Capcom becomes Metacritic's top publisher of 2023, while previous winner Sony drops out of top 10

Metacrtic has released its 14th annual game publisher rankings, listing the best and worst of them based on their 2023 releases. This year’s edition is full of interesting shifts, with many indie publishers climbing up and last year’s winner Sony dropping out of the top 10.

Resident Evil 4 remake

The game publisher ranking was published on March 21. Metacritic uses its own system to rank publishers based on critic reviews, the number of products with good and bad reviews, as well as other factors. The platform also takes into account the number of “great” titles (those with a Metascore of 90 or higher based on a minimum of seven reviews).

The top 10 game publishers of 2023

Note: the number of points and the company’s YoY change in the ranking are put in the brackets 

1. Capcom (325.7 points, ↑5) — 11 scored titles with an average Metascore of 84.5, three “great” games: Resident Evil 4 (93), Street Fighter 6 (92), and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (90 for the PC version).
2. Raw Fury (318.6 points, ↑14) — 7 scored titles with an average Metascore of 79.1, zero “great” games; none of the company’s releases scored lower than American Arcadia (76), with Cassette Beasts being its top-rated game at 83.
3. Chorus Worldwide (318.5 points, n/a) — 5 scored titles with an average Metascore of 77.6, zero “great” games; every game received positive reviews, with A Space for the Unbound (85) being the top-rated release.
4. DANGEN Entertainment (316.4 points, n/a) — 5 scored titles with an average Metascore of 77.6, zero “great” games; every game received positive reviews, with The Last Spell (82) being the top-rated release.
5. Annapurna Interactive (313.6 points, ↑3) — 8 scored titles with an average Metascore of 80.2, one “great” game — Cocoon (90); other notable releases include Mundaun (72-85) and Thirsty Suitors (80).
6. Nintendo (312.1 points, ↑6) — 22 scored titles with an average Metascore of 79.5, four “great” games: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (96), Metroid Prime (94), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (92), and Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (92).
7. Aksys Games (310.2 points, ↑6) — 8 scored titles with an average Metascore of 78.5, one “great” game — Jack Jeanne (90); the only game that didn’t receive a positive rating was Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue (56).
8. Bethesda Softworks (308.3 points, n/a) — 6 scored titles with an average Metascore of 80, one “great” game — Hi-Fi Rush (90); its biggest failure was Redfall (56).
9. SEGA (306.1 points, ↓2) — 15 scored titles with an average Metascore of 78.8, one “great” game — Persona 4 Golden for Nintendo Switch (90); it released more products than any other company in the top 10.
10. Thunderful (303.3 points, ↑15) — 7 scored titles with an average Metascore of 79.1, zero “great” games; it had five games that scored 80 or higher, including its top-rated release Wordless (85).

Sony, which was the best publisher of 2022 according to Metacritic, dropped from 1st to 13th place. The company has one “great” game, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (90), and three of its 10 releases last year received mixed reviews.

Microsoft returned to the rating at #15, with five scored titles and an average Metascore of 78.4. The top-rated release published by Xbox Game Studios was Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (86).

Publishers that failed to make the 2022 rankings but made the 2023 list also include Gearbox (#14), Koei Tecmo (#21), Take-Two (#25), and Serenity Forge (#30).

Interestingly, Microids, ranked 45th, was the only publisher with five or more scored titles that failed to release a single positively-reviewed game. Its top-rated title of 2023 was Agatha Christie — Murder on the Orient Express (74).

Humble Games experienced the biggest drop, falling 28 positions to #37. Only 30% of its scored titles received positive reviews, with Coral Island (82) as the top-rated product.