Gamers like to debate about the best year in gaming history. Some point to 1997, which saw the release of landmark titles like Final Fantasy 7 and GoldenEye 007. Others suggest 2007, which saw the seventh generation of consoles really hit their stride with blockbuster exclusives and some of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time. Others still have said that the best year in gaming history is 2011, which was when Bethesda launched The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Mojang released the wildly successful Minecraft. There is an argument to be made for many years in gaming history, but a new study attempts to narrow things down.
A recent study conducted by Spades Challenge has used user score data from the top 2,000 highest-rated video games on review aggregate site Metacritic to determine the greatest years in gaming history. According to the study, 2003 was the most popular year in gaming, with 199 of the highest-rated user score games releasing that year. Some of the biggest games of 2003 include The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. In terms of user score, the highest-rated titles were games like Fire Emblem, Gothic 2, the aforementioned KOTOR, and Day of Defeat.
The second-best year in gaming history, according to the study, was 2004, though some may be surprised that it didn't take the top spot when considering all the huge games that were released that year, including Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, among others. 2004 had 168 of the top-rated games, while 2005 came in third with 158 releases, including Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Resident Evil 4, and Shadow of the Colossus.
Best Years in Gaming History, According to Metacritic User Score Data
- 2003 - 199 games
- 2004 - 168 games
- 2005 - 158 games
- 2002 - 141 games
- 2006 - 129 games
- 2007 - 98 games
- 2010 - 96 games
- 2001 - 95 games
- 2008 - 89 games
- 2009 - 80 games
All the top years in gaming history, according to this study's methods, were the stretch of 2000 to 2010. However, there are some things to take in account before taking this information as gospel. For one, utilizing Metacritic user score data may not really be the best way to determine the best years in gaming history because Metacritic user scores are often manipulated for things like review bombing, with users flooding the site with disingenuous reviews to bring down the score of a game they don't like for whatever reason or alternatively, inflate the score of a joke game. For example, the highest-rated Metacritic game by user score is currently the 2002 Game Boy Advance title Secret Agent Barbie: Royal Jewels Mission, which has a perfect 10/10 score at the time of this writing.
Metacritic also doesn't have a ton of data on game review scores pre-2000, which makes sense as the site was founded in 2001. Game reviews in general became more common in the 2000s, and so that definitely has an impact on the data as well. So while the data presented is interesting, fans should keep those caveats in mind.
Source: Spades Challenge