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[Kazza]

Metacritic just released their 9th annual games publisher rankings.

Here are the details of how they calculated the rankings:

Spoiler: ranking formula

RANKING OF MAJOR PUBLISHERS (12 OR MORE RELEASES)
We divided publishers into two separately ranked groups, based on the number of titles released during the previous calendar year. Our first group consists of the most active companies who each published 12 or more distinct titles (with Metascores) during 2018. The remaining "mid-size" publishers, detailed further down the page, each released between 5-11 distinct titles last year. Publishers with 4 or fewer distinct titles are excluded.

We have ranked these publishers in order from best overall game quality to worst, using a formula based on four factors:

1. Average Metascore for all games released in 2018
2. % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75)
3. % of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better)
4. Number of "great" titles (Metascore of 90 or higher, min. 7 reviews)

Note that the Metascore average (the first factor) counts slightly more than the other factors. (Detailed scoring information appears in a table below the rankings.) In addition, note that iOS games are not included in the figures below.

Here are the top 13 major publishers of 2018 (with average metacritic score):

1 Capcom 79.3
2 Sega 78.5
3 Electronic Arts 77.5
4 Nintendo 76.4
5 Ubisoft 73.7
6 Sony 71.8
7 Square Enix 71.0
8 Bandai Namco Games 71.8
9 Digerati Distribution 69.9
10 NIS America 69.5
11 Plug In Digital 69.4
12 Focus Home Interactive 69.8
13 THQ Nordic 64.4

Spoiler: 2017's Rankings

1 Bethesda Softworks 79.9
2 Nintendo 78.0
3 Sega 75.5
4 Activision Blizzard 75.7
5 Capcom 76.6
6 Ubisoft 75.4
7 Sony 74.9
8 Square Enix 73.6
9 Bandai Namco 73.0
10 Koei Tecmo Games 69.7
11 NIS America 68.2
12 Telltale Games 70.9

 

[Kazza]

Capcom with a well deserved first place. Pleased to see Sega up there too. Very surprised with Sony's relatively low ranking. They had some highly rated games (Spiderman, God of War, Astroboy). It seems titles like Bravo Team dragged their average score down.

 

[Fbh]

Good year for Capcom. It's nice seeing them back in good shape.
And they are already off to a good start in 2019 with RE2. Hopefully DMC5 doesn't disappoint

Capcom with a well deserved first place. Please to see Sega up there too. Very surprised with Sony's relatively low ranking. They had some highly rated games (Spiderman, God of War, Astroboy). It seems titles like Bravo Team dragged their average score down.

Yeah looking at the list their AAA stuff did great but they published a ton of VR shovelware which really brings the average down

 

[Kazza]

Oh, and if anyone's wondering where Microsoft are, they didn't publish enough games to make it into the "major publishers" list. Scroll down and you'll find them at number 7 on the "mid-sized publisher" list.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Wow...what a time to be alive.

SEGA'S average is BETTER than Nintendo?

 

[Kazza]

Wow...what a time to be alive.

SEGA'S average is BETTER than Nintendo?

Surprisingly, Sega released as many distinct titles last year as Nintendo did (30, the joint highest in the list). That makes their high average score all the more impressive. As the report says:

Sega landed in our top 3 for the third time in four years (with the exception coming in a year when Sega failed to release enough games to qualify for our "major" publishers group). That's especially impressive given that Sega released more distinct titles than all but one other publisher in 2018. Note that all of Sega's averages and totals include games published by Atlus, a recently acquired Sega subsidiary that (as of 2018) now shares top-level management with the parent company.

That said, I'm sure the score for this year will get dragged down once they release "Sonic: The Movie: The Game"

 

[AV]

"great" titles (Metascore of 90 or higher)

The fact that we've all accepted a 9/10 as simply "great" speaks volumes.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

capcom really turned it around. people have been HATING them for the last few years or so.

really nice to see them right their ship

 

[Lionel Richie]

Love how a relatively quiet year by Nintendo is elite anyway. Still unmatched baby!

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Surprisingly, Sega released as many distinct titles last year as Nintendo did (30, the joint highest in the list). That makes their high average score all the more impressive. As the report says:


That said, I'm sure the score for this year will get dragged down once they release "Sonic: The Movie: The Game"

I hope they don't regarding the Sonic film.

Sewms that ATLUS have done well with SEGA in addition to the localisations paying off!

Hope you all enjoyed the image.

 

[thelastword]

I see Nintendo, I see Sony, where is MS?

 

[thelastword]

Capcom with a well deserved first place. Pleased to see Sega up there too. Very surprised with Sony's relatively low ranking. They had some highly rated games (Spiderman, God of War, Astroboy). It seems titles like Bravo Team dragged their average score down.

Good on Capcom, their releases seems to be of a higher quality recently, I guess the RE engine helps, pretty solid engine........Give me 60 or give me....




OTOH, as per the gif.....I wish Capcom would remaster Viewtiful Joe 1+2 at 4k 60fps.......I mean that could have been done this gen....

 

[Guileless]

Sega, Capcom, EA? What year is this?

 

[Honey Bunny]

Remember when everyone ragged on Capcpom as Crapcom right up to the release of MH World? Remember Sega for the past two decades? What a turnaround.

 

[TeamGhobad]

bullsht pointless list

 

[StormCell]

What did EA release in 2018?