Who are the top video game companies? Check out our collection of the tip 30 video games companies you should know.
Servicing an industry with over 2 billion users is no easy feat, especially an industry that is continually besieged with ever-demanding enthusiasts gamers with a taste for next-level action.
Despite the success of numerous video game franchises, notable of which are GTA, Minecraft, and several others, gamers still want more.
That hunger and seemingly unsatisfiable need for exciting games has brought about a tense competition between the video game industry’s services.
This never-ending competition has seen numerous gaming companies emerge to become the best.
But even for the best, the threat of being toppled is a constant reminder.
A clear evidence that points to that fact is gaming platform Roblox surpassing sandbox game Minecraft in monthly users.
However, as tough the battle of supremacy among video game companies is, it ensures the steady influx of video games in the industry.
In light of that, Gamingtell presents the top 30 Video games companies.
This top video game companies were ranked predominantly on success of their video games, popularity, and how long they have been a top player in the industry.
Though existence in the industry, is a predominant factor, success and popularity of its video games, as well as popularity of the video game company supersedes the how long a video game company have been a top player in the industry.
Video game companies and their parents company, e.g Mojang Studios, and Microsoft, are ranked differently, due to the fact that games created by the subsidiary are credited to the subsidiary, while publishing is credited to the parent company, thereby making them different companies.
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The Top Video Game Companies
30. Double Fine Productions, Inc
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, U.S.
When Double Fine Productions, Inc was launched 20 years ago, things started slowly for the now widely known video game company.
The company founded in 2000 by developer Tim Schafer and a few colleagues after they departed American video game licensor LucasArts; the company launched its first video game, Psychonauts, in 2005.
The company’s first video game, which was released on the PlayStation, Windows, Linux, and Max platform, was met with great acclaim but failed to perform well commercially.
However, the company experienced success in future projects, and in 2019, it was acquired by Xbox Game Studio.Some notable games the company has developed include Psychonauts 2, Rad, and Full Throttle Remastered.
29. Bethesda Game Studios
Headquarter: Rockville, Maryland, US
When Bethesda Game Studios was launched in 2001, the video game company was launched as a spin-off Bethesda Softworks’ development unit, and since then, the company has reached great feat.
Bethesda Game Studios is one of the very best video game companies, thanks to its Fallout and Elder Scroll series’s massive success.
Microsoft now owns the company, which boasts of three satellite studios and about 400 employees after parent company, ZeniMax Media, was acquired by the tech giant $7.5 million in September 2020.
28. Konami Holdings Corporation
Headquarters: Chuo City, Tokyo, Japan
One of the oldest video game companies on this list, Konami Holdings Corporation, is one of the world’s biggest video game companies.
The company, which doubles as a video game developer and publishing company, is widely known for its Pro Evolution Soccer video game.
The company traces its origins to March 1969, where it manufactured video arcades amusement machines.
In 1978, the company produced its video game and achieved success in the video game industry, with arcade games Frogger, Scramble, and Super Cobra.
The company has currently expanded and boasts of about 22 subsidiaries.
27. Nexon Co., Ltd
Headquarter: Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea
South Korean- Japanese video game company Nexon is no stranger in the world of video game production.
The video game company has produced over 80 video games since December 1994.
The company’s debut video game was Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, which was released in 1996.
Since the success it experienced in 2003, Nexus has progressed to become a dominant player in the video game industry and has made multiple acquisitions, such as Maryland-based Mobile game developer Big Huge Games.
26. Zynga
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, U.S.
Though not a regular video game developer, Zynga has made a name for itself in the social video game niche.
In fact, few game developers can contend with Zynga in the social video game space.
The company was founded in April 2007. Two months later, its flagship game Texas Hold’Em Poker, now known as Zynga Poker, was released on Facebook, making it the first game ever released on social networking sites Facebook.
Zynga Poker’s success spurred Zynga to release other games on Facebook, notably of which is Farmville, which was met with great acclaim.
The video game company, which has over a thousand employees, has had its games played over a billion times since 2007.
25. Blizzard Entertainment Inc
Headquarter: Irvine, California, U.S.
Blizzard Entertainment Inc would make the list by whatever standard you choose to measure video game companies’ success.
The video game company, founded in February 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, Inc., was focused on manufacturing game ports for other video game companies and ventured into the video game development industry in 1993.
The company, which has changed ownership multiple times, is widely known for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW), which it released in 2004.
Aside from World of Warcraft (WoW), Blizzard has other successful franchises to its name, such as Overwatch, Starcraft, and Diablo.
Since 2005, the company has hosted an annual convention named BlizzCon for fans to interact.
24. NCSOFT
Headquarter: Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea
Since September 1998, South Korean video game company, NCsoft, has been making waves in the video game industry.
The company debuted into the video game industry with the release of Lineage before expanding its operations to America with the establishment of a subsidiary in the U.S., NC interactive.
In 2004, the company established itself as a dominant video game company with the release of two MMORPG games, City of Heroes and Lineage II.
Over the years, NCsoft has continued to released other games and make notable acquisitions. NCsoft currently has about four subsidiaries.
23. Gameloft S.E.
Headquarter: Paris, France
French video game developer Gameloft is a widely known video game company though its focus is mainly on the mobile game market.
The company, which was founded in 1999, has made notable profit, particularly in the iOS market.
Gameloft has produced multiple games that have received acclaim and earned the company awards for several games’ best video games.
22. ZeniMax Media
Headquarter: Rockville, Maryland, US
Though not a video game developer, the inclusion of ZeniMax Media, a notable video game holding company, on this list is unsurprising, especially when you consider how much the company has contributed to the video game industry.
Since 1999, when it was founded, the company has been making great strides in developing top video games through notable subsidiaries like Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Arkane Studio, and several others.
Some of the top games the holding company has released through its many subsidiaries include the Fallout series, the Doom series, the Elder Scrolls series.
In September 2020, the company was acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion.
21. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc
Headquarter: New York City, New York, USA
With just a seed capital of $1.5 million and a mind filled with ideas, Ryan Brant established one of the world’s best video game companies in September 1993.
Early into its existence, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc tasted success after it discovered games with full-motion videos with live actors performed well in the market.
Thus, a significant portion of its budget for its successful 1994 Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller and 1996 Ripper games were dedicated to hiring actors.
Take-Two success is due to the company consistently maintaining its growth through systematic acquisitions and partnerships with bodies such as the NBA to publish official games for the platform.
Take-Two currently boasts of over $4 billion in assets.
20. Infinity Ward
Headquarter: Woodland Hills, California, United States
Undoubtedly one of the best video game developers globally, Infinity Ward, founded as a video game publisher Activision division in 2002, is widely known for its massively successful Call of Duty franchise.
Over the years, the COD franchise’s success has seen the company striving to elevate the standard of the COD series.
Pretty much all the COD series have been developed by the video game company.
19. Insomniac Games
Headquarter: Burbank, California, U.S.
Initially known as Xtreme Software, this video game company founded in 1994 was on the verge of closing up following the poor performance of its first video game, Disruptor
However, the success of its next video game, Spyro the Dragon, saw the video game company firmly establish itself as a dominant player in the video game production industry.
Since Spyro the Dragon’s success, Insomniac Games have made formidable partnerships with other major holders in the video game industry, such as Sony Interactive Entertainment and Electronic Arts.
18. Game Freak
Headquarter: Kanda Square, 2-2-1 Kandanishiki-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Way before Game Freak became a video game developer; the company was a self-published video game magazine.
But since April 1989, Game Freak had been a video game developer.
The company achieved worldwide recognition with the release of the Pokémon game.
The success of the Pokémon game made the company a major stakeholder in the video game industry.
17. Epic Games
Headquarter: Cary, North Carolina, U.S.
Originally founded as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991 by video game programmer Tim Sweeny, the company released its first video game, ZZT, that year.
The company’s consistency since its establishment has vaulted it to become one of the world’s very best video game producers.
Several of its products are widely known in the video game world, notably the Unreal game engine and widely known online game Fortnite.
The company’s success has seen it acquire other video game companies such as Psyonix and Chair Entertainment.
Epic Games equity is valued at $17.3 billion.
16. Mojang Studios
Headquarter: Stockholm, Sweden.
The Swedish video game development, Mojang Studios, is one of the most dominant video game industry players.
The video game’s beginnings date back to 2009 when Markus Persson founded the company.
Mojang Studios is widely known for its most popular video game, Minecraft, which boasts of about 100 million players.
The video game developer has developed other notable games: Cobalt, Crown and Council, and Caller’s Bane.
15. Bandai Namco Entertainment
Headquarter: Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Though Bandai Namco Entertainment may not be widely known in the video game industry, its products are one of the best video games ever released.
The company dates back to March 2006, when toy producer, Bandia, and video developer Namco, merged.
Way before the company found successs, it embarked on massive campaigns for its video games, that it set Guineas world record for releasing the most T.V. commercials for it Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, Nintendo game.
Its consistent and aggressive marketing resulted in the companying owning multiple video game franchises such as Tekken, Ace Combat, Dark Souls, Tales, Pac-man and, several more.
14. Microsoft Corporation
Headquarter: One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington, U.S.
Though Microsoft Corporation may not be entirely known for its video game exploits, the company is an active stakeholder in the industry.
The multinational tech giant, which is valued in trillions and dates back to April 1975, diversified into the video game industry after success in the tech sphere.
In the video game industry, notable of Microsoft brands are the Xbox brand and the recently acquired ZeniMax Media, the parent company of famous video game developers, id Software and, Bethesda Game Studios.
13. Bungie, Inc.
Headquarter: Bellevue, Washington, U.S.
One of Microsoft’s acquisitions, Bungie, Inc., has been an active gaming industry player for years.
During its time under Microsoft, Bungie, founded in May 1991, released Halo: Combat Evolved, the Xbox console launch game.
The game was a hit as it sold millions of copies.
After splitting from Microsoft, the company has progressed to become one of the world’s best video game companies.
12. Capcom
Headquarter: Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
The brand Capcom is synonymous to video games as it develops some of the most popular video games in the industry.
One of its most popular video games is the Resident Evil series which has sold over 15 million copies.
Capcom’s global success has seen it structured its operations by establishing numerous subsidiaries dedicated to overseeing its operations in various regions in the world.
11. Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd
Headquarter: Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
The Final Fantasy franchise creator has sold over 100 million copies.
Square Enix dates back to 2003, following a merger between video game developer Square and video game publisher Enix.
The resulting company from the merger was fully equipped in finance, experience, and manpower to create some of the best games in the world, which is evidenced by the creation of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchise.
Since 2003, Square Enix has created dozens of video games for various platforms, thus solidifying its reign as one of the industry’s best video games.
10. Naughty Dog, LLC
Headquarter: Santa Monica, California, U.S
Formerly known as JAM Software, Inc., this video game company is focused on developing first-party video games.
The video game company dates back to 1984, when video game director Jason Robin and video game programmer Andy Gavin joined forces to create the company.
Between 1984 and 2001, Naughty God progressed, and that attracted Sony Entertainment to acquire the company.
Prior to the acquisition, Naughty Dog made multiple video games such as Way of the Warrior and Ring of Power, which were successful.
Those games’ success led the founded Jason Robin and Andy Gavin to sign a three-title contract with Universal Interactive Studio.
In 2001, the company was acquired by and, since then, it has expanded to become one of the best video game companies in the world.
Of the multiple games Naughty Dogs has released, The Last of Us stands out.
9. BioWare
Headquarter: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canadian video game developer, BioWare, has proven that it’s one of the world’s top video game companies by its products.
BioWare was founded by medical doctors Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka, and Marcel Zeschuk, Augustine Yip, Brent Oster, and Trent Oster.
The youngsters funded their newly formed gaming company in 1995, with proceeds from Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka’s success in the medical field.
The company’s first video game, Shattered Steel, published by Interplay Entertainment, experienced modest success.
The next video game the company released, Baldur’s Gate, which took about three years to develop, sold about 2 million copies, and since then, BioWare has been progressing.
In the 2000s, the company experienced success with its video games, notably Mass Effect.
Specifically, in 2007, BioWare was acquired by E.A.
The company announced the planned release of Mass Effect: Legendary of Edition in November 2020.
8. Sega Corporation
Headquarter: Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
Right since 1960, Sega has been in the gaming business, but its attention turned to its famous video game consoles in the 1980s.
The action, which was prompted by the downturn in business, led Sega down a route that’ll solidify the company as one of the greatest video game companies of all time.
Since its first major game that experienced global success, Sonic the Hedgehog, was released in 1991, Sega has developed video game franchises that have generated millions.
Some of these games include Yakuza, Total War, and Hedge Dog.
7. Ubisoft
Headquarter: Montreuil, France
Since its launch about three decades ago, Ubisoft has dominated the video game industry by measures few of its contemporaries can contend with.
The company founded by five brothers of the Guillemot family was never intended to be a video game company at first, but on noticing the opportunity in the fast-rising, the brothers branched into the industry Ubisoft, which stands for ubiquitous” software was birthed.
Some of the first games the company published in 1986 include Masque, Zombi, Fer et Flamme, and others.
Zombie proved to be a commercial success, selling about five thousand copies.
The release of its 1995 game Rayman elevated Ubisoft to global status.
By the 1990s, the company had begun expanding to other countries.
In the 2000s, Ubisoft solidifies its presence as a major video game company to release massively successful video game franchises, notably the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
6. Sony Interactive Entertainment
Headquarter: San Mateo, California, United States
Previously known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Sony Interactive Entertainment, owned by Sony Corporation, is one of the biggest companies in the video game industry.
The company, which has two subsidiaries Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE LLC) and Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SIE Inc.), was specifically founded in November 1993 to oversee Sony’s venture into video game development for PlayStation systems.
Through Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company develops gaming hardware and software for the PlayStation video game system and develops and publishes video games.
The company has sold over 500 million video game consoles.
5. Activision Blizzard
Headquarter: Santa Monica, California, U.S.
One of the largest video game companies in the world, Activision Blizzard, was formed in 2008 following the merger of Los Angeles-based video game company Vivendi Games and Activision, Inc.
The video game company oversees five businesses in the video game industry, namely; professional e-sports league, Major League Gaming Corp. (MLG), motion-picture company, Activision Blizzard Studios, LLC, video game developer, King, video game publisher and developer, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., and, Activision Publishing.
Activision Blizzard owns rights to Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo, and several more video games through its numerous subsidiaries.
4. Electronic Arts
Headquarter: Redwood City, California, U.S.
In the world of video games, only very few video game companies have as many accomplishments and success as Electronic Arts.
The company was founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, a former Apple employee. E.A. sold personal computer software and published games in its early years, all developed by other individuals.
But in 1987, the company began focusing on game development by acquiring game studios, such as its acquisition of Distinctive Software, which became EA Canada in 1991.
E.A. currently published several established video game franchises such as Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims, Starwars, Titanfall, and several others.
The company also owns multiple established gaming studios such as Red Spawn Entertainment, BioWare, and several others.
3. Rockstar Games, Inc
Headquarter: New York City, U.S.T
Though Rockstar Games is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, the company is one of Take-Two proudest achievements.
Rockstar Games traces its roots to December 1998, where Two-Take Interactive formed the company with assets it acquired from BMG Interactive.
Since then, several other acquisitions by Take-Two have been added to the Rockstar Games family, thus expanding the company and ensuring it’s successful.
The company is widely known for publishing video games in the action-adventure genre and racing games.
The best franchise the company has published is Grand Theft Auto, which ranks as one of the best-selling video games of all time.
2. Valve Corporation
Headquarter: Bellevue, Washington, US
Right from its debut video game, American video game developer and digital distribution company, Valve Corporation, has indicated to all that it’s bound to be successful.
Half-Life, the company’s debut video game, which is of the first-person shooter genre, experienced massive success and vaulted the company to a new level.
In 2003, Valve Corporation launched its digital distribution platform, Steam, which proved to be massively successful in later years.
Riding high in its success, Valve Corporation also launched other games which have achieved worldwide acclaim, notably Dota 2.
One factor responsible for the video game companies growth is its commitment to evolving, which is evidenced by the new products and programs it regularly launches.
1. Nintendo
Headquarter: 11-1 Kamitoba Hokodatecho, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Though all the games on this list have recorded astounding feats that make them the best of the best, none can contend with the feat of the Japanese multinational video game company, Nintendo.
The company, which has been existing since the 19 century, specifically 1889, first produced handmade hanafuda playing cards.
After years of producing cards and toys, Nintendo produced its first gaming console in 1977.
However, the Nintendo Entertainment System’s release skyrocketed the company to a new level.
Since then, the company has consistently released other amazing consoles and video game franchises, which has kept it relevant.
Of the numerous franchises, Nintendo has released the Pokémon, Mario, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, and Super Smash Bros, franchises but gallantly at the top.
Final Words
There you have it.
The top 30 video game companies that have kept gamers glued to screens for decades.
This list was made based on popularity, and success of the video games. Included also were certain video game company parent companies.
These inclusion was as a result of the fact that though both entities may follow same organizational structure, their products differ, in that it’s released through the parent company, but credit goes to the video game developer.