There's an undoubted fear within some sections of the industry that the rise of digital distribution equates to the death of the publisher.

The App Store in particular is full of self-publishing outfits, with many of the studios enjoying much success as a result.

It's newcomer Fuse's belief, however, that the publisher's apparent demise is being overplayed.

Launching its own publishing model on iOS, the Toronto-based company believes there's still a valid place for publishers on mobile – indeed, if anything, independent developers on the App Store need publishers to do more, not less.

In this way it hopes to flourish as an invested, long-term publishing partner, working collaboratively with both new and established developers in the iOS space.

Publishing power

"It's difficult to be successful in the App Store - we know because we’ve lived it," said Jon Walsh, CEO and co-founder of Fuse.

"We believe in the iOS game platform and decided early on to make the investment required to understand the marketplace. We built a set of tools that will help grow an ecosystem of games and developer partnerships, to engage and entertain our growing audience of mobile gamers."

Said tools include what's pitched as a broad sweep of every step in the modern day publishing process.

As well as proprietary marketing tools – visibility an ever important element on the App Store, given the huge roster of games on offer – Fuse is built upon an 'analytics infrastructure', designed to provide key real-time game performance data to drive game sales forward.

It also has access to strong brands: to some extent, Fuse a radical reboot of developer Bytemark Games, which released Jaws and Dawn of the Dead games for iPhone.

Marketplace momentum

It's by covering all the bases in this way that Walsh believes Fuse can represent a valid option for the scores of developers struggling to find their own space on iOS.

"We realise how important it is to maintain an active player base to create momentum from product to product when you need it," added Walsh.

"You need great content to keep your player base interested. Collaborating with great game makers to grow an ecosystem of games and players is the way we think publishing should work, and we want to be the company that proves it in the iOS space."

Fuse is sent to cast more light on its publishing model at GDC 2011 in San Francisco. Further details can also be found on the firm's website.