SEGA has been named the top video games publisher by Metacritic. It was one of only three companies to achieve an average score of 90+ for two different games in 2020.
Metacritic published its 11th annual game publisher ranking on March 25. Rules are the same: “Only publishers releasing at least 5 scored, distinct titles in 2020 are eligible. Points for average Metascore are awarded at 1.5 x the average (with a maximum of 150 points possible). Points for good % and bad % are awarded based on a maximum of 100 each.”
To qualify a game as “great” it must have a Metascore of 90+ based on at least 7 critic reviews. A publisher gets 5 bonus points for each “great” game.
Here are the top 10 publishers of 2021 (all calculations are based on Metascore as of March 3):
- SEGA (ranked 18th last year) — 327.2 points, 2 “great games” (Persona 5 Royal, Yakuza 0), 38 scored titles, average Metascore — 81.6
- Annapurna Interactive (ranked 6th last year) — 322.9 points, 15 scored titles, average Metascore — 81.9
- Capcom (ranked 5th last year) — 313.8 points, 12 scored titles, average Metascore — 80.3
- Sony (ranked 22th last year) — 308.6 points, 2 “great” games (The Last of Us Part II, Demon’s Souls), 19 scored titles, average Metascore — 79.8
- Activision Blizzard (ranked 2nd last year) — 306.6 points, 15 scored titles, average Metascore — 79.9
- Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios (ranked 7th last year) — 293.3 points, 2 “great” games (Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ori and the Will of the Wisps), 26 scored titled, average Metascore — 78.6
- Aksys Games (wasn’t ranked last year) — 290 points, 8 scored titles, average Metascore — 76.7
- No More Robots (wasn’t ranked last year) — 287.2, 7 scored titles, average Metascore — 77.2
- Nintendo (ranked 3rd last year) — 287.7 points, 1 “great” games (Animal Crossing: New Horizons), 21 scored titles, average Metascore — 75.4
- Devolver Digital (ranked 10th last year) — 271 points, 22 scored titles, average Metascore — 74.6
505 Games, which was named the top publisher last year, dropped to 13th place, with an average Metascore of 74. Ultimate Games released only one positively reviewed title in 2020 (Bug Academy) and landed in the last place, with an average Metascore of 49.4.
You can see the full ranking here.