5. Sony Computer Entertainment

Year formed: 1993

Headquarters: Tokyo

Studios: Bigbig Studios (Warwickshire, U.K.); Bend, Ore.; San Diego, CA; Cambridge, U.K.; Bangalore, India; Contrail (Tokyo); Evolution Studios (Cheshire, U.K.); Foster City, Calif.; Guerrilla Games (Amsterdam); Incognito Entertainment (Salt Lake City); Liverpool, U.K.; London; Polyphony Digital (Tokyo); Santa Monica; Seoul; SN Systems (Bristol, U.K.); Sony Online Entertainment (Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Los Angeles; San Diego, CA; Seattle; Taiwan); Tokyo; Zener Works (Tokyo); Zipper Interactive (Redmond, WA)

Sony's first-party publishing efforts brought nearly double the number of releases, compared to last year, and the average review score rose a percentage point to 75.5 percent-the fourth-highest average in this year's study.

But slowing sales of PlayStation 2 software counteracted revenue gains from PSP and PS3 sales that were more brisk.

Sony's strongest titles this year were its original properties-such as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and God of War: Chains of Olympus.

2007-2008 saw the publisher looking to secure more developer talent for the future with purchases of Evolution Studios (MotorStorm) and BigBig Studios (Pursuit Force).

Survey responses gave Sony particularly high marks in our detailed survey, describing the company in particular as "honest and forthright in development contract negotiations."

SCEA/Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune