Simply put, we make a list of all the iPhone games released - in the case of Q3 between 1st July to 30th September - and see what review scores they received from a selection of websites to create an overall average mark.
Then we order the games in terms of which companies published them, calculating the average mark across their entire slate.
(Note: unlike the game index, for the publishers' index we include games even if they have only received one review. Three or more reviews are required to qualify a title for the Games Quality Index.)
Gamevil scores homerun
As you can see, top of the Q3 list was Korean publisher Gamevil, which released two games - Baseball Superstars 2010 and RPG Hybrid: Eternal Whisper during Q3.
These were respectively ranked #5, (9.17/10) and joint #18 (8.4/10) in the Games' Quality Index.
Gamevil was closely followed by Canadian publisher IUGO, which scored with Star Hogs (#12, 8.8/10) and Spy Bot Chronicles (not listed in top 25).
The big two
As ever however it was the two giants of the App Store - EA Mobile and Gameloft - who continue to demonstrate their ability to release a lot of high quality games, although both released fewer iPhone games than in Q2.
For example, in the Q2 Publishers' Quality Index, EA Mobile had 60 reviews across 11 games, compared to 20 reviews across 5 games in Q3. Its best reviewed game was the id Software-developed Wolfenstein RPG (#7, average score 9.1/10).
Gameloft had 46 reviews from 12 releases in Q2, compared to 46 reviews from 9 games in Q3.
Its best performers were Gangstar: West Coast Hustle (#14, average review 8.6/10), and Real Soccer 2010 and Dungeon Hunter - respectively #17 and joint #18, both with an average of 8.4/10. (Real Soccer had more reviews if you were wondering about its higher position.)
Significantly, both EA Mobile and Gameloft improved their overall average review scores compared to Q2: EA from 7.66 to 7.85, and Gameloft from 7.43 to 7.89.
And the rest
Chillingo, well known as a volume iPhone publisher (although that seems to be changing), released 7 games in Q3 gaining 23 reviews.
This compares to 31 reviews and 5 games in Q2. Its review average dropped to 7.38, as indeed it did between Q1 (average 7.65) and Q2 (7.57).
Taito's position is mainly due to Space Invaders Infinity Gene, which was the #2 in the Games' Quality Index (9.47), with support from retro releases such as Bust-A-Move and Arkanoid.
I-play, which was the #1 iPhone publisher in our Q2 Quality Index, doesn't feature at all.
Methodology
As per previous Quality Indexes, the sites used in our research were: Pocket Gamer, Pocket Gamer France, IGN Wireless, Slide To Play, 148Apps, Touchgen, AirGamer, Mobile Game FAQs, and Macworld.
Marks from sites that don't mark out of ten were adjusted linearly.
