Sony Plunges in Annual Publisher Rankings: PS5 Manufacturer Falls Below Even Atari

While Square Enix celebrates a significant triumph as Metacritic's top publisher of 2025, it's worth noting the companies that faced considerable setbacks in the annual rankings.

Sony demonstrated the most dramatic decline. The PlayStation 5 manufacturer, which held the fourth position last year, dropped to 21st place in the 2025 list with an average score of 7.4 out of 10. This places Sony below publishers like Atari and Pqube. Sony's highest-rated project in 2025 was surprisingly a PC port of The Last of Us Part II, which scored 9.0 out of 10. Nacon also fared poorly, securing only 26th place after reportedly experiencing liquidity issues.

Conversely, some publishers showed impressive growth. Konami climbed significantly from 25th to 15th position. Nintendo also had a successful year, moving up from 22nd to 12th place. Xbox (Microsoft) had a strong showing as well: Microsoft's games received an average score of 8.0 out of 10, allowing the company to rise from ninth to fifth place. They narrowly missed a podium finish: leader Square Enix scored an impressive 8.4 out of 10, while third-place Capcom achieved 8.3 out of 10.

Metacritic's 2025 Top Game Publishers Ranking:

1. Square Enix
2. Gamirror Games
3. Capcom
4. Thunderful
5. Microsoft
6. Take-Two Interactive
7. Sega
8. Electronic Arts
9. DotEmu
10. Raw Fury
11. Ubisoft
12. Nintendo
13. Koei Tecmo
14. Devolver Digital
15. Konami
16. Don't Nod Entertainment
17. Marvelous/XSEED
18. Clear River Games
19. Pqube
20. Atari
21. Sony
22. Focus Entertainment
23. Annapurna Interactive
24. Bandai Namco
25. Microids
26. Nacon
27. Arc System Works
28. Idea Factory