There are few things that generate buzz in the gaming industry more than review scores, with one other great example being arguments over brand loyalty. So what better way to spend the end of a busy week, than to sit down with a nice cup of tea and a big list of video game publishers ranked by the review scores of everything they published in 2022? Thanks, Metacritic.
Yes, the review score aggregating giant has once again come out swinging with a definitive, science-based list of which video game publishers were “best” in 2022 based on specific formulae involving review scores and whether each published title landed in its “good” or “bad” fields. This year’s ranking, admittedly, held a few surprises for me, mostly because I tend to forget just how much stuff some companies are responsible for. First though, the all-important metrics on how Metacritic actually puts these lists together:
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Metacritic ranks publishers from worst to best on this list based on a points system, calculated according to the following four factors:
(1) Average Metascore for all games released in 2022
150 possible points (awarded at 1.5 x the average Metascore)
(2) % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least )
100 possible points (ex: 80% good = 80 points)
(3) % of scored products with bad reviews ( or lower; in this case, a lower % is better)
100 possible points (ex: 20% bad = 80 points)
(4) Number of “great” titles (Metascore of or higher, min. 7 reviews)
Awarded as 5 bonus points for each distinct title with a 90+ score
And with that squared away, here’s who came out on top and who bottomed out. There are some pretty unsurprising rankings, with Sony Computer Entertainment taking out the top spot, and Nintendo trailing not far behind at #12. It’s great to see quite a few indie publishers up there with Annapurna, Humble and Devolver all cracking the top 10. It’s definitely clear quality over quantity is important to post well in this list, with companies like Plaion and Ubisoft scoring poorly, and not even the mighty Elden Ring with its mighty 96 Metascore able to push Bandai Namco into the top 20.
Metacritic’s 13th Annual Game Publisher Rankings
- Sony Interactive Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2022: 85.6
- Paradox Interactive | Average Metascore in 2022: 81.8
- Activision Blizzard | Average Metascore in 2022: 76.5
- Focus Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2022: 80
- Take-Two Interactive | Average Metascore in 2022: 78.9
- Capcom | Average Metascore in 2022: 78.6
- Sega / Atlus | Average Metascore in 2022: 79.3
- Annapurna Interactive | Average Metascore in 2022: 79.2
- Humble Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 76.8
- Devolver Digital | Average Metascore in 2022: 78.3
- Red Art Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 74.9
- Nintendo | Average Metascore in 2022: 78.6
- Aksys Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 77.2
- Atari | Average Metascore in 2022: 76.8
- WayForward | Average Metascore in 2022: 73.8
- Raw Fury | Average Metascore in 2022: 75.1
- Electronic Arts | Average Metascore in 2022: 74.9
- Digerati | Average Metascore in 2022: 75
- Plug In Digital | Average Metascore in 2022: 72.1
- Spike Chunsoft | Average Metascore in 2022: 74.2
- 505 Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 74
- Xseed Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 73.7
- United Games Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2022: 74
- Bandai Namco | Average Metascore in 2022: 72.5
- Thunderful | Average Metascore in 2022: 71.1
- Square Enix | Average Metascore in 2022: 73.1
- tinyBuild | Average Metascore in 2022: 71.1
- Team17 | Average Metascore in 2022: 72.4
- Arc System Works | Average Metascore in 2022: 71.3
- SNK | Average Metascore in 2022: 72.6
- Microids | Average Metascore in 2022: 69.9
- NIS America | Average Metascore in 2022: 71.7
- Saber Interactive | Average Metascore in 2022: 70.8
- Plaion | Average Metascore in 2022: 68.7
- Idea Factory | Average Metascore in 2022: 69.2
- Maximum Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 71.3
- THQ Nordic | Average Metascore in 2022: 69
- Ubisoft | Average Metascore in 2022: 70.9
- PQube | Average Metascore in 2022: 69.9
- NACON | Average Metascore in 2022: 69.3
- No More Robots | Average Metascore in 2022: 67.2
- Freedom Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 68.1
- Ratalaika Games | Average Metascore in 2022: 65.8
- Assemble Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2022: 63.5
- PlayWay | Average Metascore in 2022: 58.4
