Metacritic's 16th Annual Game Publisher Rankings

Decent reviews for a Guilty Gear port and the new adventure game Dear me, I was... couldn't outweigh the Japanese publisher's numerous 2025 duds including a Double Dragon revival and a fighting game based on the Hunter × Hunter anime/manga franchise.

Finishing in the bottom six of our rankings yet again—they have done so every year since 2021—French publisher Nacon failed to impress game critics with titles like Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator and RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business. They also failed to impress shareholders and debtors: Nacon filed for insolvency last month. (The company hopes to reorganize and continue to operate.) Note that we included one title published by Nacon's wholly owned but shrinking subsidiary Daedalic Entertainment in the above totals.

Another French publisher (and developer), Microids scored positive reviews for just two of its 2025 releases: a remake of the 1999 adventure game Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy and detective adventure Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile. And even then, some versions of the latter dipped into yellow Metascore territory, joining other mediocre releases like Syberia - Remastered, Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening, and Kaku - Ancient Seal.

Publishing far more 2025 titles than any other company on this list, Japan's Bandai Namco actually improved its ranking slightly over two consecutive #27 finishes—though, it should be said, far fewer companies qualified for our rankings this year. Topping the company's 2025 slate was the roguelike Elden Ring spinoff Nightreign and the latest Katamari roll-'em-up. But there were also plenty of disappointing releases including Tamagotchi Plaza, SYNDUALITY: Echo of Ada, and Everybody's Golf Hot Shots.

Following four straight top-10 finishes in our rankings, indie publisher Annapurna had a rare disappointing year in 2025, scoring positive reviews for fewer than half of its releases. Annapurna's better games last year included a co-op puzzle-platformer sequel to the (non-Annapurna) LEGO Builder's Journey and a cozy, tea-centric adventure game from one of the creators of all-time great The Stanley Parable. But the publisher's multiple misses with critics included puzzle-adventure to-a-T (from Katamari creator Keita Takahashi), cycling adventure Wheel World, and roguelite creature collector Morsels.

Though Austrian publisher Plaion managed to increase its average Metascore ever so slightly—thanks largely to the enthusiastic reception for action/RPG sequel Kingdom Come: Deliverance II —its percentage of games receiving positive reviews dropped in 2025 compared to the prior year, leading to a slight drop in Plaion's position in our rankings. (A poor reception for all versions of fantasy action-adventure Echoes of the End didn't help.) Note that the numbers above include games published by Plaion's various subsidiary labels, including Deep Silver, Prime Matter, Milestone, and Vertigo Games.

Yes, that's a PC game leading Sony's 2025 slate: The PlayStation owner continues to port—eventually—many of its games to Windows in addition to its flagship console, at least for now. But Sony's best PS5 game last year, the highly anticipated sequel Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, just missed the 90 mark, while the Sony-published Ghost of Tsushima sequel Ghost of Yotei was also well-reviewed. It certainly wasn't all good news for Sony in 2025, however: Multiple titles fared more poorly with reviewers, including a pair of Destiny 2 expansions (yes, we include titles credited to Sony-owned subsidiary Bungie in the figures listed above), the years-in-development Chinese action-adventure RPG Lost Soul Aside, and the horror party game Midnight Murder Club.

The venerable game company saw its average Metascore increase by about four points in 2025 compared to the prior year while also boosting its percentage of games receiving positive reviews from a lackluster 41% to a much better (though still less than ideal) 57%. Still, a 2025 lineup heavy on reissues, remasters, and compilations failed to wow critics. Note that Atari's figures listed above include games published by its subsidiaries Nightdive Studios, Infogrames, and Digital Eclipse.

Another company showing a marked improvement over the prior year—that 67% success rate compares highly favorably to last year's 25% number—while remaining in the bottom half of publishers, British company PQube received positive reviews for five different 2025 titles, led by the Japan-set adventure Iwakura Aria. Holding the company back from a higher ranking were a few duds, most notably Beyond The Ice Palace 2, a sequel to a nearly 40-year-old Commodore 64 platformer that perhaps was better left unsequeled.

Unranked last year, newish Swedish publisher Clear River Games released a handful of decent PS5 and Switch games in 2025, led by Operation Night Strikers, a compilation of four 1980s arcade games. (Note that the PC version of that game was published by a different company.)

Publishing under both the Marvelous and Xseed labels, Japanese game specialist Marvelous had four of its 2025 titles score 81 or higher, led by the horror adventure/tactical RPG mash-up The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and Harvest Moon remake Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. Less successful offerings included mech shooter Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion and the odd restaurant management/roguelite dungeon crawler mashup Cuisineer.

Best known for its Life Is Strange franchise, French adventure game specialist Dontnod received positive reviews for over two-thirds of its 2025 release slate, which was led by the new two-part narrative adventure Lost Records: Bloom & Rage and the cute puzzle-adventure Koira. Though the studio has no involvement in this week's Life Is Strange sequel Reunion, it does have a new sci-fi IP, Aphelion, arriving next month.

The Japanese conglomerate received fairly strong reviews not just for that Gradius compilation—which consisted of mostly pre-existing material, save for one new game—but also the latest entry in its Silent Hill franchise. But a Yu-Gi-Oh! compilation failed to impress critics, and lackluster reviews for the manga-to-action/RPG adaptation EDENS ZERO and a Survival Kids reboot also prevented Konami from ranking higher. In addition to yet another Silent Hill installment, the publisher also has new IP Darwin's Paradox set for the coming months.

Though Devolver technically fell one spot in our rankings compared to a year ago, the publisher's numbers (average Metascore, % good, etc.) are actually up across the board. (In other words, Devolver improved, but the competition improved even more.) Devolver's inventive bullet-hell shooter/base-builder/roguelite hybrid BALL x PIT captivated critics and gamers while collecting numerous award nominations. Other 2025 highlights included puzzler The Talos Principle: Reawakened, minimalist precision platformer Shotgun Cop Man, and roguelike/deckbuilder sequel Monster Train 2, while the publisher's biggest miss was TRON: Catalyst. Note that games published by Devolver's new sub-brand Big Fan Games (including those latter two titles) are included in the figures above.

After sitting out last year's rankings—blame a lack of quantity—Japanese conglomerate Koei Tecmo returned this year and performed well, thanks to several Atelier JRPG games, hack-and-slash reboot Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and remaster Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Koei's biggest critical dud of 2025 was Warriors: Abyss, which attempted to add a roguelite element to the Dynasty Warriors formula to mixed results.

Buoyed by a couple of Zelda ports for the new Switch 2 console—plus an all-new Donkey Kong game —Nintendo was the only publisher to score 90 or higher for more than one of its 2025 titles. Bonus points for those great games helped Nintendo jump 10 spots in our rankings compared to last year despite a slate that included far more ports of older titles (to its new Switch 2 console) than completely new games. Those new games, by the way, also produced Nintendo's two lowest scores of 2025: the why-are-they-charging-money-for-this walkthrough Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and basketball-on-wheels title Drag x Drive. But the publisher is already off to a strong start in 2026 thanks to the release of one of the best-reviewed Pokemon games in history.

The French gaming giant had a fairly good 2025, at least as far as review scores go. Ubisoft improved its average Metascore by four points and its percentage of products with green scores from 65% to 81% (compared to 2024 numbers) to shoot up seven spots in our rankings. Positively reviewed titles included that Avatar tie-in plus historical city builder Anno 117: Pax Romana, a new Prince of Persia title. and a decent Assassin's Creed installment, though critics didn't really like a DLC for the latter. But 2025 was not a good year for Ubisoft on the financial front. Disappointing revenue led the company to shutter some of its development studios, cancel a handful of games (including a major Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake), and plan for layoffs, leading to a recent strike by 1,200 of Ubisoft's remaining workers.

Helped by one of 2025's best games, the multi-award-winning puzzle-adventure Blue Prince, indie Swedish publisher Raw Fury landed in our top 10 for the third consecutive year. Other strong 2025 releases included fellow puzzler The Seance of Blake Manor and point-and-click detective adventure Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, while horror puzzler Post Trauma and deckbuilder Knights in Tight Spaces were the only Raw Fury releases last year without positive reviews from critics.

Roguelike beat-em-up Absolum was the best of several strong releases for the Parisian publisher in 2025. Other highlights last year included hack-and-slash platformer Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and RPG/CCB hybrid Cross Blitz. The above figures include titles (like the latter) published under Dotemu's alternate label, The Arcade Crew. That brand was also responsible for a few of the company's worst-reviewed 2025 products, including tactical RPG/deckbuilder Shuffle Tactics and FPS Abyssus.

Returning to our top 10 for the first time since 2022, EA received positive reviews for nearly four out of every five releases in 2025—compared to just a 52% success rate the previous year. The company released one of 2025's best new IPs in Split Fiction, an imaginative co-op action-adventure from the studio behind It Takes Two, while also receiving green Metascores for almost all of its annual sports games (with NHL 26 the notable exception). But the 44-year-old gaming giant made headlines when it announced its intention to shift from a publicly traded company to one that is privately held—with ownership mainly held by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. That planned leveraged buyout has not yet closed and has drawn criticism from EA employees and some politicians but is widely expected to secure approval from regulators this year.

Though it failed to hold onto its #1 ranking—we have yet to have a repeat winner—Sega still had a fairly good year. No games surpassed the 90 mark, but Sega's 2025 slate was one of just seven to achieve an average score of 80 or higher, with that new Sonic Racing title plus Shinobi: Art of Vengeance and Two Point Museum all faring well with critics. Sega released a larger quantity of games than most publishers on this list, so some misfires were inevitable. That group included the underwhelming remaster Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Master Crafted Edition and the too-ugly and overly buggy Football Manager 26.

Rising six spots in our ranking thanks in large part to a three-point average Metascore increase, Take-Two benefitted from unbalanced reviews for its latest Borderlands title (PS5 reviewers scored it 12 points lower than that stellar Xbox score above) and generally positive reviews for all of its 2025 games not named Mafia: The Old Country. Figures above include releases not just from 2K Games and 2K Sports but also fellow Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games. The latter's main 2026 release will likely determine just how highly Take-Two ranks next year.

Microsoft's very solid numbers listed above include games released by its subsidiary labels, including Bethesda Softworks, Activision, and Blizzard, in addition to its flagship Xbox Game Studios. Weirdly, Microsoft's two highest-scoring 2025 games were actually PlayStation products— Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle —both ports of previous Xbox console exclusives. (And you can expect future Microsoft titles to also make their way to the PS5—even Halo games.) Its best Xbox game? That would be Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. The best Xbox Game Studios-published Xbox game? The Outer Worlds 2. Most of the 19% of Microsoft's 2025 slate lacking positive reviews came from Activision (Call of Duty: Black Ops 7) and Bethesda (and Indiana Jones DLC). But the company could be nearing a turning point given that longtime Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer just retired and a new console (codenamed Project Helix) is in development.

Swedish publisher Thunderful was acquired by Atari late last year, though we are keeping the numbers for both companies separate for the time being. Though no Thunderful product scored higher than 83, a figure reached by both ISLANDERS: New Shores (co-published by Coatsink) and Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, the company's high ranking is driven largely by receiving positive reviews for all but one of its 2025 releases. But there's a big jump between Thunderful and our #3 publisher ...

Barely missing out as repeating at #2, Capcom still landed its third consecutive top-three finish thanks to a consistently good 2025 slate led by its latest Monster Hunter title. Only a single product—the PC version of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Remaster —prevented Capcom from achieving a 100% success rate. And the company is already off to a roaring start in 2026 (with strong reviews for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection and Resident Evil Requiem), so another year near the top of our rankings is not out of the question.

Formerly known as Gamera Games, Chinese indie publisher Gamirror Games is credited as a co-publisher of a number of PC game releases. In 2025, all five of those titles were positively reviewed, making Gamirror one of just two publishers to receive nothing but green Metascores.