The latest Metacritic listing of gaming’s biggest publishers has surprisingly placed Xbox ahead of Sony and Nintendo based on its 2025 output. Even as the brand turns 25 this year, Xbox has seen some bad news befall it over the last few years and has faced concerns about its future standing in the console market. After releasing its first few titles across competing platforms in 2024, Xbox expanded its multiplatform efforts in 2025, bringing noteworthy first-party franchises like Gears of War and Forza to the PlayStation. As well, Microsoft announced that its flagship franchise, Halo, would see its next entry released on its competitor platform.
Xbox has also faced criticism for its layoffs, studio closures, and cancellations of anticipated titles like Perfect Dark. In addition, Microsoft controversially increased the price of its Xbox Game Pass subscription service last year, charging $30 for its Ultimate tier. Earlier this year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer also announced his retirement, while Xbox president Sarah Bond resigned from the company as well. Thus, with former Microsoft CoreAI president Asha Sharma arriving as the new CEO, Xbox faces what could be one of its most transitional eras to date.
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As part of Metacritic’s list of the best game publishers of 2026 (based on their 2025 releases), Microsoft ranked fifth among all publishers, even beating out its fellow console manufacturers in Nintendo and Sony. Across all of its releases in 2025, including titles from its subsidiaries Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, Xbox posted an average Metacritic rating of 80. By comparison, Nintendo lands at 12th with an average score of 77, while Sony comes in at 21st with an average score of 74. The PlayStation 5 port of Forza Horizon 5 earned its highest score, landing at a whopping 92.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
It wasn’t the only port doing the heavy lifting for Microsoft, as the PlayStation 5 re-release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was the second-highest rated title with an 86. The highest-rated game that Microsoft released on the Xbox in 2025 was Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, which sits at an 86. Meanwhile, the highest-rated game published by Xbox Games Studios in 2025 was The Outer Worlds 2, which boasts an 83 score. Metacritic also notes that the small portion of its library that received “mixed” reviews included Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC.
Full List of Publishers Ranked According to Metacritic
- Square Enix
- Gamirror Games
- Capcom
- Thunderful
- Microsoft
- Take-Two Interactive
- Sega
- Electronic Arts
- Dotemu
- Raw Fury
- Ubisoft
- Nintendo
- Koei Tecmo
- Devolver Digital
- Konami
- DONTNOD Entertainment
- Marvelous/XSEED
- Clear River Games
- PQube
- Atari
- Sony
- Plaion
- Annapurna Interactive
- Bandai Namco
- Microids
- Nacon/Daedalic
- Arc System Works
- Idea Factory
While this is an impressive accomplishment for Microsoft, it’s worth noting that this number may be skewed by a larger number of releases. By comparison, Sony’s score was based on 13 games with 17 unique releases, while Nintendo’s score was based on 18 titles with 19 unique releases. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s rating is the result of 21 games across a whopping 43 releases. This is no doubt thanks to Microsoft’s different approach to game releases in 2025, as, unlike Sony and Nintendo, the publisher ported several of its back-catalog games to competing consoles, and several of its major new releases received multiplatform releases as well.
Still, this is definitely good news for Microsoft in the wake of what’s been a long streak of unfortunate news for the Xbox brand. 2026 will no doubt be a year of question marks for Xbox, especially with Spencer and Bond’s departure, as well as Sharma’s appointment as CEO. Even with an interesting slate of new titles and the promise of the upcoming Project Helix console, the Xbox brand is in a transitional period, and questions about its long-term standings remain. Even so, this Metacritic ranking does give the Xbox brand something to feel good about as it heads toward what’s sure to be one of the most interesting periods in its 25-year history.
