Following after some rather rough years, it seems like the Japanese publisher Capcom is back on its feet. 2019 is setting out to be an incredible year, with the release of some highly anticipated titles like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Devil May Cry V, but 2018 wasn’t a bad year at all, considering Metacritic crowned the publisher as the best of last year.
Capcom managed to become last year’s best publisher for Metacritic mostly thanks to Monster Hunter World, which is one of the best-rated games of the year but also thanks to the release of remasters of some of the best games ever released by the publisher.
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With most publishers merely moving up or down one spot, there are few significant changes compared to last year’s rankings. But this is the major exception. Increasing its Metascore for the second straight year, the 40-year-old Japanese videogame company soared to the top of our annual rankings after placing 5th a year ago. Capcom received positive reviews from the gaming press for five out of every six products released in 2018—an 83.3% success rate that easily led our group of the largest publishers. The company received stellar reviews for its latest Monster Hunter title, which is now Capcom’s best-selling game in history. (And the publisher’s 2019 is also off to a great start.) One caveat: Many of the other high-scoring Capcom titles from 2018 were remasters and/or compilations of previously released games, and there were no new properties added to Capcom’s lineup.
Capcom is followed by SEGA, which landed in the top 3 for the third time in four years, EA and Nintendo, which dropped from second place since last year. You can find the full ranking on Metacritic.
