Metacritic Ranks SEGA as the Best Publisher of 2020, Sony in Top 5

I'd say SEGA is in the running for my favorite publisher of the generation. Persona 5 and Yakuza have done more for me over the past few years than most other games my whole life.

It’s because ATLUS always puts out high scoring titles. SEGA buying them a few years ago was such a smart move. They have a few more titles coming out this year, so we’ll see if they repeat

Longtime Sega fanboy so I like seeing this resurgence in recent years. The games don't sell the 10s of millions like certain games but quality wise Sega has been among the most consistent since 2017. I didn't play Yakuza: Like a Dragon until it released on PS5 but I can now say if I had played it last year it would've easily been my personal favorite of 2020 even over Spider-Man: Miles Morales which I loved. The under-the-radar gem was 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, fantastic stuff.

Sega do what nintendon't, become the number 1 best publishers of 2020

That's cool... I guess. How is it that MS is way higher than Nintendo? Not that it mattes in the end.

Also, using the metascore of Persona 5 Royal is kinda.... I mean it is the same Persona 5 (with extra content). But again, whatever... it is what it is.

Let's not forget Sakura Wars. That was a great game.

Meanwhile, over at SEGA headquarters...

Absolutely deserved. Honestly so many people are disparaging about SEGA and what they contribute to the industry (granted, ATLUS plays a massive role), because they simply look at Sonic and forget all the bangers SEGA have published in recent years. I will say again. Any attempt by Microsoft to buy SEGA or go into an exclusive partnership must be stamped out

Sega has been on a roll, not gonna lie.

Makes sense, I play a lot of their games! I wish we could get a remaster of Jet set radio future and some sort of official localization for Valkyria Chronicles 3! And I think a new Virtua Fighter is on the way 😬

Never heard of annapurna, what games do they make?

@UltimateOtaku91 they did Kentucky Route Zero and The Pathless this year, both really well reviewed

@Dislecksier They haven’t developed any games yet.
It is a subsidiary that has very powerful shareholders but for the moment they are only publishing for other development studios.

My latest issue of GameInformer gave it to Sony.

@rpg2000 because nintendo are overated

Apparently ports of games released in 2020 also factored into the publisher ranking and general critical reception throughout the year so Persona 4 Golden coming to PC and the Bayonetta/Vanquish collection being released on PS4 probably helped a lot in their favor

@rpg2000 it's because Nintendo released the likes of the original Fire Emblem and Fitness Boxing which drags down their average.

Great to see Sega at the top and Capcom continuing to do very well

Annapurna are knocking it out of the park. I generally look at any game under their umbrella and think it’s worth a play. I haven’t played a bad game they’ve published yet. Awesome for them

@UltimateOtaku91 If you can think of an indie darling, they probably published it. Outer Wilds, Edith Finch, Flower etc

Surprised to see Nintendo that low but good on Sega. They deserve it. Persona 5 Royal and 13th Sentinels are some of my favorite 2020 games alongside Ghost of Tsushima and Final Fantasy VII Remake

@Rob_230
Agreed about Sega and you can throw Capcom SquareEnix, Koei Tecmo and Bandai Namco in there as well. Frankly what happened with Bethesda is very disturbing and for the good of the industry can not become a trend. I'm all about exclusives but I want to see it done in a much more organic way like building studios ground up or working with already established smaller studios that just need a financial boost. Buying up big publishing houses that are fine on their own? I can't even pretend to support that.

@Gamer83 Agree with everything you say. Square Enix and Capcom repeatedly come up in conversation alongside SEGA in discussions of MS aquisition and i am deeply concerned - alongside Sony, those are the holy trinity of game developers for me. My favourite non-sony franchises are Persona, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Yakuza. Losing any of those would quite frankly be a disaster.

There is all sorts of talk about what Spencer is doing. Apparently 6 more Square Enix titles are about to drop on GamePass, and the relationship there is strengthening - with titles like Octopath Traveller dropping there with no sniff of a Playstation version. And apparently they are desperate to secure Persona. They have already managed to change the landscape with regards to Yakuza.

Your description of the Bethesda purchase as disturbing is spot on. People will argue the Sony do the same - purchasing studios to get exclusive software, but they completely miss the point. Sony have helped to nurture those studios as they have grown, and the aquisitions have made sense from the perspective that those developers were largely making exclusive PS software anyway. Insomniac for example worked closely with Sony's first party studios for years before the aquisition.

All Microsoft is doing is taking already established studios that made previously multiplatform titles, skipping all of the hard work to help develop those studios, and is just restricting market access to those titles.

Fact is, Microsoft themselves have said they are not done spending, and i am very fearful about who is next and what it means for the future of Playstation. Microsoft would love nothing more than to drive Sony out of the market, and, bizarely, people are behaving like that would be a good thing. Mark my words. An industry without Playstation would be a much worse place.

@Rob_230
Yeah, I have no problem with studio purchases that make sense. Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Insomniac all made their names working on PlayStation content. Playground Games did its best work with MS that was a completely natural move for MS to buy the company, same with Nintendo and Next Level Games. Thing is those are all single studios not huge publishers.

As far as another point you made, I actually view the Big 3 equally, even if I'm much more of a PlayStation and Nintendo guy these days. I dabble in some Xbox stuff as well and will get a Series X when the opportunity is there (still waiting for retailers to get them in store). An industry without any of them, imo, would be worse off, but some of the business practices are horrendous. Nintendo does a lot of goofy things whether it's half baked online setups or ridiculous business decisions with its legacy content, I despise Sony's censorship policy aimed at Japanese devs and MS is getting a bit out of control with all the purchases. End of the day, there's no loyalty to just one brand, I'll go where the games I want to play the most are at, but competition is good and so is an industry with a lot of thriving independent third parties. The current trend is leading towards a consolidation that I don't think will be good long term. I can't let Sony off completely free of blame for part of what's going on though. Under the 'leadership' of the idiotic trio Kenichiro Yoshida, Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst there seems to be a shockingly anti-Japanese dev stance and it has opened the doors for MS to make some moves. Allowing Yakuza to get away and be a launch exclusive for Series X and now the IP seemingly aligned more with the Xbox brand is absolutely pathetic on the part of Sony and I don't think it's something that would've happened when Kaz Hirai was running the company and Jim Ryan hadn't taken full control of the PS brand.

@OM1993 Hey, i agree with many of your points. Its good to debate it. Of course deals will only by done if both parties want it too happen. The shareholders probably dont care so long as they get paid. Doesn't change the fact that such consolidation of the industry is potentially terrible for gaming.

Im not going to pretend that the selfish part of me isn't concerned about losing access to my favourite games. As a parent, with limited time for gaming, and money to spend on things not for the kids, i cant afford to have multiple consoles. So taking my favourite publishers away from Playstation would be a disaster.

This is why i was very concerned by Sony shuttering Japan Studios. It doesn't matter what the output from that studio had been in recent years. Its the image it sends out. It does look like Sony's attention is firmly on the west. But that doesnt change the fact that Microsoft remains an American company either - and Japanese law is resistant to foreign takeovers (which hopefully works in Playstation's favour). I suspect Sony saw their position in Japan rapidly being yielded to Nintendo and have almost thrown up their hands in defeat and focussed on Western markets instead. But the fact remains if Sony lose their Japanese identity, then my interest in Playstation will diminish.

For the record i am not advocating exclusivity to Playstation either. If Yakuza or Persona etc need to be multiplatform, well, fair enough if that is what pays the bills. SEGA's struggles in particular are well documented. But folding everything under Microsoft's radar would be a disaster for gamers. Where does it end? Microsoft cant contine to expand like this without severe implications, either for the wider industry, or for those working within the company.

Sony have made huge mistakes in the past 5 years. I dont disagree, and i am sure they have put a few noses out of joint in Japan. So they need to urgently turn it around, because i dont want to see these venerable developers backing only Microsoft and driving Sony out of the industry.

@OM1993 Lets see what the future brings. At the moment, there is no way Sony would ever contemplate letting GamePass onto Playstation Network. However, the market is shifting. Sony have already signed a deal with Microsoft to use their Azure services to support their backend network capability. There is also the threat being posed by newcomers into the market. Will Google stop at Stadia, despite its failure? What will Amazon do next? Its certainly possible - in time - that the historic console makers do unify in order to fight off that challenge. But at the moment i dont see a situation where Sony allow Microsoft to sit on their network, particularly if they would not make any money from the venture. They are a business at the end of the day. Sadly in both Microsoft and Sony's case, the customer will always come second to profit, no matter how well they try to market themselves (Phil Spencer)

I dont think Microsoft will be prioritising Nintendo or Playstation next either. I think their next frontier will be smart devices. Xcloud is already showing potential on mobile devices, and i think its only a matter of time until Smart TV's have GamePass functionality baked in, or Microsoft release some type of Chromecast equivalent that you plug into a usb/hdmi port. That would make it so easy just to pick up a controller and play.

I truly believe Xbox is no longer the driver for Microsoft. Im not saying the band is dead, but the priority is now GamePass. That will increasingly be the brand going forward.

So you are absolutely right, that Microsoft's overarching ambition is to get as many people as they can signed up to the service. But they don't need a box in the living room to achieve that any longer. Would they love to get onto the Switch and PS5 ecosystem? Absolutely. But it won't happen any time soon.

Which brings us back to the original point, that if Sony were to lose SEGA, i'd see it as a devastating blow. I dont see a future anytime soon where GP would be allowed on Playstation, so to miss out on my favourite franchises would be a disaster. Japan turning away from Playstation full stop would be. I absolutely adore Japan, and in large part, that originated from my attatchment to Playstation. I was there when Yakuza 3 launched, and seeing the reaction to that game was unreal. Yakuza used to be a real system seller in Japan, and if Sony have forgotten the importance of the market, it truly saddens me.

As for your question, do i want GP on Playstation. Absolutely. It wont happen - at least not in the next 5 to 10 years but more choice has to be good for consumers. And if Sony and MS could find a way to make that work, then great.

I still fear that gamepass will eventually end up diluting gaming. The need for content will require games to increasingly follow models like Fallout 76, Warzone etc to ensure a regular drop of content to keep those subscriptions up. But that hasnt happened yet, and if MS keep buying companies, it feels like they can safeguard against that somewhat. And interestingly an article on Eurogamer recently suggests that Devs and Publishers (yes. Including SEGA again...) are very happy with the arrangement. So who knows what the future holds. Hopefully the gamers win in the end 🙏

It's weird to see Nintendo so low, their fans seem to love everything Nintendo throws out