After finishing third in 2017, SEGA stood out again on Metacritic, a site that averages critic scores for games and films. This year, it created a list of the best publishers of 2018, based on the average scores of all games released that year, and SEGA rose from third to second place.
"SEGA has remained in our top three for the third time in four years (with one exception, a year in which SEGA failed to release enough games to qualify for our group of 'major' publishers). This is especially impressive considering SEGA released more distinct games than all but one publisher in 2018. Note that SEGA's averages and totals include games published by Atlus, a recently acquired SEGA subsidiary that now shares high-level management with its parent company," the site stated.
SEGA's best overall release was Sonic Mania Plus for Switch, which received a critic score of 91 and a user score of 89, while the new franchise Two Point Hospital for PC received 83. The lowest score went to Shining Resonance Refrain on PlayStation 4, with a score of 67 (although it scored 74 on Xbox One), which is not bad for a niche RPG.
Capcom took first place, making the impressive jump from fifth in 2017 to first in 2018. SEGA nevertheless had the highest score for an overall release (Monster Hunter: World from Capcom scored 90) and the highest score for the lowest-scoring game (Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 scored 60). Capcom won first place with an overall score of 79.3, while SEGA scored 78.5. Electronic Arts, Nintendo, and Ubisoft finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
