Nintendo Places Third In Metacritic's 2019 Game Publisher Rankings

I always find lists like this a bit irritating. It punishes releasing more games. So releasing 16 games of an average 85 would probably hurt you more than releasing six games at 95 and kissing up to reviewers in advance. I feel that brings a poor lasting performance overall for a company, something that this is directly referring to as a positive rather than a negative.

Activision Blizzard in second...after Warcraft 3 Reforged...

Hilarious.

Again, based on quality or based on Metascore? Oh wait, some people still view them as synonyms.

@LordGeovanni exactly. 2017 is a prime example - despite Breath of the Wild getting Game of the Year and being one of Metacritics highest ever scores, Nintendo still only made it to 2nd place, purely down to the volume of games they released dragging down their average.

Honestly 2019 was a pretty solid year for Nintendo... Other than Pokemon 🤭

@Varkster its a 2020 they had goos last year

but yeah theyre not gonna kee[ that record

Number 3 is a solid performance. Really enjoyed Nintendo's games last year! Here's hoping for EVEN more great games in the next Direct 😁

Acti blizz in second place ?
That's bad comedy.

EA is too high.

I demand a recount.

Tell you what, they can go play Activision games all year, I'll stick with my Nintendo titles.

Eh, Nintendo haven’t exactly been releasing the most interesting games for the past couple of years. All their most anticipated games are just TBD and there’s no sign of a Direct anytime soon. Wouldn’t be surprised if they finished this year even lower.

Nintendo’s first party output for 2019 was not great for me. This year should go better

@LordGeovanni And thats why Metacritic never made sense as it's a unfair system and you explained part of it why here.

Any list in 2020 with Activision at no. 2 loses its credibility right away.

And yet nobody gave a damn to them, and all because of the screws up they did outside of the Switch games (and Pokemon).

No wonder they've been defeated by a single mere controversial game...

2019 was actually good for Nintendo publishing:
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Super Mario Maker 2
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Astral Chain
Luigi's Mansion 3
Pokemon Sw/Sh
Daemon X Machina
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

2019 games that Activision/Blizzard published:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Switch, Windows)

2019 games that 505 published:
Journey to the Savage Planet
Death Stranding
Bloodstained
Control

@glorymade You forgot Super Mario Maker 2.

Electronic Arts did published a good game that year and it is called Star Wars: Fallen Order. Developed by Respawn Entertainment was definitely unexpected surprise for those expected another terrible Star Wars game but glad we were wrong. The game critical and commercial success and those played it love it. Sure there not off the hock but at least EA they deserve to be in high rank for that year but that's just my opinion.

@NinChocolate @nessisonett .... Excuse me? Super Mario Maker 2, Cadence of Hyrule, Fire Emblem Three Houses Astral Chain, Link's Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3 would be uninteresting? Two are the things, or you're a troll, or you're in the wrong place. Saying that Nintendo didn't have any interesting release in 2019 objectively speaking, is like saying that Coronavirus is not dangerous. If you don't like any of those games is another thing, but saying they didn't release anything interesting is just WRONG.

@BlackKnight93 Language! I'm telling your parents

Metacritic is one of the worst reviewers ever. I'm sorry but i care less what paid reviewers have to say about anything.

@BlackKnight93 im not sure you meant to reply to me? I haven’t made any comment about how interesting this year’s games have been

@NinChocolate You clearly said that it wasn't a great year for Nintendo, when it isn't true. Unless you don't like any of the games I listed, this year was all but not great.

@BlackKnight93 nope. You need to re-read my comment. What I clearly said was that it “was not a great year for me”. That’s what was said.

Wait what, based 'sorely' on the quality or 'solely'?!

No. 3 software release but No. #1 in hardware now the E3 is closed. Xbox/ps4 you missed out BIG time. They waited for E3 and got CV19. And now Switch is flying above the fray.

@NinChocolate since march 2017 NintenDoomed just can't let it go. The Switch is a throttling success for Nintendo and they won't admit to it.

@SwitchForce I’m not sure I follow, who isn’t saying the Switch is successful?

@BlackKnight93 Yeah you got me I’m a troll. Been here for about 6 years but yeah, all that was in wait to be able to make one complaint about Nintendo 6 years later. Well done, you must be Sherlock or something.

@nessisonett That's not funny. You're playing with may patience. Choose your words carefully.

@nhSnork I do agree people should not take those digits as gospel, any sampling has a margin of error, plus the scores are subjetive by nature
Buut, a 85 metascore game is probably more quality than a 75, isn't?
Can you give some examples that maybe pissed you? Just for curiosity
I for one loved some 70s like Furi and Gato Roboto
Maybe we could have an alternative, with percentage of people that liked it, like Rotten Tomatoes?
In the ends these numbers are just other people's opinions though, more like a guide than the definitive 'what should you buy'

@BlackKnight93 Hahahaha wow, you ok? Jeez, I’m allowed to voice my opinion on the Switch, which I barely play even compared to Wii U. If anything, it’s meant I play more of my other consoles.

@nessisonett hmm maybe the Switch is still not that appealing for Wii U owners?
What do you play on the Wii U that makes you spend more time on it than on the Switch?
Personally, from the last couple of years from Nintendo, I'd bought immediately only Smash Ultimate from 2018, and Luigi's Mansion 3 from 2019
But 2019 was a good year though overall, wasn't it? There's stuff that I'm still planning to try (Astral Chain and Link's Awakening)

@NullPointerExcep Well to be fair, it’s mostly Wii games I’m playing on my U, most of the big games were put on Switch anyway. It really doesn’t help that Switch games are insanely overpriced and don’t go on sale often. I’m almost done Three Houses and it’s been good but I got caught up in Echoes on 3DS and I’ve kinda been enjoying that just as much despite it costing £10.

How is Capcom in 5th? I would have figured they would be in the top three. All three of their big releases last year scored EXTREMELY high and even their re-releases and ports were of very popular games (With the exception of DMC2).

Also, looking at Sony... oof. I know they had an off year in 2019 but I did not expect them to be that low.

It's both awesome and unsurprising to see Nintendo up on top 3, thanks to Link's Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3, among others. I wonder where this year will put them, with Animal Crossing and whatnot...

@Aaron09 "Other than Pokemon 🤭"
And Yoshi's Crafted World 🤭

Sony at 22? WTF most of their games are amazing!

Since 2019 ended I've seen a lot of people commenting all over the internet that Nintendo's 2019 wasn't great. If you're only interested in core Nintendo franchises I can see why you're disappointed but if you like variety or are open-minded enough to try something different 2019 was actually one of the strongest years in Nintendo's history. Consider this list of games published by Nintendo based on genre:
-NSMBU (platformer)
-Yoshi (platformer)
-Labo VR (Interactive/mini game collection)
-Boxboy/girl (co-op puzzle)
-Cadence of Hyrule (rhythm)
-Mario Maker 2 (Game creation)
-Ultimate Alliance 3 (co-op beat-em-up)
-Three houses (SRPG)
-Astral Chain (Action)
-Daemon X Machina (Action)
-Link's Awakening (Adventure)
-Dragon Quest (JRPG)
-Luigi's Mansion 3 (Puzzle)
-Ring Fit (Interactive/fitness)
-The Stretchers (Co-op puzzle)
-Pokemon SwSh (JRPG)
That's a good list. And while some may argue quality over quantity I also think its important to give variety to consumers.

@datamonkey I love my PS4, but 2019 was rough. It says something when they only had two major releases last year, Days Gone and Death Stranding, and both games had very mixed reviews.

Not surprised, Nintendo really put out with an amazing year.

Nintendo does things like a champ!

@NinChocolate all you have to do is look at the internet and people from time of Launch keeps spouting not enough GPU or Not enough games and this is the familiar tried and true line they always used. This is what I called NintenDoomed fandom in hopes that the Switch would fail. But what they thought wasn't what it was.

@SwitchForce You realize that your post makes no sense right?

To people complaininging about Activision: new COD is awesome.

@Trajan effectively, finding Activision this high is not really a surprise, they released the new CoD, CTR Nitro Fueled and Sekiro after all.

Wait people actually likes EA more than UbiSoft, Namco, Sony, Sega, and Konami? Something is very wrong here.

@BlackKnight93 dude are you threatening people on a Nintendo fan site? 😂
I'd advise you to take a walk and cool down, but COVID says otherwise lol
Take a deep breath, noone is hurting you and everyone is entitled to their opinions.
This community never ceases to amaze me 😂

Didn't even know Sony made any games last year, I guess them ranking so low is why.

I had to Google 505 to see what games they have done. What? This list is a joke.

@graysoncharles I have nothing against the company, but they weren't even on my radar as a contender. Most of their games are very niche and outside the range I usually look at.

2. Activision Blizzard

Hahahahahahahahahah.. You MUST be JOKING right?
Activision / Blizzard currently is the third worst gaming company, third to Bethesda and EA.

And 505 games with the terrible Bloodstained and Control? Yeah.. no.

This list is a joke. And not a funny one.

I would say Nintendo is #1 as far as any developer/publisher. They have the most games, and also the games get great reviews. On PC, PlayStation, Xbox I can get the same and similar experience on each one.. but Nintendo provides a more diverse and unique gaming experience that can only be found on the switch and through its games.