It was not easy to produce that game you love. Read a few development stories you’ll see. Enlighten yourself especially on the “Crunch Time” phase of development.