Comparing the 2010 releases of game publishers

A few weeks ago, we revealed our final list of 2010's best videogames. Now, it's time to look at which companies are responsible for those releases. Now, for the first time, we're ranking game publishers, based on how well their games were reviewed last year.

Ranking of major publishers

Rather than try to compare smaller publishers to giant ones, we have divided all publishers into two separately ranked groups, based on the number of games they released last year. Our first group consists of major publishers, who each issued 15 or more unique titles in 2010. We have ranked these publishers in order from best overall game quality to worst, using a formula based on four factors:

Average Metascore for all products released in 2010 % of products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75 ) % of products with bad reviews ( 49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better) Number of "great" titles (Metascore of 90 or higher)

Note that the Metascore average (the first factor) counts slightly more than the other factors. (Detailed scoring information appears in a table below the rankings.)

Here is how the major publishers stacked up based on their 2010 releases:

1. Take Two Interactive

(incl. 2K Games, 2K Play, 2K Sports, Rockstar Games)

Products Released in 2010 † # Scored 40 (19 titles) # Unscored 6 (3 titles) Average Metascore 77.1 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 63,38,0

One of just two major publishers to finish 2010 with an average Metascore in the green range (75 or higher) indicating positive reviews from game critics, Take Two Interactive tops our 2010 rankings thanks to critically lauded releases like the sandbox-style multi-platform western Red Dead Redemption and PC strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization V 90, which professional reviewers loved even if some longtime fans weren't quite as delighted. Take Two did not release a single poorly-reviewed game last year; on the contrary, nearly two in every three releases earned positive reviews. And the numbers for subsidiary Rockstar Games were even better; Rockstar averaged 82.1 for its 10 scored products last year. Another Take Two label, 2K Sports, also finished with a green average Metascore (75.0), though that mark was inferior to the 78.5 average held by the other major publisher of sports titles, EA Sports.

2. Nintendo

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 39 # Unscored 16 Average Metascore 76.1 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 64,33,3

In addition to finishing with the second-best average Metascore among the biggest game companies, Nintendo boasted the highest percentage (64%) of positively reviewed releases out of any major publisher last year. Nintendo also was responsible for our overall highest-scoring game of 2010, the Wii title Super Mario Galaxy 2. One note of caution, however: Nintendo also had the largest number of "unscored" titles -- games with fewer than four reviews -- out of any publisher we tracked last year. While these releases aren't necessarily all bad (indeed, many of them received some positive reviews), they are very minor releases of little significance or interest to most gamers.

3. Capcom

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 33 (19 titles) # Unscored 3 (2 titles) Average Metascore 74.5 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 58,42,0

Capcom's latest Super Street Fighter installment booked terrific scores in both its PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, the highlight of a year in which the publisher didn't release a single negatively-reviewed title. That said, nearly all of Capcom's 2010 game lineup in 2010 consisted of sequels to existing properties; the publisher's only new concept -- the sci-fi shooter Dark Void, developed by Airtight Games -- was its worst-reviewed game of the year.

4. Microsoft

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 21 # Unscored 0 Average Metascore 73.4 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 57,43,0

Microsoft had a fairly strong year as a publisher in 2010, with well over half of its games receiving positive reviews and none scoring below 50. However, aside from high-scoring title Halo: Reach, the company's only game to surpass Alan Wake's 83 was the Xbox Live Arcade title Pinball FX 2 88.

5. Electronic Arts

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 111 (48 titles) # Unscored 15 Average Metascore 72.6 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 50,45,5

Electronic Arts had one of the best-reviewed games of the year in sequel Mass Effect 2 for the 360, which also earned a stellar 94 for its PS3 version. And two more PS3 titles -- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 89 and FIFA Soccer 11 89 -- just missed falling into great territory. But when you release as many products as EA does each year, they can't all be good, and the publisher especially seemed to struggle with its Wii releases, averaging just 68.9 on that platform. Another blemish was the multi-platform release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, which was poor even by games-based-on-movies standards. However, EA does take the title as the top sports game publisher of 2010; its EA Sports label averaged 78.5 for its 33 scored products (13 unique titles) last year, finishing ahead of 2K Sports.

6. Activision Blizzard

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 58 (26 titles) # Unscored 4 Average Metascore 69.3 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 43,52,5

Activision Blizzard's two best games in 2010 were Blizzard titles: the long-awaited Starcraft sequel Wings of Liberty 93, and the World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm 90, each for the PC. DJ Hero 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops were among the best Activision console titles of 2010, though reviewers weren't quite as enthusiastic about ports of the latter game for the DS and Wii. The company made a few too many middling games for the DS, however, averaging 65.9 over 8 products.

7. Sony

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 48 (46 titles) # Unscored 3 Average Metascore 70.9 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 40,54,6

Sony's latest God of War installment didn't disappoint critics, finishing as one of two games to top the 90 mark for the publisher. The other one? Sports title MLB 10: The Show 91. At the other end of the spectrum, several titles designed to showcase Sony's new Move motion controller were critical failures, including action title Kung Fu Rider 36 and boxing game The Fight: Lights Out 48. Sony actually scored better for its PSP releases than its console titles, averaging over 73 for the former and 69.8 for the latter.

8. Square Enix

(incl. Eidos Interactive and Taito)

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 29 (17 titles) # Unscored 1 Average Metascore 70.8 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 48,45,7

Though Square Enix's percentage of games with green Metascores was higher than the two publishers ahead of them in our rankings, those publishers had something that Square Enix lacked: some great games. The Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider title Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was the company's highest-scoring release at just 85, and while the company did have 11 other products in a sequel-heavy lineup that scored at least an 80, only THQ among the major publishers had such a low-scoring "best" release of 2010.

9. Sega

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 49 (28 titles) # Unscored 1 Average Metascore 67.4 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 39,47,14

Best Overall Release Bayonetta (360) 90 Best Original Title Bayonetta (360) 90 Worst Overall Release Iron Man 2 (360) 41 Metacritic Users' Favorite Sonic Colors (Wii) 8.4

Developed by Platinum Games, the action title Bayonetta is the only original game concept released by a major publisher last year to receive strong enough reviews to meet or exceed the 90 mark; all of the other "great" games released by major publishers in 2010 were sequels, or, in the case of Red Dead Redemption, inspired by a previous title. (Note that the PS3 version of Bayonetta received an 87.) Unfortunately for Sega, several Sonic titles, an Iron Man 2 tie-in game, and a Winter Olympics title all flopped with critics, contributing to the publisher's middling overall ranking.

10. Namco Bandai

(incl. D3 Publisher)

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 37 (25 titles) # Unscored 2 Average Metascore 66.3 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 24,70,5

Unless it's 1980, if your best game of the year is Pac-Man, you're not doing well as a game publisher. (If it is 1980, please stop reading this article, as the Web hasn't been invented yet and we wouldn't want you to spoil it for anyone.) While Namco Bandai did manage to avoid many of the negative reviews that the other bottom-ranked publishers collected last year, the company was aggressively mediocre: a full 70% of Namco Bandai's 2010 releases had a yellow Metascore.

11. THQ

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 27 (17 titles) # Unscored 3 Average Metascore 67.0 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 37,44,19

THQ does get credit for establishing a new franchise with its action-adventure hit Darksiders (average Metascore on three platforms: 83). But the publisher was brought down by its five Wii releases (average Metascore: 56) and lacked a single major critical hit. Despite publishing fewer products in 2010 than any other major game company, THQ seemingly couldn't focus on quality; nearly 1 out of every 5 games THQ released last year received poor reviews.

12. Ubisoft

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 52 (30 titles) # Unscored 5 Average Metascore 64.6 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 33,46,21

Only EA and Activision Blizzard released more individual products that Ubisoft last year, but those two companies managed to avoid releasing as many bad games as Ubisoft did. Only a third of the publisher's 2010 releases earned positive reviews, while 11 individual products -- about 21% -- earned negative ones. Ubisoft did best when it focused on computer games, averaging a Metascore of over 72 for nine PC releases.

13. Konami

(incl. Hudson Soft/Hudson Entertainment)

Products Released in 2010 # Scored 51 (33 titles) # Unscored 7 Average Metascore 62.2 Metascore Breakdown

Good / So-So / Bad : 24,51,25

Konami released more poorly-reviewed products than any other major game publisher in 2010, one of several reasons the company finds itself at the bottom of our rankings. Half the company's games scored under 64; six titles alone scored under 40, which is a fairly dreadful score. Aside from that extremely solid Metal Gear Solid release and the multi-platform Castlevania: Lords of Shadow title, there is very little worth remembering about Konami's 2010 lineup.

Recap: rankings at a glance

Here are the above rankings again in a more compact form, with the points displayed, for anyone wishing to see how close a race it was:

Major Publisher Rankings, 2010 Releases Metascore Good Games Bad Games Great Games Publisher Avg. Pts. % Pts. % Pts. # Pts. Total Points 1 Take-Two Interactive 77.1 115.7 63% 62.5 0% 100.0 2 20 298.2 2 Nintendo 76.1 114.2 64% 64.1 3% 97.4 1 10 285.7 3 Capcom 74.5 111.7 58% 57.6 0% 100.0 1 10 279.3 4 Microsoft 73.4 110.1 57% 57.1 0% 100.0 1 10 277.2 5 Electronic Arts 72.6 108.9 50% 49.5 5% 94.6 1 10 263.0 6 Activision Blizzard 69.3 103.9 43% 43.1 5% 94.8 2 20 261.8 7 Sony 70.9 106.3 40% 39.6 6% 93.8 2 20 259.6 8 Square Enix 70.8 106.2 48% 48.3 7% 93.1 0 0 247.6 9 Sega 67.4 101.2 39% 38.8 14% 85.7 1 10 235.7 10 Namco Bandai 66.3 99.4 24% 24.3 5% 94.6 1 10 228.3 11 THQ 67.0 100.6 37% 37.0 19% 81.5 0 0 219.1 12 Ubisoft 64.6 96.8 33% 32.7 21% 78.8 1 10 218.4 13 Konami 62.2 93.2 24% 23.5 25% 74.5 0 0 191.3

Ranking of mid-size publishers

Each of the mid-size publishers listed below released between 7-14 unique titles in 2010. (Publishers who released fewer than seven games last year are not included in this report.) They are ranked according to the same methodology we used to rank the larger publishers above, earning points for average Metascore, % good and bad, and total number of great games. Telltale Games, best known for its Sam & Max series, was the clear leader, with the highest average Metascore of any publisher last year.

Mid-Size Publisher Rankings, 2010 Releases Publisher # Scored

Releases # Unscored

Releases

Average Metascore # Great Metascore

Distribution Points 1 Telltale Games 14 (10 titles) 0 78.4 0 79,21,0 296.2 2 Aksys Games 11 (9 titles) 0 73.1 0 64,27,9 264.2 3 Atlus Co. 12 0 72.4 1 50,42,8 260.3 4 Disney Interactive Studios 20 (9 titles) 1 70.4 0 40,60,0 245.5 5 Xseed Games 10 (9 titles) 0 70.3 0 40,50,10 235.5 6 NIS America 11 (10 titles) 0 69.6 0 27,64,9 222.6 7 Warner Bros. Interactive 17 (7 titles) 0 65.8 0 35,53,12 222.2 8 Paradox Interactive 11 (10 titles) 1 64.9 0 18,82,0 215.5 9 SouthPeak Games 11 (9 titles) 3 (2 titles) 65.8 0 9,91,0 207.8 10 Focus Home Interactive 8 0 65.0 0 13,75,13 197.5 11 Atari 10 (7 titles) 2 (1 title) 61.2 0 0,100,0 191.8 12 Deep Silver 10 (7 titles) 0 60.2 0 10,60,30 170.3 13 Tecmo Koei 14 (9 titles) 1 56.8 0 0,79,21 163.8 14 Majesco Games 11 (9 titles) 0 57.9 0 9,55,36 159.6

Platform-by-platform averages

Finally, here are the top publishers for each console and for the PC. In these tables, publishers are simply ranked by their average Metascores for each platform; the green, yellow, and red dots indicate individual products (with green, yellow, or red Metascores). Publishers with five or more releases for the platform were eligible for inclusion.

Highest Avg. Metascores Among Xbox 360 Publishers, 2010 Releases Publisher Xbox 360 Titles Average Metascore 1 Take-Two 77.7 2 Capcom 75.5 3 Electronic Arts 73.5 4 Microsoft 73.4 5 Square Enix 69.3

Highest Avg. Metascores Among PlayStation 3 Publishers, 2010 Releases Publisher PS3 Titles Average Metascore 1 Telltale Games 81.0 2 Take-Two Interactive 79.1 3 Electronic Arts 74.3 4 Capcom 74.1 5 Square Enix 74.0

Highest Avg. Metascores Among Wii Publishers, 2010 Releases Publisher Wii Titles Average Metascore 1 Capcom 74.8 2 Nintendo 73.4 3 Activision Blizzard 71.4 4 Disney Interactive Studios 69.3 5 Electronic Arts 68.9