Microsoft Makes History; Becomes Metacritic’s Publisher Of The Year

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studio has not published as many games in the year 2021, “but what games it did publish were uniformly excellent.” On average, the Xbox Game Studio has 77 Metacritic scores for all its titles, making the year 2021 exceptionally great for the studio, having released only 15 titles in total and getting an 87.4 Metacritic Score. Last year Microsoft’s Xbox Studio releases got a total of 78.6 average Metacritic Scores, ranking at 6th. Last year’s top-ranking publisher, Sega, had an 81.6 average Metacritic Score. That further emphasises how further Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studio has come, having an average score of 87.4 this year.

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studio has made history in all of Metacritic’s Annual Game Publisher Rankings by achieving the highest rating ever. As Metacritic itself says that it is rare for a publisher to get even an 80 plus; “But how often does a company average above 85? Never … until this year.” The titles that helped Microsoft achieve these historical results are Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. All of these titles scored 90 or above in Metacritic Scores. 

The runner up for this year’s Metacritic’s Annual Game Publisher Rankings was Sony, and they were close to Xbox Game Studio but not toe-to-toe. Sony scored an average of 81.3, which is a great score, especially considering that Metacritic said, “It is very rare for a publisher to average above 80 for its releases across a single calendar year.” The only reason for Sony’s lack in the competition was their release of Destruction AllStars, which had a terrible Metacritic Score of only 62. 

But Sony did have great releases this year, including Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Death Stranding, with both titles having 80 plus Metacritic scores. Following Sony was the indie game studio Humble Games, with an average Metacritic score of 80.9.

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