Last year, Metacritic's publisher rankings revealed SEGA to be the most successful game publisher in 2024 thanks to highly praised releases like Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Now, the rankings for 2025 have been released, with another Japanese publisher, Square Enix, topping the ranking.

For these rankings, Metacritic takes the average metascore for each publisher's games, then factors in the percentage of good reviews versus bad reviews to calculate which publisher fared best each year. For 2025, Square Enix ended up with 330.5 points, with an average released game rating of 84.

The full top ten is as follows:

1. Square Enix (330.5 points)
2. Gamirror Games (322.4 points)
3. Capcom (322.2 points)
4. Thunderful (306.8 points)
5. Microsoft (305.7 points)
6. Take-Two (304.0 points)
7. Sega (303.9 points)
8. Electronic Arts (302.9 points)
9. Dotemu (302.2 points)
10. Raw Fury (301.0 points)

This marks the third year in a row that a Japanese publisher has topped the rankings. Back in 2023, Capcom earned the top spot, followed by SEGA in 2024 and now Square Enix in 2025. Square Enix had a boost from a variety of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles launched in 2025.

The rankings next year should see Take-Two rising up a bit, as Grand Theft Auto 6 is due to launch this November. Interestingly, Microsoft also rose up a few spots in 2025, going from 9th place in 2024 to 5th place in 2025. Assuming titles like Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears E-Day and Fable launch to good reviews, Microsoft may also see a boost in the rankings once this year is all said and done.

KitGuru Says: Did you pick up any of Square Enix's new games in 2025?

Japanese developer Square Enix has topped Metacritic's 2026 Game Publisher rankings. Ever since 2010, this yearly chart ranks the best game publishers according to the following four factors: This year, for the first time in the history of Metacritic's Game Publisher Rankings, the winner is Square Enix. The studio managed to improve its average Metacritic score by five points (from 79 to 84) compared to the previous year, when it was ranked sixth, securing positive reviews for all its 2025 releases, including SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, Octopath […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/square-enix-tops-metacritics-2026-game-publisher-rankings/

The big topic surrounding the video games industry in today's day and age revolves around generative-AI, with the controversial technology seeing an increased adoption across the board for various aspects of game development. Sharing their own take on gen-AI, Capcom have now claimed that they “plan to actively utilize this technology in order to improve efficiency and productivity of game development” – though such tools won’t be used to create any art assets.

As part of the company’s recent investor meeting (transcribed by GameSpark and translated by Automaton), Capcom confirmed that they have no plans to use gen-AI to create art assets, stating “Our company will not be implementing any AI-generated assets into our video game content.”

That being said, they aren’t shying away from the tech entirely, adding that “On the other hand, going forward, we plan to actively utilize this technology in order to improve efficiency and productivity of game development. That is why we are currently testing out various methods of usage across our departments, including graphics, sound, and programming.”

The use of gen-AI in game development remains a contentious topic. While it is encouraging to see Capcom taking a hard stance against gen-AI art, graphics; sounds and programming are all art forms in their own right, and so we will have to wait and see whether their tests prove to be a success.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Capcom’s statement? What’s your opinion on gen-AI in games? Can the tech be used ethically? Let us know your thoughts down below.