Each year, Metacritic runs the numbers on all the games released in the previous 12 months to determine which publisher put out the best stuff. The site, which aggregates review scores across all popular media, has crunched all that data, and coming out on top for 2022 is Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Yes, Sony's first-party efforts last year meant it had "no problem" taking the top spot on Metacritic's rundown. Including all PC ports, the platform holder's slate of releases in 2022 averaged out to an overall score of 85.6, with all of them falling into the website's green score category.
Indeed, the company had a great run last year. In terms of original games, we had the excellent trio of Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and God of War Ragnarok — all of a very high standard. However, beyond that, the company released The Last of Us: Part I, as well as a variety of PC ports such as God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, all of which were met with good critical reception. As Metacritic notes, the worst scoring game from Sony last year was MLB The Show 22, which still reeled in a decent 77 metascore.
Here's a quick look at the top 10 publishers of 2022 (according to Metacritic):
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Paradox Interactive
- Activision Blizzard
- Focus Entertainment
- Take-Two Interactive
- Capcom
- SEGA
- Annapurna Interactive
- Humble Games
- Devolver Digital
You can check out the full rundown through here, if you're interested. What do you think? Would you put Sony as 2022's top publisher? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source metacritic.com]
Comments 52
And fully deserved.
Cool to see Focus made it pretty far up the list. Plague Tale Requiem in particular was brilliant.
I guess when the next Bethesda games release, MS will find themselves on that charts
@theMEGAniggle Noop Bethesda and Xbox are treated as an independent publisher, the same as 2021. If the acquision goes through Activision Will also be a independent publisher.
Hum… as much as I love Sony, can’t help but feel like this is a bit of a cheat as they include PC port of their best games.
I think it should include only original release or remake (but not remaster and ports)… Case in point does it mean that Bethesda get one freebie every year since they pretty much always release a new port of Skyrim?
@theMEGAniggle MS won it 2021 according to the linked article but didn't even qualify last year.
"Metacritic's #1 Publisher of the Year. In our publisher rankings published one year ago, Sony finished just behind Microsoft for the #1 slot. This year, Sony had no problem taking the top spot in our rankings—and not just because Microsoft failed to qualify (by releasing an atypically low four distinct scored titles, falling one title short of our five-game cutoff). Sony's nothing-but-green-scores 2022 slate may have consisted solely of ports and sequels to pre-existing IP, but it was consistently good, led by game-of-the-year candidate God of War: Ragnarok and a PC port of the previous God of War release. Even the publisher's worst 2022 title—MLB The Show 22—still scored a solid 77."
Playstation fully deserved it last year and released some great games
This would mean something if Metacritic did averages correctly.
They're doing an average of an average instead of adding all publisher's reviews and dividing by the total review to calculate an actual average.
It also looks like they're adding games not published by Sony.
It says 15 titles 10 distinct, but I cant figure it out. Unless they are including MLB on other platforms, which Sony doesn't publish. Not doing a great job for site who's entire purpose is to average scores
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered PC
Sackboy: A Big Adventure PC
God Of War PC
Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection PC
Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection PS5
Mlb The Show 22 PS5
Horizon Forbidden West PS4
Horizon Forbidden West PS5
Gran Turismo 7 PS5
Gran Turismo 7 PS4
The Last Of Us Part I PS5
God Of War: Ragnarok PS5
Mlb The Show 22 Xbox
Mlb The Show 22 Nintendo
Square Enix getting absolutely slapped about this year, ranking alongside the shovelware publishers
I mean, I love Sony, but Activision being
#3 seems nonsensical. And Take Two at #5? This doesn’t make sense.
For me, Nintendo was the best developer last year. There was just such a high standard for their titles with a lot of diversity.
Again, love Sony, but, I’m retrospect, Gran Turismo was the only title that impressed me. But I’m also not a GoW guy. I felt TLOU part 1 was an unnecessary release. HFW was a let-down for me. I know I’m likely going to get negative feedback toward my opinion here, but it’s my opinion. Again, remember that Sony was called best I’m a list where a weak Activision line-up was third.
@B-I-G-DEVIL your system would have a massive bias towards games that had more reviews. If a publisher put out one big hit and ten shovelware titles, their overall score would look identical to one big hit.
I can see the merits of that system, but I certainly can't see why that's the 'proper' way to do it. If I had to pick between the two, I'd pick Metacritics method over yours.
Sony PlayStation is the g.o.a.t. 🐐 👑thats another reason why im with PlayStation since day 1 in September 9.1995 here in queens new york.its always a good time with PlayStation.word up son
@ThomasHL Square was inconsistent, but they deserve credit for releasing so many titles, and so many of them being fantastic, even with the duds and bizarre corporate speak they’ve embraced as of late
@somnambulance Nintendo sunk down because Pokemen Violet / Scarlet was a technical disaster and Switch Sports was a big miss.
Nintendo only had one truly outstanding game this year (Xenoblade Chronicles), everything else (Bayonetta 3, Splatoon) had asterisks' mostly because the technical quality and online set up was poor.
@Sakai Please remind me what MS released in 2021 other than Flight Sim ?
@MaikonCSGarcia Oh okay that's just strange behaviour to buy a publisher, make them still independent then force them to make exclusive content
@ThomasHL I do get your point, but for example an average of average increased Xbox score last year. Only marginal, like 0.3 difference. So you could argue that's biased because some low-reviewed games increased scores (Psychonauts on Xbox One)
It's labelled as Average Metascore. So that's what should be calculated for me. An average and an average of an average are two different things. I know I'm been pedantic but this is what I do every day with my work ha.
@theMEGAniggle according to the metacritic article from last year:
"Metacritic's #1 Publisher of the Year. It is very rare for a publisher to average above 80 for its releases across a single calendar year. But how often does a company average above 85 ? Never ... until this year.
Our runaway winner of this year's Publisher of the Year honors, Microsoft certainly published fewer titles in 2021 than it does in a typical year. But what games it did publish were uniformly excellent, making Microsoft the only publisher with a 100% success rate. Three different titles scored 90 or higher (also top among all publishers): the latest Forza Horizon racer, a sequel to Psychonauts, and the Xbox Series X version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. (Their successes almost make Halo Infinite seem like a disappointment with a mere 87.)"
@B-I-G-DEVIL Metacritic has never been just a straight AVERAGE. They weight scores so an fan blog trying to break into the industry that just started last year may not count for as much as older more respected publications which I believe is sensible. From their own about page:
@themightyant That's how the scores are calculated for the individual games.
The calculation behind that should be used for the publisher as well. Taking all individual scores with the critic's weighting applied to them under a publisher. Combining the scores and dividing by the total scores to get the average.
And making sure all the games were published by the publisher. Which they haven't done. They've included the version of MLB Sony didn't publish, regardless of opinion of average vs an average of averages. They've still done it wrong.
Activision Blizzard in 3rd position. It really shows the state of videogame critics. They published diablo immortal and the yearly Ctrl+C Ctrl+V Call of duty.
@B-I-G-DEVIL have they listed all the games that qualified?
Regardless their publisher of the year ISN'T an average either.
If a game has a Metacrtic of over 90 (with 7 critic reviews) they qualify it as GREAT which earns the publisher 5 bonus points. (only once if it is multi-platform)
It all seems a little convoluted to me but I can understand the want to reward truly great games over those that are good but not great. Plus it will help grade results to prevent clumping
I hate these lists. Feels like MS will look at it and start picking out which ones to buy next...
Yeah. 2022 was carried by Sony. Otherwise it would be an Elden Ring and that's it kind of year.
@themightyant I only talk about the average because there is no mention of the actual points in the article. I think there is very little focus on that part, and most only look at the average review score for the year.
You are right though, that there are bonus points for the great games, and they should be too! It does impact if people look at it from a point's perspective. I'm just pedantic over it, Sony would still be the second-best ever score pointwise, but they could have celebrated setting a new average record. Instead, we get a rather negative tone celebration post from Metacritic.
No list of games but it's easy to work out as there are 15 titles with scores and 10 distinct ones. Averaging the average scores of the below games comes out at 85.6
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered PC
Sackboy: A Big Adventure PC
God Of War PC
Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection PC
Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection PS5
Mlb The Show 22 PS5
Horizon Forbidden West PS4
Horizon Forbidden West PS5
Gran Turismo 7 PS5
Gran Turismo 7 PS4
The Last Of Us Part I PS5
God Of War: Ragnarok PS5
Mlb The Show 22 Xbox
Mlb The Show 22 Nintendo
@B-I-G-DEVIL I think THIS summary table makes it a LITTLE clearer. But only a little.
And yes you are being pedantic, but we all can be at times. lol. Don't get me started on MS + ABK or theMightyRANT appears
This would mean a lot more if I actually had a stitch of respect for metacritic.
@somnambulance A totally valid experience for you to have! Nintendo was very diverse in the releases as you say, and did have a strong year. I think I'm on the other end of what you're saying, and that's not bias, it's just I don't think the games Nintendo released in 2022 truly compelled me. I enjoyed XBC 3 for instance, great story and characters, but the world was less imaginative than previous titles and some of the RPG functions in the game just didn't work for me. I also didn't like Pokemon Arceus, and am not a fan of Splatoon or Bayonetta. So, just not the year for me personally.
Sony hit home with me just through two titles alone. Ragnarok and Stray, the latter of which left a bigger personal impact on me than any other game in 2022. It's a precious game I recommend to all. I only just picked up GT7 but am enjoying that too.
Hopefully you don't get negative feedback for your thoughts, I think it's great when we can talk about why we preferred certain publishers over others in a given year. Hell, Xbox had a decent year with games that didn't deserve enough attention, like Pentiment.
Maybe it's an effect of something like metacritic? I've always had an issue with the site, I don't agree with their aggregate score formulas, not to mention the total mess of user score ratings in the last few years. I just don't think it can do any game's experience in others proper justice.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed Nintendo so much last year. May the big 3 succeed in 2023.
@themightyant I won't comment on the ABK anymore. Not worth it ha.
Removing the two MLB games would roughly put Sony up to about 86.5 using Metacritic method. Minor difference. I dont like how much impact 4 reviews for GT7 on PS4 and 7 on Horizon PS4 have on the score. I think the limit of 4 reviews to score a game is far too low. It should be at least 20 for me. Considering some games get over 100, 4 is far too low. I guess part of that is small indies.
Critics should also be reviewing these version way more still. But that's another topic.
That's why I wouldn't average an average as it could be easily manipulated. Not saying it is, but the possibility is there if biased critics (either positive or negative towards a publisher) put 2 and 2 together.
Sony would be 88 roughly if did an average of every review received.
I'll stop going on now though. I've had my pedantic moment for the day lol
@B-I-G-DEVIL Nothing about Metacritic has ever been valid or acceptable. It's a travesty it even existed past its launch and became this be-all end all thing. The whole concept is flawed, and fans and industry accepting it as a numeric representation of a rank and quality of everything has hurt the whole games market. Why should "best publisher" be any different?
The fact the ranking includes more games that are years-old because they were ported to a new platform than actual new games should tell us more than we need to know about the meaningfulness of this list...
@B-I-G-DEVIL I can see that, though 4 is sensible to me, not just for indies, but as they split by platform other platforms like Switch and Xbox often don't get anywhere near 20 even for bigger games. (Elden Ring is only 19 on Xbox SX for example)
I also believe mathematically it makes sense, e.g. if 3 reviewers gave a game 10/10 but one gave it 6/10 it would still get a 9 which seems fair. It helps prevent score manipulation.
@NEStalgia Calling it a 'travesty' is a bit OTT isn't it? Metacritic is just a tool, and this is just a bit of fun, like awards which are all subjective.
Personally I find it really helpful, but like any review, or aggregator you need to take it all with a large grain of salt. Many low scoring games I love, many high scoring or 'Must play' games I don't.
I agree some people put too much focus / weight on it. But that isn't Metacritic's fault.
Personally I prefer Open Critic, which is more of a flat aggregator, but there are flaws in their approach too if you platform version is an awful port it drags down the overall score but raises your expectations. Pros and Cons and with most of life
@theMEGAniggle Still what Microsoft does, and It probably makes it easier to manage It all.
@DrGonzo @ThomasHL @Enriesto Man, I LOVED Stray last year. Was Sony the publisher on that one? Absolutely a stellar game though. I’m only expecting negative feedback because I’ve been on the site for a while and I know what to expect when you say, “GoW… it’s sort of meh” and then proceed to say HFW was disappointing and “TLOU… also sort of meh.” Lol. I’m not baiting, but I feel like I’ve argued with certain members of the message board ad nausem every time the subject comes up, so that’s my form of a disclaimer. Lol.
For me, I thought Arceus, Violet, Xenoblade, Kirby, and Splatoon were 9/10 tier (and I gotta give a nod to Triangle Strategy in this comment too because it might be my favorite exclusive title across the platforms last year). And yes, I understand the vitriol Violet received online, but I think it was overblown. I played through the game at release and had no bugs with it at all. A little bit of janky animation, sure, but no heads spinning or game freezes or any of that. For me, HFW actually had rougher technical performance, hard crashing twice during my playthrough and having a couple instances of frame rate drops. I don’t dilute my opinion of HFW over that, but I feel it needs to be said. HFW disappointed me more for narrative and quest structure reasons than that, but I’m forgiving on bugs since I loved all things Bethesda through high school and college. Lol.
Looking at the Metacritic rankings, it’s a sham that ports are included in their ratings. I mean, I get that Persona is fantastic, but does Atlus or Sega deserve applause and goty nod every time Persona 5 gets another release for a different platform.
See, Square does deserve credit for their efforts. Two solid Voice of Cards entries, Nier Automata came to Switch, niche title Live A Live came… alive again, Star Ocean had a serviceable game, Valkyrie Elysium was more than serviceable, Crisis Core had a decent remake, Strangers of Paradise was absolutely hilarious and was actually pretty pleasant for gameplay, DQ Treasures was a nice, little Switch exclusive, one of the greatest srpgs of all time in Tactics Ogre got remastered, and best of all Triangle Strategy was an absolute masterpiece. Square did more last year than some developers and publishers do in 5 years. Sure, they had some stumbles like Babylon’s Fall, but it can’t be ignored that they put out a veritable library of interesting titles last year.
@themightyant The problem with Metacritic (and Rotten Tomatoes) is twofold. It attempts to assign who's opinion is most important. While a fly by night shouldn't have the same importance as a large corporate publication with vested interests, the other is also true, establishment media with vested interests aren't inherently better opinions.
But the concept as a whole, an aggregation of all the many pages and videos of nuanced opinions, depictions, details, comparisons, relative pros and cons, relative values for price point and development history and release time frame, distilled to a round number is the biggest problem of all. The very essence of review aggregation should not exist. The meaning of life is 47. The value of Breath of the Wild is 97.
@Korgon agree! Focus makes some good games. Underappreciated gems.
@RunGMhx i see your point, but certainly a port or remake is an artform in itself? A mediocre job would result in a lesser metacritic, shouldnt a quality job then count? Its not like they are copy pasting games to other consoles, they put a lot of care into PC versions of Spiderman & GoW, and LoU remake.
@NEStalgia I get your point, but all systems are flawed.
Personally I have no problem with aggregation, it fulfils a useful role. In a perfect world I might be able to read many of the reviews about a game/movie/tv series etc. and make a decision whether that was worth my time of money. But firstly time is precious and secondly I would likely know FAR TOO MUCH by the end of that process, with everyone spoiling different little bits.
This is why I like review scores, they don't spoil anything. Often I just want to know if a game is in a genre I like, check it's not a stinker, and try and make a judgement if it's good enough to warrant a Day 1 £70 purchase. But single reviews are subjective. That is where aggregation is useful. Not on it's own but as PART of the buying process.
E.g. Has anyone recommended it to me, if so who? What did a reviewer who's view closely aligns with mine think? Is it in a genre I like? Is it in a series I know, and know what to expect? What has the developer made before? And yes, what is the Metascore? It's ALL useful information. Singly just one of these things wouldn't sell me on it, but together it's useful.
The real problems with aggregation are more to do with how people USE that data. e.g. they rank one game against another suggesting that Resident Evil 4 got 93 on Metacritic therefore it is a better game than Hi-Fi Rush which got an 87. For some maybe, but not for others. It isn't a good comparative device.
But this isn't a problem with aggregation, this is a problem with how people USE aggregation. Like when publishers prevented dev bonuses for not hitting X Metascore. Despicable.
In short I agree that a Metascore on it's own is not that helpful - just as a sole review, or a review score isn't - but it's still a useful tool in the buying process.
Another reason why Microsoft shouldn't be allowed to buy AVB. Sony are top of the charts because people prefer them, given the choice.
@somnambulance Well said, and understood. You learn to pick your battles after a while on these sister sites, sometimes it's best not to leave a comment that disagrees with most of the community, I get that.
Stray was published by Annapurna, sorry, I mentioned it as something I enjoyed on PS5 last year as I was just sharing that it was the platform I enjoyed most in 2022, and Stray was one of the highlights for me.
I don't disagree with any of your takes regarding the PS exclusives that came out last year, no problem. I just feel that way about the Nintendo exclusives from last year, and it's blasphemy to indicate you didn't think it was THAT strong of a year from them on a Nintendo-focused blog site. I certainly think this year will be better for me.
Square Enix cranked out a lot! There might be a good case for them being the key player, and I share the nod you make towards Triangle Strategy, it's a gem. They gave us an insane catalogue, with a few standout titles.
Anyway, you can see I'm not trying to take away anything from your experience and I believe most here would never do that either. Sometimes gamers need to retract their claws and open their minds to what other people say, it's not necessarily a form of tribalism.
@somnambulance I agree with you, Nintendo had a better year. But I understand WHY Sony came #1 within Metacritic's ranking. They still had a solid year, even if you personally didn't vibe with their games as much.
As @NEStalgia said here, or was it somewhere else (don't cross the streams) and I paraphrase but "Sony were being rewarded for some ports of some of their best PS4 games."
It would be nice if Metacritic, or someone else, also did a list of ONLY new releases.
But ultimately these things are just for fun and we shouldn't read too much into them.
@themightyant I prefer open critic as well. I also like that they clearly show who they consider a top critic. Might not agree with them all but is very transparent, at least.
@themightyant Lol. All three of us cross streams on these sites. Believe me, I barely remember what I’ve said on which site at this point. I usually agree with what @NEStalgia says. Of course, that does exclude my blind and passionate need to support Luminous Studios against all odds, but I do agree 100% that gaming is clouded currently with ports and re-releases. I mean, didn’t Metacritic make the insane gesture to award GotY to Persona 5 for Xbox last year? I mean, sure, it was a rough year for Xbox, but that game came out on PS3. Half the “top games” list for Metacritic last year were ports and rereleases, which totally defeats the purpose of finding the best new games. It perpetuates the “ah, I remember the golden days” argument. But then again, so do the remakes… I argue the same day as my Resident Evil 4 preorder is finally available to play!
@Enriesto I like to leave the comments. I love these sites, but I’ve been fighting the good fight for Pokémon S/V, Sonic Frontiers, Forspoken, and a few other games for sure!
For me, I honestly think this year will be a stronger year for PlayStation… for me. Two Final Fantasy games and who knows how much Silent Hill we’ll get? Count me in! Just the sound of Death Stranding 2 in the distance prepares my wallet for immediate spending! Lol. There is a lot of tribalism in gaming, but I personally feel that any gamer is missing out if they’re not trying to experience the best of whatever platforms we have available.
@somnambulance I agree with you that Nintendo and Square should be higher on the list. With games like Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Kirby, Pokémon Legends Arceus, Pokémon Violet/Scarlet, Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes and Bayonetta 3. I think it was an insane year for the Nintendo switch and one of the strongest yet, but to not get in the top 10 publishers of last year is an absolute insult.
Then there's Square Enix which I understand why it would be lower on the list with some titles like babylons fall and Valkyrie Elysium with their really low scores bringing Squares avarage metacritic score down.
But they still had a lot of great games last year, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest Treasures, Harvestella and Triangle Strategy were the standout ones for me. But even games like live a live, Diofield Chronicle and Stranger of Paradise were all pretty decent games.
But Square and Nintendo are the top two publishers by output, meaning there's more games to get a total average score from, so one bad game ruins everything.
@somnambulance I always disagree with what @NEStalgia says but only to be contrary right now. lmao
I did think about having different profiles on each site at one point, but it's just not me, for all my faults, and there are many, I try and be as open and honest as possible, even if I do ruffle a few feathers.
I don't think it was just Metacritic, I think EDGE, and some other respected publications, also gave Persona 5 Xbox GOTY as a slight point making exercise. But the fact is if you ONLY play on Xbox it might well have been your GOTY. If we continue going down this more exclusive route in future a games original release date will be less important than the first time it is available to you and we will see more and more of this.
Anyway i'm off to Platinum TLOU Pt 1 which I was COMPLETELY against when it was announced and then released, but honestly I got a reasonable price and i'm loving it.
@UltimateOtaku91 As for Nintendo i'm wondering, without looking into it, if they had any games that dragged them down.
@themightyant There was a few in the low 70's like Mario Strikers, Pokémon S/V and Nintendo Switch Sports.
And Kirby Dream Buffet scored 66 😬
That alone brought the score down by a few percent. Otherwise without those titles I just mentioned they would be in the top half.
UltimateOtaku91 Wow, a Nintendo game at 66..... I thought Nintendo was always granted 99 on everything by default
I feel bad for Nintendo and Square-Enix not making the top 10.
That said though, Sony is definitely deserving of being top dog.
@theMEGAniggle lol nice joke. Starfield will be as bland and buggy as Fallout 4 and 76.
@KidBoruto I'm not too sure. Sony had God of War, GT7 and Horizon out which got quickly forgotten because of Elden Ring. Other than that? Stray which was a niche title.
This year has already been bad for Sony. VR games and one of the worst releases of the year yet (Forspoken).
@Phornix I mean realistically though. Starfield looks fun, visually bad but it looks fun
@Sakai Forza a bit questionable but fair enough
@UltimateOtaku91 See, that’s what I’m saying. It was an insane year for the Switch. I think it’s possible it might’ve been the best year for Switch exclusives since 2017. It’s a shame that Pokémon was ripped apart the way that it was. I dunno. I felt like Violet was one of my all-time favorite Pokémon experiences, with Arceus possibly dethroning Silver and Gold for me (gotta let the game set in a few years before I really believe that though).
@themightyant I’ll level with you on TLOU part 1. I’m contemplating getting it if my wife ever wants to jump into the games. I definitely think it was a cash grab still, but… as a gamer, I’m compelled to play the best version of a game every time, so I totally get it. I feel like people were really snarky about Xbox with GotY lists last year. I mean, I was snarky towards Xbox too, but there were legitimately some great games that launched on the console. As far as exclusives go, Immortality and Vampire Survivors were just as memorable as any other great exclusive on the other platforms for me, and Pentiment was unique and well crafted, as well, if the nichest first party game in history perhaps. The Persona is GotY on Xbox thing is totally facetious.
@DrGonzo I can see your point of view on it. I just totally disagree because I can honestly say if I tally all my game time last year, roughly half of it was spent on Square titles and I enjoyed that time. Sure, most of the games were 7/10s, but there was a 9/10 in the group too, and I felt like they were digging deeper on their pandering last year, if that makes sense.
Yeah, Sony is on another level. They also keep providing amazing hardware to keep pushing things forward. They check all the boxes.
Great times to be in gaming.
@Phornix Who do you think should have been the best 2022 games publisher then?
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