Which publisher gets the best review scores?
Ah, review scores. Besides letting us skip all that long, boring text that actually describes a game's high and low points, it also allows for some excellent statistical analysis and fanboy-infuriating numerical rankings. To that end, and spurred on by an similar EA-produced chart, Next-Gen's Matt Matthews crunched the GameRankings data and ranked the best-reviewed publishers of 2007.
Unsurprisingly, first parties Sony and Nintendo topped the list with averages above 75% -- not bad when you consider their production includes clunkers like Lair and Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. Microsoft is slightly lower with a 69% average, behind top-ranked third-parties like Capcom, LucasArts, EA and, surprisingly enough, Atlus. Major publishers like Midway, Atari and Majesco stagnate near the bottom of the list -- none of the trio even breaks through the mediocre 60% average barrier.
The full story also breaks down the data going back to 2005 and also looks at changes in the sheer number of games released by various publishers. Check it out.
