Square Enix was Metacritic’s No. 1 ranked publisher last year, thanks to 9 ‘good’ games

Review aggregation website, Metacritic, has named Square Enix as its No. 1 game publisher for the year 2025.

Launched in 1999, Metacritic says it curates reviews from only “the world’s most respected critics.”

In its 16th annual Game Publisher Rankings published on Wednesday, Metacritic revealed that the Final Fantasy publisher was ranked above every other company, based on its points system.

It’s the first time Square Enix has ranked No. 1 in the annual publisher rankings. According to the site, Square Enix released nine games in 2025, and all had positive aggregate review scores (the average Metascore for the publisher was 84).

Square’s highest-rated game was Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s PC version, with a Metascore of 90. Other notable releases were Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles (88), Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (88), and Octopath Traveler 0 (84).

“A variety of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles scored highly for the publisher last year (and also in early 2026), while even its “worst” 2025 release, SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered, earned approval from critics,” Metacritic said.

For the list, publishers were ranked using a points system, calculated (as in previous years) according to four factors.

The most weight was given to the average Metascore for each publisher’s games, but the percentage of scored titles with good reviews (score of at least 75), the percentage of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower), and the number of “great” games released (90 or higher) were also taken into account.

Only publishers with five or more distinct titles released in 2024 were eligible to be included in the rankings, which don’t take into account mobile games.

In recent years, Sega (2025), Capcom (2024), Sony (2023), and Microsoft (2022) have topped Metacritic’s Publisher Rankings.

The top 10 publishers are listed below, along with their points score, average Metascore, and previous year’s ranking.

1. Square Enix (330.5 points) – 84 (last year: 6^th)
2. Gamirror Games (322.4 points) – 82 (last year: 6^th)
3. Capcom (322.2 points) – 83 (last year: 2^nd)
4. Thunderful (306.8 points) – 78 (last year: N/A)
5. Microsoft (305.7 points) – 80 (last year: 9^th)
6. Take-Two (304.0 points) – 79 (last year: 12^th)
7. Sega (303.9 points) – 80 (last year: 1^st)
8. Electronic Arts (302.9 points) – 79 (last year: 23^rd)
9. Dotemu (302.2 points) – 81 (last year: N/A)
10. Raw Fury (301.0 points) – 79 (last year: 8^th)