Metacritic Has Released Its Annual Video Game Publisher Rankings

There are few things that start arguments in the gaming industry more than review scores, aside from fervent 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 2023? 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 2023 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.

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 2023
150 possible points (awarded at 1.5 x the average Metascore)

(2) % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75)
100 possible points (ex: 80% good = 80 points)

(3) % of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better)
100 possible points (ex: 20% bad = 80 points)

(4) Number of “great” titles (Metascore of 90 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 spots in the rankings, with Capcom’s stellar year involving Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6 catapulting it to the top spot from 6th last year. Nintendo also got a bump up, no doubt off the back of the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but PlayStation dropped from last year’s winner all the way to 13th spot thanks mostly to its PC and VR efforts. Xbox is also back in the rankings after a complete absence last year and has managed to crack the #15 ranking.

Metacritic’s 14th Annual Game Publisher Rankings

1. Capcom| Average Metascore in 2023: 84.5
2. Raw Fury | Average Metascore in 2023: 79.1
3. Chorus  Worldwide | Average Metascore in 2023: 77.6
4. DANGEN Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2023: 77.6
5. Annapurna Interactive | Average Metascore in 2023: 80.2
6. Nintendo | Average Metascore in 2023: 79.5
7. Aksys Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 78.5
8. Bethesda Softworks | Average Metascore in 2023: 80
9. SEGA | Average Metascore in 2023: 78.8
10. Thunderful | Average Metascore in 2023: 79.1
11. Devolver Digital | Average Metascore in 2023: 78.4
12. Playism | Average Metascore in 2023: 77.6
13. Sony Interactive Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2023: 77.6
14. Gearbox | Average Metascore in 2023: 77
15. Xbox Game Studios | Average Metascore in 2023: 78.4
16. Electronic Arts | Average Metascore in 2023: 77.5
17. Team 17 (tied 16th) | Average Metascore in 2023: 76.6
18. Focus Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2023: 77
19. Square Enix | Average Metascore in 2023: 78.3
20. Red Art Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 74.1
21. Koei Tecmo | Average Metascore in 2023: 75.9
22. NIS America | Average Metascore in 2023: 76.5
23. Ubisoft | Average Metascore in 2023: 74.1
24. ININ Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 73.4
25. Take-Two Interactive | Average Metascore in 2023: 74
26. Frontier Developments (tied 25th) | Average Metascore in 2023: 74
27. Bandai Namco | Average Metascore in 2023: 72.4
28. Plug In Digital | Average Metascore in 2023: 73.5
29. Atari | Average Metascore in 2023: 73.5
30. Serenity Forge | Average Metascore in 2023: 72.7
31. Outright Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 70.9
32. Plaion | Average Metascore in 2023: 71.2
33. THQ Nordic | Average Metascore in 2023: 71
34. Saber Interactive | Average Metascore in 2023: 71.9
35. PQube | Average Metascore in 2023: 68.2
36. Maximum Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2023: 70
37. Humble Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 71
38. 505 Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 7
39. Freedom Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 69.7
40. Untold Tales | Average Metascore in 2023: 67.8
41. Idea Factory | Average Metascore in 2023: 69.2
42. Marvelous/Xseed | Average Metascore in 2023: 67.7
43. Nacon/Daedalic Entertainment | Average Metascore in 2023: 65.2
44. PlayWay/Ultimate Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 55.9
45. Microids | Average Metascore in 2023: 61.8
46. Perp Games | Average Metascore in 2023: 52.1