Metacritic's 12th Annual Game Publisher Rankings
Which game publishers released the best games in 2021? For the 12th straight year, we sifted through 12 months of data to determine the best and worst game publishers of the year, based solely on the quality of their 2021 releases. Sales and user reviews do not factor into these rankings; only critic reviews (as captured by each game's Metascore) are used to evaluate performance.
Publishers are ranked from worst to best in the gallery above based on a points system, calculated (as in previous years) according to the following four factors:
(1) Average Metascore for all games released in 2021
150 possible points (awarded at 1.5 x the average Metascore)
(2) % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75)
100 possible points (ex: 80% good = 80 points)
(3) % of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better)
100 possible points (ex: 20% bad = 80 points)
(4) Number of "great" titles (Metascore of 90 or higher, min. 7 reviews)
Awarded as 5 bonus points for each distinct title with a 90+ score
Note that the Metascore average (the first factor) counts slightly more than the other factors. Only publishers with five or more distinct titles released last year are included in our rankings.
Finally, note that iOS games are excluded from all calculations. All scores in this report are from January 31, 2022, and U.S. release dates and publishers are used for all games except those never released in the U.S.
Previous year's rank: 2
Average Metascore for
2021 releases: 73.5
17 scored products (7 distinct titles): 47% good, 0% bad
"Great" games: none
Total points: 257.3
Prior to 2021, only two titles in the five-year history of noted indie publisher Annapurna Interactive failed to receive positive reviews from reviewers, leading to an impressive run of critically acclaimed titles and a ranking as high as #2 in our annual publisher rankings (achieved just last year). But 2021 was unexpectedly rocky for Annapurna as fewer than half of its products managed to score positive reviews. (The previous year, by comparison, 100% of Annapurna's releases scored in the green range.) Those disappointments included Last Stop, Maquette, and Twelve Minutes. Annapurna's best new game last year was The Artful Escape, while its highest Metascore belonged to the Outer Wilds DLC Echoes of the Eye.