Metacritic have shared their 2014 Game Publisher Rankings, revealing that Nintendo have been named as the best game publisher over the past year.
Nintendo, who rose from fourth place in 2013, were the only publisher to end the year with a green average Metascore, attributed to the 34 unique titles that it released throughout 2014. This was more than any other publisher, with only Sony in fourth place nearing such number with 32 unique titles.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was crowned as Nintendo’s Best Overall Release, with Square Enix’s Nintendo 3DS exclusive Bravely Default named as Best New Original Title. It was Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder that pulled down Nintendo’s overall average, a 49 Metascore securing it Worst Overall Release.
“Shooting up three spots in our rankings to #1 among the large publishers, Nintendo is also the only one of the majors to finish the year with a “green” average Metascore — despite the fact that only 56% of its games received positive reviews from critics. (Basically, 2014 was not the most memorable of years in gaming history.),” Metacritic wrote in their evaluation.
They continued, “Nintendo’s performance is even more impressive given the fact that it released more unique titles (34) than any other publisher in 2014. The Wii U and 3DS maker saw its Metascore average increase by 2.7 points in last year (compared to the previous year) even though it didn’t have a single 2014 game score as highly as its 2013 leader, Super Mario 3D World.
“Nintendo was actually the only publisher last year with more than one game (with at least 7 reviews) to score in the 90+ range, with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Bayonetta 2 both hitting 91. In a reverse from 2013, the publisher’s Wii U games scored more highly than its 3DS releases. The average for the former was an impressive 81.3 (for 12 Wii U releases), while its 22 3DS games averaged just 73.9.”
Metacritic names Nintendo as 2014’s Best Game Publisher
