Despite the challenges of a changing landscape, gaming companies have maintained a positive outlook, with Statista projecting the industry to reach a market volume of $363.2 billion globally by 2027. The gaming industry owes some of that success to its adaptation of tech breakthroughs and its discovery of new business strategies — both of which are also generated internally.
Top Video Game Companies
- Nintendo
- Electronic Arts
- Microsoft
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Ubisoft
- Take-Two Interactive Software
- Tencent
- Bandai Namco
To get an idea of who’s doing what in an industry that seems to be in perpetual flux, check out these gaming industry innovators.
Gaming Companies to Know
Nintendo is known both for its games and gaming consoles. With roots dating as far back as the late 1800s, the company first debuted its famous characters Mario and Donkey Kong in the 1980s. There are now thousands of titles users can play on Nintendo Switch, including popular Nintendo-published games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
One of the industry’s true powerhouses, EA is proof that quality and quantity need not be mutually exclusive. The EA Sports division is responsible for some of the most iconic sports game franchises, including FIFA, Madden NFL and NBA Live. EA’s classic non-sports series range from The Sims to Medal of Honor, and its Mobile subsidiary does a reliably good job of putting those hits in your pocket.
Microsoft has built a strong presence in the gaming industry, thanks to its subsidiaries Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media via Bethesda Softworks and Activision Blizzard. Having most recently acquired Activision Blizzard, Microsoft plans to prioritize improvements in cloud gaming and inclusive gaming experiences through the partnership. And a new gaming homepage makes it easier for Microsoft users to manage and access gaming content.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is known for operating PlayStation, which has supported major gaming franchises like The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto and God of War. The company ensures PS products are equipped with adjustable features like text size, audio and color correction for accessibility reasons. In addition, Sony Interactive makes PlayStation Network a safe online space through voice chat reporting, parental controls and other measures.
This veteran gaming company is one of the most recognizable names in the industry. Take-Two Interactive Software’s two divisions, Rockstar Games and 2K, are responsible for some certified cultural phenomena, including the former’s infamous Grand Theft Auto and the latter’s NBA 2K. Blockbuster Red Dead Redemption 2 is emblematic of the company’s rigorous attention to graphic and motion detail.
Tencent is a Chinese technology company that has developed an impressive gaming portfolio through its subdivision Tencent Games. Designing games for traditional and mobile formats, Tencent Games has earned its reputation through titles like League of Legends, Honor of Kings and Call of Duty: Mobile. Tencent owns multiple gaming platforms as well, providing users with even more gaming services and casual game options.
Bandai Namco enshrined itself in gaming lore with the release of Pac-Man in 1980, and it hasn’t looked back since. DRAGON BALL, Naruto, One Piece and Dark Souls are renowned franchises Bandai Namco has added to its collection. The company’s portfolio now spans the anime, fighting, action and role-playing game (RPG) genres, with Elden Ring, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO and TEKKEN 8 highlighting a long list of notable entries.
Roblox is a game and game development platform that seeks to make gaming a collective and connective experience. Users can access 3D tools through the company’s creator hub, creating personalized games based on topics ranging from Wicked to Squid Game. Roblox has also released a new generation of expressive avatars, allowing users to enjoy more in-depth interactions with friends and fellow users.
Founded in the 1980s, Ubisoft is the company behind popular gaming franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rabbids and Just Dance. Ubisoft is one of the world’s largest independent video game publishers, and many of its games are available across platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch. The company’s areas of technological expertise include artificial intelligence and cloud gaming.
Famous for PC and console franchises like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty and Overwatch, Activision Blizzard is also the company behind the juggernaut synonymous with mobile gaming: Candy Crush. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2023, joining legendary brands like Rare, id Software and Bethesda Softworks.
DoubleDown Interactive makes social versions of classic casino games — everything from blackjack and slots to poker and roulette — for social and mobile platforms. The company started out with the launch of a social casino game on Facebook in 2010, and by 2015, was among the top-performing games in the Apple App Store.
Iron Galaxy Studios’ portfolio of video games includes more than 60 different titles, with projects that have been available to play on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, Oculus and Nintendo Switch. In addition to developing its own titles, like Rumbleverse, the company has helped other major players in the gaming industry port some of their most popular titles, such as Skyrim and Crash Bandicoot, to newer platforms.
Even the most casual gamers are likely familiar with legacy id titles like Wolfenstein 3D (perhaps the ne plus ultra of RPG), DOOM (which helped usher in the modern multiplayer model) and QUAKE — all of which revolutionized what a PC game could be. The company also pioneered the shareware distribution model.
Famous in the casual games market, PopCap made its mark with the once-ubiquitous tile-matching Bejeweled series — which, according to its makers, once racked up a sale every 4.3 seconds and has sold in excess of 50 million units. After a post-Plants vs. Zombies acquisition by EA, the developer (which began inside a modest Seattle apartment) remains focused on breezy, grab-and-play fun.
Deck Nine Games is an independent video game development company that focuses on creating games that feature narrative storytelling. The company’s titles include graphic adventures Life Is Strange: Before the Storm and Life Is Strange: True Colors.
Co-founded by music industry veterans, IllFonic has grown into a leading indie game developer, making its name on tactical titles like Armored Warfare and horror survival games like Friday the 13th: The Game. The company helps ensure its games are immersive by employing a team of professionals experienced in video games, music and technology.
SteelSeries sells computer hardware for gaming. Its offerings include controllers, headsets, keyboards, speakers and mice. SteelSeries is an especially well-known name in the esports world, equipping players across the globe with the gear they need to be competitive. The company says it’s working “to help every gamer push the boundaries of awesome and feel like a star.”
Devolver Digital seeks out and shines a light on games from all over the planet, usually ones with a firmly offbeat sensibility. Examples range from a Swedish-made “violent ballet about friendship, imagination, and one man’s struggle to obliterate anyone in his path at the behest of a sentient banana,” to a turn-based adventure from a scrappy Polish indie about growing and selling weed.
Holding some of the most prime intellectual property this side of Marvel in its portfolio has proven a sound business strategy for this major entertainment company. The game division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a brand under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella, operates hit franchises like Mortal Kombat, which is headed up by Chicago-based subsidiary NetherRealm Studios, and Batman: Arkham, which was launched by London-based wing Rocksteady Studios.
PrizePicks is a fantasy sports gaming platform that facilitates bets in real currency. Users bet on real-world athletes and teams from professional leagues like the NBA, NFL and NHL, as well as esports, betting on over/under predictions, individual athlete performance, player stats and totals. Members can place bets with a minimum of $10 deposited into their account.
Launched in 2003 by a team of ex-Black Isle employees, Obsidian Entertainment built its name on a couple of better-than-the-original follow-ups: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2. Meanwhile, the well-known crowdfunding success for Pillars of Eternity revealed that the company is adept at maneuvering the long falls that can be endemic to the quicksilver gaming industry.
The creative force behind the blockbuster Spider-Man series, Insomniac Games earned its name on PlayStation exclusives like Ratchet & Clank and Spyro the Dragon. Acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2019, the studio is currently working on superhero heavy-hitters Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Two decades in, Santa Monica Studio still looks like a visionary. Cases in point: the God of War series, which has earned hundreds of Game of the Year awards; and the internally produced documentary Raising Kratos, about the tolls of game development.
SciPlay Corp has a portfolio of free-to-play social casino games. True to the authentic spirit of in-person casino games, SciPlay’s LiveOps provides personalized experiences for users, with in-game events based on their preferences, playing behaviors and evolving demands. The company now boasts 6 million players.
Naughty Dog started in a garage in the late 1980s and eventually grew to become one of the premier American gaming companies, thanks to watershed series like Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and Uncharted. One of the company’s flagship franchises, The Last of Us, was turned into a prestige drama by HBO.
Zynga has produced many of the most popular social mobile games of all time, with titles including Words With Friends, Farmville and Tiny Royale. The company’s games have been played by over 1 billion users, leading to offices opening throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India.
Thatgamecompany’s video game offerings — Sky, Journey, Flower and Flow — focus on “meaningful emotional impact” and “human connection.” Over the years, its games have been featured in exhibits at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and MoMA.
2K makes interactive games for mobile, computer and console play. Its 2K Sports division includes titles like the NBA 2K series, while its 2K Play division releases titles like Lego 2K Drive. The company operates a testing lab where users known as “playtesters” can play new and existing games and offer feedback to the development teams.
Sandbox VR is a tech and gaming company that specializes in bringing consumers immersive experiences. It operates retail stores where customers can test out full-body motion tracking gear, use motion capture cameras and play in “holodecks,” which put groups of users together into immersive social experiences. For example, Sandbox VR’s Squid Game Virtuals experience lets customers compete in games inspired by the popular Netflix series.
Bungie is the game company best known for creating blockbuster science-fiction franchises Halo and Destiny. Founded in Chicago in 1991, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and blazed new trails for console-based first-person shooters with Halo: Combat Evolved. Bungie spun out of Microsoft in 2007 but continued work on the Halo franchise up to the launch of 2010’s Halo: Reach. The company launched the first game in its current flagship franchise, Destiny, in 2014. Bungie was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2022.
As the monoculture continues to fragment, we may never see another Pac-Man-style capital-P phenomenon, but the long-tail success of Fortnite has come awfully close. Separate from that mammoth success, Epic Games — which dates back well beyond the internet era — is looking toward the future with projects like Unreal Engine, a product development suite that includes hyper-realistic design renderings that also have automotive applications.
The Pokémon Company International, a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company based in Japan, is primarily responsible for managing aspects of the Pokémon brand, its licensing and its marketing in regions outside of Asia. That includes news, updates and additional information for the brand’s many video games, from Pokémon GO on mobile to Pokémon Snap for Nintendo Switch. The company also handles all aspects of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the brand’s animated television series, its website and more.
Founded in 1986, Bethesda Softworks has become a household name on the strength of pioneering RPG series The Elder Scrolls, which boasts worlds so intricate that they necessitated the creation of a “loremaster” job role. The company has expanded into just about every other genre since then, including sports games, strategy games, shooters and beyond.
Bet365 is an online gambling brand that specializes in in-play sports betting. Founded in 2000, the company supplements its sports offerings with casino, live casino, bingo and poker options for its more than 100 million customers worldwide.
According to its website, Raven Software’s decision to stay rooted in Wisconsin, which isn’t particularly known for its gaming industry, was a conscious choice — one that comes with notable cost-of-living and community perks. As for its game portfolio, highlights include Heretic/Hexen and Soldier of Fortune. It has also notably lent assistance to fellow Activision partners Treyarch and Infinity Ward on Call of Duty entries.
Founded more than 20 years ago by a pair of former Microsoft employees, Valve catapulted to acclaim and popularity with its very first title, the first-person shooter turning point Half-Life. The company also runs Steam — one of the largest game stores for PC and Mac — and has launched several hardware products, including the Valve Index VR platform and Steam Deck, a popular Linux-based gaming handheld. The team’s early VR breakthroughs infamously helped prompt Mark Zuckerberg to buy into the VR game.
Infinity Ward and its marquee series, Call of Duty, remain key revenue generators, now as an Activision subsidiary. The company was launched back in 2002 by a 2015, Inc. breakaway team that had previously worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
It’s not a gaming company per se, but few outfits are as inextricable from the gaming landscape as streaming platform Twitch. The go-to broadcasting choice for the esports community and other gamers, the video platform-meets-social community was acquired by Amazon in 2014 and (per the company) attracts more than 10 million monthly visitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a gaming company do?
A gaming company develops, markets and distributes video games for profit, often gathering user feedback post-release to improve its products. Gaming companies may provide tools and platforms for users to create their own games as well.
What are the biggest gaming companies?
Based on market capitalization, the biggest gaming companies globally are Microsoft, Tencent, Sony and Nintendo.
