I don't think we can remove Switch from the equation. Nintendo is the world biggest publisher, and the one that releases the most games by far, anyways this is how I rate the year
2020: 9/10. This was a meh year for Switch, Nintendo had their "mid life slump" as all their games which started development before Switch launch were already released (except Animal Crossing which was delayed to 2020, probably to not make the year so barren). It was amazing for all other platforms though. Many great games, Final Fantasy, The Last of US 2, Half Light, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ghost of Tsushima, Crash 4, Ori, Demon Souls, Spider Man Mile Morales and even some interesting games nobody was expecting like Fall Guys and Hades
2021: 5/10. This was a quiet year. Very few games of note, Nintendo still haven't recovered from their mid life slump, and other publishers were buzy recovering from pandemic. There were some gay of note though, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank, Deathloop, Meteoid, RE Village, Forza Horizon, Tales of Arise and Monster Hunter, but ultimately nothing we can say "this is a generation defining game"
2022: 8/10. This was a better year, many high profile games from Sony here like Horizon, God of War and Gran Turismo, and Nintendo did well too with Xenoblade and Splatoon 3. Elden Ring is a genre defining game and very iconic. We also had Sifu and Stray, great indie games
2023: 9/10. Overall nice year for Sony (Spider Man 2) and Nintendo (Zelda, Mario Wonder) bangers, but third parties released their own bangers. Resident Evil 4 RE, Final Fantasy XVI, Alan Wake 2, Street Fighter and Diablo... and of course the game changer Baldurs Gate 3. Even Microsoft released something with Hi-fi Rush and Starfield
2024: 6/10. Boring year from Sony, and terrible year from Nintendo. Third parties released some good games like Metaphor and Final Fantasy Rebirth. Overall it was not a good year though, nothing really memorable outside Astrobot, even the good games don't really scream to have staying power in the industry
2025: I think it will be a 7/10 year. Nintendo Switch 2 will launch and probably will have some bangers. Sony is releasing Ghost of Yotei and must have something saved to second half of the year. And of course GTA VI is not out of cards. Other publishers are probably not releasing in fear of GTA VI overshadowing their games lol
Last edited by IcaroRibeiro - on 27 January 2025