Xbox hasn’t exactly been making headlines for the right reasons lately. Between the hardware and Xbox Game Pass price increases, studio closures, and the ongoing conversation about where the brand is headed, it’s been a complicated couple of years for Microsoft’s gaming division. But if there’s one area where Xbox deserves genuine credit, it’s their game output—and Metacritic’s 16th Annual Game Publisher Rankings, which grades publishers on their 2025 releases, backs that up in a big way. Microsoft finished fifth overall with an average Metascore of 80, out-rating both Sony and Nintendo.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Xbox landed fifth place with 305.7 points, an average Metascore of 80, and an impressive 81% of their catalog earning positive ratings across 43 products and 21 titles. For context on just how wide that gap is—Nintendo finished 12th with an average Metascore of 77 and only 68% good ratings, while PlayStation cratered all the way down to 21st place with an average of 74 and a mere 53% of their games earning positive reviews.
What makes Xbox’s achievement even more notable is the sheer volume of what they put out. Sony published 13 titles across 17 products, and still couldn’t crack a positive rating on nearly half of them. Microsoft published more than three times as many products and still maintained a higher quality bar. Who says you can’t have quantity and quality? Nintendo, meanwhile, landed at 12th with experimental Switch 2 titles Nintendo Switch 2 – Welcome Tour and Drag X Drive doing significant damage to their average.
Xbox’s Consistency Is the Real Story
Now, to be fair, there are some asterisks on Microsoft’s scorecard. Their two highest-rated games of 2025 were technically PlayStation ports—Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 scored a 92, and the PS5 version of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle wasn’t far behind. Strip those out and the best pure Xbox game was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, with the best Xbox Game Studios-published title being The Outer Worlds 2. The negatives in their 19% non-positive slate came mostly from Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and some Bethesda stumbles.
Beyond the ports though, the consistency across titles like Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, South of Midnight, Ninja Gaiden 4, and DOOM: The Dark Ages is what really holds this ranking up. Many argue that Xbox hasn’t had that one certified, undeniable blockbuster hit since Forza Horizon 5. That’s a fair criticism. But what they have done since the Redfall debacle is quietly, methodically raise their quality floor and refuse to ship something that embarrasses the brand. That matters.
2026 Is Where It Gets Really Interesting
If 2025 was Xbox establishing consistency, 2026 is where they have the ammunition to make real noise. The lineup they have slated is genuinely monstrous: Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, Forza Horizon 6, Fable, Minecraft Dungeons II, and Kiln are all on the horizon. That’s not a lineup you look at and say “maybe.” That’s a lineup you look at and start clearing your schedule.
If even half of those land the way they should, Xbox won’t just be outperforming PlayStation and Nintendo in publisher rankings again—they’ll be taking a serious swing at multiple of the elusive hits everyone keeps waiting for. The foundation is clearly there. Now it’s about building on top of it.
