Metacritic names EA as 2012’s top publisher

EA has been named as the most critically successful publisher of 2012 by reviews aggregation site Metacritic.

The report included all publishers who had released 15 or more titles and factored in metrics including average review score and the number of good (75%+), bad (49%-) and great (90%+) titles published.

Improving its average Metascore and ranking for the second straight year, EA has captured this year’s no.1 position, thanks in part to being the only major publisher scoring 75 or higher for its 2012 releases,” the report concluded.

The decades-old gaming company released two 90+ titles last year (Mass Effect 3 for the 360 and PS3 as well as the 360 version of FIFA Soccer 13) while earning positive reviews for 58% of its releases, best among all large publishers.

The company’s other mostly well-received products last year included the latest entries in the Need for Speed and SSX franchises and the big-budget Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (though the latter’s free-spending developer, 38 Studios, quickly went out of business).

But while EA technically didn’t release a single poorly-reviewed game (i.e., a game scoring 49 or lower), it did release some disappointing ones, most notably Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which looks likely to be the last title in the Medal of Honor shooter franchise, at least for the time being.”

Take-Two was named as the most successful mid-size publisher.

Metacritic’s major publisher ranking league table was as follows:

1. EA
2. Microsoft
3. Sony
4. Nintendo
5. Capcom
6. Warner Bros
7. Ubisoft
8. Konami
9. Sega
10. Activision Blizzard
11. Namco Bandai