Metacritic has revealed its 15th annual game publisher rankings, and its first-ever three-time winner is at the top of the list.
At the top of the list is Sega, on the back of a strong performance by the JRPGMetaphor: ReFantazio, the growing popularity of the Like a Dragon franchise, thanks in part to 2024’sLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, andShin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. All three games were scored in the 90s; Sega’s average MetaScore was 82.9, 0.8 points higher than Capcom’s, who is set for a big 2025 withMonster Hunter Wilds.
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The two Japanese companies were the only publishers with an average Metascore above 80. Aksys Games (Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II), Sony (Astro Bot), and Focus Entertainment (Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II)round out the top five.
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Metacritic’s list offers some surprises as to where major publishers landed.
Microsoft, for example, was found in the top ten despite its stigma of having a lackluster software lineup. One thing that helped was that it included the works of all its subsidiaries, most notably Bethesda Softworks, Activision, and Blizzard.
On the opposite side of things, despite releasing the highest scored game of the year inElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Bandai Namco was one of the worst scoring publishers of 2024, coming in at 27th out of 37 total publishers. While theElden RingDLC andTekken 8were successes for Bandai Namco, they were the only “great” games of 2024; there were far too many duds from 2024.
Other notable publishers include Square Enix in 6th place, Take-Two Interactive in 12th, and Nintendo, who is very clearly stalling until the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, in 22nd place.
