2025 Publisher Rankings Highlight PlayStation’s Missed Opportunities from Last Year

This year’s Metacritic Game Publisher Rankings have been revealed, and there are some unexpected outcomes. For instance, Square Enix taking the top spot was a surprise, as was Nintendo’s absence from the top 10. Additionally, both Ubisoft and Xbox managed to outpace the creators of the Switch 2, along with PlayStation.

Metacritic has published its annual assessment of video game publishers, evaluating the number of quality, excellent, and poor games released by each non-mobile publisher in 2025. By crunching the numbers, they’ve compiled a ranked list from worst to best, highlighting those publishers that delivered a wealth of critically acclaimed titles. This year’s ranking features 28 publishers, and while the full list includes some lesser-known names, here’s a look at the more intriguing top 12.

The rankings present quite a mix from top to bottom. Capcom, known for Resident Evil Requiem, landing in the top three isn’t surprising, given their impressive track record over the past few years. Xbox’s position also makes sense, especially with the inclusion of Activision, Blizzard, and Bethesda titles in the calculations. Plus, the launch of Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 certainly helped their standing.

However, Square Enix at the top is a bit of a shock. In hindsight, it makes sense considering their steady stream of beloved games and ports throughout 2025, but I didn’t fully appreciate their consistency until now. This marks the first time in the 16 years of Metacritic’s publisher rankings that Square Enix has claimed the number one spot.

The data regarding Sony and Nintendo is particularly noteworthy. Despite releasing games and launching the Switch 2, Nintendo didn’t make the top 10. Meanwhile, PlayStation found itself even further down the list at 21 out of 28. Ouch. To make matters worse for Sony, their highest-rated game in 2025, according to Metacritic, was The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered… on PC. That stings. While titles like Death Stranding 2 and Yotei performed well, they couldn’t elevate the publisher’s ranking due to underwhelming releases like Lost Soul Aside and a general shortage of standout new games. It seems that their heavy investment in live-service games may not have paid off as expected.

For those interested in past winners, here’s the rundown:

2025: Sega
2024: Capcom
2023: Sony
2022: Microsoft
2021: Sega
2020: 505 Games
2019: Capcom
2018: Bethesda Softworks
2017: Electronic Arts
2016: Sega
2015: Nintendo
2014: Take-Two Interactive
2013: Electronic Arts
2012: Microsoft
2011: Take-Two Interactive