it always does, it just takes it sweet time until the good games drop.

Playstation always starts with some new IPs and some of them (most of them actually) fail (specially early in the gen):

last gen: it was Haze, Heavenly Sword, M.A.G and  Lair

This gen its been Knack and The Order, (im not counting Driveclub because that game had a bad launch and poor content at first which affected its metascore, but since then its been fixed, the online works now and its has gotten a TON of updates like the weather patch, replay mode and a ton of content, including free cars and tracks, im sure if that game was released in the state it is now it wouldnt have gotten anything below an 85, im actually excited to play it myself), im also not counting Killzone because well it wasnt a new IP and the game wasnt really bad it just wasnt impressive either.

ive said it before Playstation consoles are like wine they only get better with time, and thankfully my PS3 has done a great job at entretaining me on 2014, and its still doing so on 2015 and will continue to do so on 2016 (since there is a LOT of games that i wanna play on it), and now this year is when the PS4 will start to get some good games and Bloodborne will start that in 2 weeks.

Playstation won metacritic, and these are pure numbers, so its an objective fact. I'll bring this up when the next time I have a dick measuring contest. /s

I added 2015.

Wow, really impressive work.  Thank you for sharing this

Tag

Really nice work!
Playstation is the best place to play!!!

this shows theres a trend....

Nintendo is getting less & less 80's and 90's metacritic scores games.

Great work on that. I actually thought nintendo would of had more highly rated games than that.

My immediate reaction is Surprise. When people talk about the "Best Year in Gaming," candidates often include 2001, 2004, and 2007. But here, we see 2001 being roughly on par with 2002, 2004 being a decline from 2003, and 2007 falling short compared to most years besides 2006. Conversely, I did not expect 2003 of all years to do so well. Though in retrospect, a lot of trends were in 2003's favor (multi-platform across 3 consoles, the Golden Age of sports games, the middle of multiple platforms' life cycles, certain re-releases and collections, etc).

Family by Family

• Nintendo consoles have dramatically poor latter years. The collapse of the GameCube starting in 2004 is staggering, making the Wii transition look stable in comparison. Since the 3rd party collapse on the GameCube, 2009 was obviously a great year for Nintendo consoles. Which was oddly due to 3rd party support, seeing how 2009 was sort of a lull for Nintendo's own console releases.
• Nintendo handhelds seem to transition more smoothly. 2005 was solid for the DS while also having a GBA resurgence, and 2011 was similar for the DS and 3DS. Unlike the Wii's 2009 though, these were mainly Nintendo's own games. This makes it seem that 3rd party support is less important on Nintendo's handhelds than consoles.
• Across platforms, Nintendo 's been fairly consistent since 2010, during the development switch to the more powerful 3DS (11 to 15 games with Scores of 85+). The "Unified Platform" incarnation of the NX could likely solve many of Nintendo's software droughts due to this consistency.
• PlayStation seems to have good years for software tied to its best years for hardware. 2001 was the year the PS2 conquered the market, and although 2009 was not the PS3's peak, it was a year of growth for the PS3 worldwide while the Wii and X360 were stable, giving it a steady lead ahead of the 360 for the first time.
• The difference between the PSP and Vita is interesting. Despite its decline outside of Japan, with only a bit over half a million units sold in the USA since 2013, it keeps getting solid games. This goes to show the value of multiplaform capabilities, even if just for indie titles.
• Xbox has been fairly stable since 2002, with 16 to 31 games with a MetaScore of 85+. Its strength in 2003 and around 2011 is interesting. 2003 seems to be due to a healthy mix of exclusives and cross-platform games with both other consoles and the PC. 2011 was similar in that regard, though a bit lighter in terms of exclusives.
• Looking back, it is understanable where the "PC Gaming is Dead" logic came from. It does look like the platform was declining more often than not from 2000 to 2007 or so. That was also roughly the time that Steam became successful, after a few years of muddling around.
• Dat Dreamcast

I updated my MetaScore charts (graphics best viewed in fullscreen)

My thoughts:

• more games with a MetaScore of 75% and above in 2017 due to a new platform (Switch) with good support
• slightly more games with a MetaScore of 80% and above in 2017 due to the Switch launch
• stagnating number of games with a MetaScore of 85% compared to 2016 (Nintendo gained, Xbox + PC lost)
• overall less games with a MetaScore of 90% and above... did the expectations get higher or were there really less great games?
• PC, PS4 and XBO each less than half of 90%+ games compared to 2016
• Switch had a great launch year with five 90%+ titles after 10 months
• Switch after 10 months is on par with WiiU after 26 months (number of 90%+, 85%+ and 80%+ titles)
• Switch support after 10 months is much better than 3DS after 22 months, finally a Nintendo system with proper 3rd party support
• WiiU support is dead... besides Zelda, only one other game got a MetaScore in 2017
• as much as I love my Vitas... support is dying there, too

Oh, and Merry Christmas to all of you!