PS3 & XBOX 360 named the ‘golden era’ of gaming

A leading geek and fandom platform has analysed user ratings and review scores to reveal which era of gaming was the best, with the PS3 and XBOX 360 console period from 2005/06 – 2013 coming out on top. The platform analyzed thousands of reviews from the most popular media franchises, and discovered that 15 of the best rated games had been released across the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360.

A leading geek and fandom platform has analyzed user ratings and review scores to reveal the best rated releases across 19 of the world’s favourite game franchises, and which gaming period was ‘the golden era’ – with the data showing that the XBOX 360 and PS3 had seen the most top tier releases compared with any other consoles.

FandomSpot analyzed each videogame franchises’ historic Metacritic ratings to find out which individual games had been the biggest successes since each franchises’ first release. FIFA 10, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto IV were named the kings of their respective franchises.

The XBOX 360 was released on November 22nd 2005, while the Playstation 3 was released nearly a full year later, on 11th November 2006. Both consoles were replaced in 2013 by the PS4 and XBOX 1, however the era from 2005/06 until 2013 came out as the most successful in gaming history.

The research also revealed at what point each franchise fell out of favour with its fan base, with Tony Hawk’s ratings plummeting when developers introduced the interactive Ride skateboard in 2009. 

The ten ‘table-topping’ videogames, and the increase in ratings compared with their worst-rated titles, are:

1. Tony Hawk: Pro Skater 2 – 59% better than Tony Hawk: Pro Skater 5 (PS2)
2. Fallout 3 – 40% better than Fallout 76 (360/PS3)
3. Madden 03’ – 32% better than Madden 21’ – (PS2/XBOX)
4. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 – 30% better than NFS Undercover (PS2/XBOX)
5. Grand Theft Auto IV – 28% better than GTA 2 (360/PS3)
6. FIFA 10 – 19% better than FIFA 21 (360/PS3)
7. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 18% better than Black Ops: Cold War (360/PS3)
8. Halo 1 – 14% better than Halo ODST (XBOX)
9. Final Fantasy IX – 13% better than Final Fantasy XV (PS2/XBOX)
10. Pokémon: Heartgold/Soulsilver – 11% better than Pokémon: Emerald (Nintendo DS)

Full details of the research can be found here: https://www.fandomspot.com/fandom-abandon/ 

Looking at when each of these titles were released, the XBOX 360/PS3 period has been named the ‘golden era’ of gaming, with 15 of the top rated 19 titles released on the two consoles between 2005/06 and 2013. The PS2/XBOX Original era came in second with 13 releases, followed by PS4/XBOX 1 with two releases, and PS1 with one game. 

The video game, Tony Hawk, enjoyed a hay day during the early 00s, however ratings tanked when developers introduced the interactive Ride skateboard in 2009. Fallout and Metal Gear Solid saw their biggest drops in quality with their most recent entries, both of which experimented with changes in style and gameplay.

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Alyssa Celatti of FandomSpot.com, said,

“It was fascinating to take a deep dive into the world’s biggest video game series to find out which ones are still going strong, and which ones are past their prime.

“From our research, it is pretty clear that people don’t like change, or at least they don’t when it comes to video games, because the three of the top franchises that took the biggest hit in ratings all belong to that category. Tony Hawk, Fallout and Metal Gear Solid all took their biggest dips when they tried to innovate and try something different, so it might be that gamers are less open to new things, whereas film fans are more forgiving.”