Metacritic has today revealed its 14th Annual Game Publisher Rankings, in which the company has listed the top 40 game publishers based on the average review scores their games received in 2023.
Specifically, the rankings are determined by a four-factor points system that's calculated as follows:
- (1) Average Metascore for all games released in 2023
150 possible points (awarded at 1.5 x the average Metascore)
- (2) % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75)
100 possible points (ex: 80% good = 80 points)
- (3) % of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better)
100 possible points (ex: 20% bad = 80 points)
- (4) Number of "great" titles (Metascore of 90 or higher, min. 7 reviews)
Awarded as 5 bonus points for each distinct title with a 90+ score
The result is that Xbox features twice in the top 40, with Xbox Game Studios coming in 15th place with an average Metascore of 78.4 in 2023, and Bethesda finishing in 8th place with an average Metascore of 80.
The top 20 game publishers in the list are as follows:
- Capcom
- Raw Fury
- Chorus Worldwide
- DANGEN Entertainment
- Annapurna Interactive
- Nintendo
- Aksys Games
- Bethesda
- SEGA
- Thunderful
- Devolver Digital
- Playism
- Sony
- Gearbox
- Xbox Game Studios
- Electronic Arts
- Team17
- Focus Entertainment
- Square Enix
- Red Art Games
This marks a big difference from the previous list, when Xbox Game Studios actually failed to make the lineup at all due to releasing so few first-party games in 2022. This time around, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition was described as the "best" Xbox Game Studios title of 2023, while Hi-Fi RUSH was the best Bethesda game.
Of course, the likes of Forza Motorsport and Starfield will have helped towards these rankings as well, although Metacritic notes that Redfall actually dragged Bethesda down because of its poor launch in May of last year.