Next-Gen.Biz has compiled its first annual list of the country's biggest, most successful games publishers. Click through for the running order of our industry's biggest beasts including tons of stats and analysis...

Next-Gen.Biz's first annual 'America's Top 20 Publishing Giants' is a list of the top game publishers operating in the U.S, according to their success in the last 12 months.

This is the first compilation of this feature, which will be repeated in the first week of June every year.

Our list includes a detailed overview of each company's operations including market share, revenues, profits and company size, as well as that publisher's retail performance in the U.S and its performance creatively, as gauged by review scores.

It also includes our analysis of the company's highlights from the past year as well as its likely hits in the 12 months to come.

Qualification

We have only included companies that we believe have sold more than a million full priced units in the U.S. in the last 12 months. We have not counted subscription revenues, mobile or casual revenues or digital download sales. This is a retail list.

Ordering

The biggest signifier is market-share in the United States. We also count global revenues and profits, company size, successful games in the last year, and average review scores towards a final placing as well as likely success of future products. Although based significantly on statistics, the final placings are Next Generation's choices. Therefore, this is, to a significant extent, an exercise in opinion and should not be treated as a de facto industry league table.

Sources

Most stats have come to us from companies featured, though verified against stats from NPD and other analysts.

Notes on Stats

Market share is an estimate based on NPD console, handheld and PC game sales over the last 12 months.
All financial figures sourced from company statements.
Stock price changes sourced from financial press.
All share prices and financial info converted into U.S. dollars.
Employee numbers from most recent public company statements. It's amazing how many outfits are apparently unsure exactly how many people they employ!
NPD Top 100 SKUs does not include PC games.
Franchises Over 80% courtesy of Gamerankings average scores for the last 12 months, and include all major formats. Scores for different SKUs not counted. Highest SKU counts for all.

Your say

If you work for any of the companies featured, and feel that the numbers featured are incorrect, please email us.