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[Eolz]

Yes, there might be some problems with Metacritic, but it's always interesting to see some of those statistics, especially since the game industry is still paying attention to this.

Sales and user reviews do not factor into these rankings; only critic reviews (as captured by each game's Metascore) are used to evaluate performance.

Major publishers ranking:

1- Nintendo

Shooting up three spots in our rankings to #1 among the large publishers, Nintendo is also the only one of the majors to finish the year with a "green" average Metascore—despite the fact that only 56% of its games received positive reviews from critics. (Basically, 2014 was not the most memorable of years in gaming history.) Nintendo's performance is even more impressive given the fact that it released more unique titles (34) than any other publisher in 2014. The Wii U and 3DS maker saw its Metascore average increase by 2.7 points in last year (compared to the previous year) even though it didn't have a single 2014 game score as highly as its 2013 leader, Super Mario 3D World. Nintendo was actually the only publisher last year with more than one game (with at least 7 reviews) to score in the 90+ range, with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Bayonetta 2 both hitting 91. In a reverse from 2013, the publisher's Wii U games scored more highly than its 3DS releases. The average for the former was an impressive 81.3 (for 12 Wii U releases), while its 22 3DS games averaged just 73.9.

2- Ubisoft
3- EA
4- Sony
5- Square-Enix
6- Microsoft
7- Bandai Namco Games
8- Activision Blizzard

Our first group consists of the largest publishers, who each issued 14 or more unique titles (with Metascores) during 2014. You'll notice that our cutoff has changed from previous years, when had had a minimum of 15 unique releases to qualify as a major publisher. The reason for the change was yet another decline in the number of games released by the major game companies—mainly due to the delay of so many planned 2014 releases into 2015.

Mid-size (top 5, there's 16 in the list)

1- Telltale Games
2- Paradox Interactive
3- Capcom
4- Take-Two Interactive
5- Sega

Each of the "mid-size" publishers listed below released between 6-13 unique titles in 2014. (As with the major publishers, we have lowered the minimum cutoff by one compared to previous years. Publishers who released fewer than six games last year are not included in this report.) They are ranked according to the exact same methodology we used to rank the larger publishers above, earning points for average Metascore, % of releases that earn positive or negative reviews, and the total number of great games. Note that the top-ranked major publisher after 2013, Take-Two Interactive, was demoted this year to the "mid-size" group as a result of releasing far fewer games in 2014 (just 7 unique titles compared to 16 in 2013). Four of the publishers below are new to our rankings since they did not release enough games in 2013 to qualify last year. One of those was episodic adventure king Telltale Games, which had the highest average Metascore for any publisher in 2014.

A lot more at the link, like the Platform-by-Platform averages (

Spoiler

PC wins

).

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Ubisoft and EA way too high.

 

[Nirolak]

Ubisoft and EA way too high.

Just in case anyone is confused, this is a ranking based on how their games reviews, as opposed to an editorial staff.

The major/mid-sized publisher breakdown is based on number of titles released.

 

[Tenebrous]

Where would Blizzard be if independent from Activision? Warlords of Draenor, Hearthstone, Reaper of Souls, and UEE all scored in the high 80s/90s.

Edit: Subtract the Activision portion of Activision Blizzard, and the picture looks far rosier: nine Blizzard Entertainment products averaged a stunning 85.5.

 

[mdubs]

Nintendo take the cake again, as expected

 

[LegalEagleMike]

Ubisoft will be slipping. EA seems to be better recently and it helps that Ubisoft is now the primary target for everyones vitriol.

 

[Kazerei]

At first I was like "Capcom is mid-sized?" but then I was like "oh yeah, I guess it is"

 

[ohlawd]

the only green

deserved

 

[orochi91]

Sony will probably be placed much higher next year, given the awesome games coming in 2015.

 

[Eolz]

Just in case anyone is confused, this is a ranking based on how their games reviews, as opposed to an editorial staff.

The major/mid-sized publisher breakdown is based on number of titles released.

Yep, edited with more quotes so it'd be a bit more clear.

 

[Woorloog]

Where would Blizzard be if independent from Activision? Warlords of Draenor, Hearthstone, Reaper of Souls, and UEE all scored in the high 80s/90s.

Well Blizzard didn't publish their own games, Vivendi did before Activision bought Blizzard, if i recall correctly.
But yes, they'd be ranked very high.

 

[Diprosalic]

Sony will probably be placed much higher next year, given the awesome games coming in 2015.

they can't release TLOU a third time tho.

 

[Tenebrous]

Well Blizzard didn't publish their own games, Vivendi did before Activision bought Blizzard, if i recall correctly.
But yes, they'd be ranked very high.

Just saw this from the OP's link.

"Subtract the Activision portion of Activision Blizzard, and the picture looks far rosier: nine Blizzard Entertainment products averaged a stunning 85.5."

 

[Pandy]

If anything proves that metacritic ratings are largely irrelevant to the game-buying public, it is Nintendo being on top of that list.

 

[foltzie1]

What was Nintendo's bad game?

/me checks

Chibi-Robo Photo Finder. with a score of 49, ouch.

 

[chicagocubsfan]

they can't release TLOU a third time tho.

Vita version incoming.

 

[massoluk]

I'm honestly surprised Nintendo average isn't 80 something... Must be Tomodachi dragging them all down.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Expected Nintendo in the first place and Ubisoft in the second but ea did good with Dragon Age so I can agree with the list.

Take Two are mid-size ?

 

[GoldCrusader]

Humm that little green...Nintendo deserve that nice green

 

[Woorloog]

Just saw this from the OP's link.

"Subtract the Activision portion of Activision Blizzard, and the picture looks far rosier: nine Blizzard Entertainment products averaged a stunning 85.5."

Impressive! I figured it would be high but man, 10 points above Nintendo even...

 

[Diprosalic]

I'm honestly surprised Nintendo average isn't 80 something... Must be Tomodachi dragging them all down.

mostly cheap eshop games that drag them down (and yoshi new island)

 

[Three]

That image is so compressed I can barely see the numbers.

 

[RoboPlato]

Sony's higher than I expected for 2014 and MS is lower than I expected. Figured Nintendo would be #1

 

[Sayah]

Bandai Namco jumping up the ranks.

I'm pretty sure there's a Dark Souls III in development right now.

 

[SuperSonic1305]

Clearly Sony paid off Metacritic. How can they be higher than Microsoft when they released no games last year?

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

What the hell is Sony doing so high in there. As a PS4 only user, I cannot understand.

Yay for nintendo tho.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Kind of concerning that nintendo only won by 2 points when they had a dramatically better year than anyone.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Kind of concerning that nintendo only won by 2 points when they had a dramatically better year than anyone.

Look at the point total on the right.

 

[injurai]

Take-Two and Paradox good as usual. Sega has been having a good year.

 

[iNvid02]

EA, Ubi and Microsoft published no bad games this year, cool

 

[Mass_Pincup]

What the hell is Sony doing so high in there. As a PS4 only user, I cannot understand.

Yay for nintendo tho.

Sony also released games on the Vita.

 

[L.C.M. Taylon]

What the hell is Sony doing so high in there. As a PS4 only user, I cannot understand.

Yay for nintendo tho.

Sony is not just PS4

 

[Natureboy99]

Sony got hurt by a few buggy launches.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Well deserved Nintendo; Bayo 2 and Captain Toad were great.

 

[Eolz]

Sony got hurt by a few buggy launches.

Tbh, if buggy launches were really the main problem, Ubisoft wouldn't be second.

 

[Aaron D.]

Mid-size (top 5, there's 16 in the list)

2- Paradox Interactive

Nice!

 

[Turin Turambar]

the only green

deserved

Ehh... "2% above Ubisoft" isn't something to open the champagne.

 

[ohlawd]

Ehh... "2% above Ubisoft" isn't something to open the champagne.

I'm not really part of the Ubisoft hatewagon

they're aight too

 

[snoopeasystreet]

I wonder where indies rank on that list.

 

[Three]

Sony also released games on the Vita.

Sony is not just PS4

These replies make no sense. If you look at the platform charts at the source link you would see that if it were just PS4 games Sony would actually be higher at a 75.4 average. Their games on other platforms actually brought their average score down. I know this goes against the narrative of "PS4 haz no gaemz" but when you look at their output this year they had some high scoring games like TLoU:R, Infamous, MLB The Show, Hohokum, unfinished swan, and so on.

 

[Mr. RPG]

It was a good year for Nintendo in my opinion. Rightfully deserved.