PlayStation Wins 2022 Publisher of the Year Award From Metacritic

By Logan Moore

For the 2022 calendar year, PlayStation has been named the top video game publisher by the aggregate review site Metacritic. Each and every year, Metacritic releases an expansive list of the best publishers in the gaming industry based on the performance of their games over that period of time. And while Xbox Game Studios ended up taking home top honors in 2021, PlayStation has fired back in 2022. 

Revealed today on Metacritic's site, Sony Interactive Entertainment ended up being the best publisher of the year overall when accounting for the average "Metascore" of its titles. As a whole, PlayStation's average game score in 2022 was 85.6 spread out across 15 different games. The next closest publisher was Paradox Interactive, which was nearly four points behind Sony with an 81.8 average score. Activision Blizzard, Focus Entertainment, and Take-Two Interactive then ended up rounding out the top five spots in that order. 

"In our publisher rankings published one year ago, Sony finished just behind Microsoft for the #1 slot," said Metacritic in its write-up about PlayStation winning the award. "This year, Sony had no problem taking the top spot in our rankings—and not just because Microsoft failed to qualify (by releasing an atypically low four distinct scored titles, falling one title short of our five-game cutoff). Sony's nothing-but-green-scores 2022 slate may have consisted solely of ports and sequels to pre-existing IP, but it was consistently good, led by game-of-the-year candidate God of War: Ragnarok and a PC port of the previous God of War release. Even the publisher's worst 2022 title—MLB The Show 22—still scored a solid 77."

By all accounts, it's not that surprising to see that PlayStation ended up winning this award. As Metacritic mentioned, God of War Ragnarok ended up being one of the best-reviewed games of the entire year, which gave PlayStation a big leg up on the competition. Even outside of Ragnarok, though, Sony also let loose Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, and The Last of Us Part 1 last year, all of which were highly regarded. It remains to be seen if Sony can repeat this success in 2023, but you likely won't find many people arguing that they weren't the best publisher in the industry this past year. 

Do you think PlayStation deserved to win this accolade from Metacritic for 2022? And which video game publisher do you think had the strongest lineup this past year? Let me know either down in the comments or hit me up on social media at @MooreMan12. 

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