Code:
Publisher Score Producer Milestone Pay and Average Game
Rating Payment Rating Perks Review Score
EA 254 8.52 8.5 8.91 81
Activision 229 9.25 9.60 9.40 65.4
Microsoft 227.5 9.60 9.85 10.00 80.56
Nintendo 219 8.50 10.00 8.50 76.08
Sony 213 9.18 9.55 8.50 75.07
Ubisoft 205 9.48 8.05 9.25 70.25
Konami 203 8.80 10.00 8.50 67.03
THQ 199.5 9.31 9.42 8.50 65.68
Sega 198.5 8.65 7.60 9.40 70.55
Take 2 195.5 9.40 7.60 8.50 69
Namco 194.5 9.10 10.00 10.00 74.30
Vivendi 180 8.73 8.92 9.0 68.93
Atari 174.5 8.84 7.68 8.20 67.63
SCI/Eidos 167 9.70 9.70 8.50 70.94
Capcom 142 8.50 8.50 8.50 73.39
SquareEnix 134.5 8.50 8.50 8.50 71.90
Bandi 123 8.50 8.50 8.50 63.44
Codemasters 121.5 7.60 9.40 8.5 75.86
Midway 121 8.5 8.5 8.5 78.20
LucasArts 115.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 81.60
Methodology
The Game Developer Top 20 ranks publishers using a score calculated from each publisher's performance in several measures. First, a list of the top 30 publishers is drawn up based on revenue or, when revenue data is unavailable, estimates.
Then each publisher is given a score based on the following six measures: annual turnover; number of releases; average review score; quality of producers; reliability of milestone payments; and the quality of staff pay and perks.
Annual turnover figures come from the publisher's annual accounts or, when these are not public, from our own estimates based on the sales of games they release.
The number of releases, which counts the publication of the same game on different formats as seperate releases, comes from the publishers, or when they were unable to provide this information, from information on their web sites and dedicated gaming web sites.
The average review score ratings were based on information from gamerankings.com.
A confidential online survey of developers provided the data for the quality of producers, reliability of milestone payments, and the pay and perks.
The top 30 publishers were ranked according to each of the six measures. The lowest scoring publisher received a score of one, the next lowest a score of two and so on until the highest scoring publisher received a rating of 30. This was repeated for all measures and the totals were weighted and added together to give a final score which determined the Top 20 Publishers list for 2005.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this article. But we cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. We do not accept liability for any direct, indirect, or conseuqnetial loss arising from its use.
