1st Party this generation (2020-2024)

[Johnny Awesome]

2020

SONY    92  81  Demon Souls
MSFT    91  72  Flight Sim
MSFT    90  89  Ori and the Will of the Wisps
NINT    90  57  Animal Crossing: New Horizons
NINT    85  86  Pikmin 3 Deluxe
SONY    85  77  Spider-Man: Miles Morales
MSFT    85  77  Wasteland 3
SONY    83  90  Astro's Playroom
SONY    82  74  Death Stranding
NINT    82  65  Super Mario 3D All-Stars
MSFT    80  78  Gears Tactics
NINT    80  70  Paper Mario: The Origami King

2021

MSFT    92  82  Forza Horizon 5
NINT    89  86  Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
NINT    88  87  Metroid Dread
SONY    88  85  Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
SONY    87  79  Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut
MSFT    87  78  Psychonauts 2
MSFT    87  78  Halo Infinite
SONY    86  73  Returnal
MSFT    81  77  Age of Empires IV
NINT    81  74  The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
NINT    80  80  Mario Party Superstars

2022

SONY    94  81  God of War: Ragnarok
SONY    89  74  The Last of Us Part I Remastered
SONY    88  79  Horizon Forbidden West
SONY    87  87  Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
SONY    87  85  Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered
SONY    87  24  Gran Turismo 7
MSFT    86  75  Pentiment
NINT    85  75  Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
MSFT    83  79  Grounded
NINT    83  73  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass - Wave 3

2023

NINT    97  90  Pikmin 4
NINT    96  84  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
NINT    94  88  Metroid Prime Remastered
NINT    92  91  Super Mario Bros. Wonder
SONY    90  89  Marvel's Spider-Man 2
MSFT    87  88  Hi-Fi Rush
MSFT    84  88  Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
NINT    84  84  Super Mario RPG
MSFT    84  73  Forza Motorsport
NINT    83  81  Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp
MSFT    83  69  Starfield
MSFT    82  81  The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom
SONY    82  64  MLB The Show 23

2024

SONY    94  92  Astro Bot
SONY    90  76  The Last of Us II Remastered
SONY    89  75  Destiny 2: The Final Shape
NINT    88  87  Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
MSFT    86  83  Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
NINT    85  84  The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
MSFT    85  53  World of Warcraft: War Within
SONY    85  66  Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
MSFT    84  41  Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
MSFT    83  79  Age of Mythology: Retold
MSFT    83  84  Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
SONY    82  74  Helldivers 2
NINT    82  85  Super Mario Party Jamboree
SONY    81  92  Stellar Blade
MSFT    81  74  Hellblade 2
SONY    80  42  MLB The Show 24

 

[Johnny Awesome]

2022 was pretty horrible for MS and Nintendo, but otherwise the 3 were pretty comparable in output quality with 2023 being a pretty amazing year for Nintendo.

I would suggest that people put their own personal tastes aside. These scores are what critics and users think of these games according to metacritic. It's more useful to discuss things in that context.

The example I always use is Gears Tactics. For me this game is a 9+/10, but it would be foolish of me to argue that Xboxes should be flying off the shelves for people to play it when the consensus on metacritic is that it's an 80/78 game in a generally non-critical genre, so I would never laud this game as some sort of amazing marketplace achievement. Just an example of trying to take your own bias out of the equation.

 

[Sonic]

Returnal was released in 2021. The pc version released in 2023.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Ok. Good catch. I moved it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I propose a different layout to make it to easier to read

2020

SONY    92  81  Demon Souls
MSFT    91  72  Flight Sim
MSFT    90  89  Ori and the Will of the Wisps
NINT    90  57  Animal Crossing: New Horizons
NINT    85  86  Pikmin 3 Deluxe

Putting the name last makes formatting a lot easier. If you agree I'll edit the OP.


Here's a table but we have no control over column widths AFAICS so I don't see an advantage over monospaced CODE. Edit: Okay, columns are autospaced by content. A truck load of filler and a table should work well.

			************************************************************************
SONY	92	81	Demon Souls
MSFT	91	72	Flight Sim
MSFT	90	89	Ori and the Will of the Wisps
NINT	90	57	Animal Crossing: New Horizons
NINT	85	86	Pikmin 3 Deluxe

 

[RobertR1]

Scores are one thing the other being how long these games stay in the conversation and long tail sales.

Take something like Demon Souls. It kick started an entire genre of that type of game style with an association to Sony which is really powerful.

God of War is still talked about. Forza Horizon and Spider Man games equally had long term success but SpiderMan being a new franchise which again went onto strengthening the Sony brand.

Games that not only review well initially but have staying power are massive contributors to platform mindshare and that's primarily what MS hasn't been able to achieve this generation.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I propose a different layout to make it to easier to read

2020

SONY    92  81  Demon Souls
MSFT    91  72  Flight Sim
MSFT    90  89  Ori and the Will of the Wisps
NINT    90  57  Animal Crossing: New Horizons
NINT    85  86  Pikmin 3 Deluxe

Putting the name last makes formatting a lot easier. If you agree I'll edit the OP.

Please reformat. Thanks.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Scores are one thing the other being how long these games stay in the conversation and long tail sales.

Take something like Demon Souls. It kick started an entire genre of that type of game style with an association to Sony which is really powerful.

God of War is still talked about. Forza Horizon and Spider Man games equally had long term success but SpiderMan being a new franchise which again went onto strengthening the Sony brand.

Games that not only review well initially but have staying power are massive contributors to platform mindshare and that's primarily what MS hasn't been able to achieve this generation.

But neither has Sony really. They are riding on their past PS4 success, which is massive I'll admit.

Honestly, Starfield is the most ambitious game this gen from either MS or Sony, which is probably one of the reasons MS bought Bethesda. I really believe they will transform that game from an 83 to 88 over time with new content, much like Sea of Thieves improved, but we'll see.

You can also see why MS put Fable into Playground's hands. FH is their most successful franchise both from a metacritic and engagement perspective. Even Sony only has one game that reviewed better - GoW: Ragnarok.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Please reformat. Thanks.

So let it be written; so let it be done!

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I added the 2024 titles to the list.

It was a pretty balanced year with Sony having a few top dogs, but MS and Nintendo having a lot mid-80s type titles.