43 Gaming Companies You Need to Know
- YFX DEX governance token launch forthcoming
- Master of Business Administration (MBA) | Florida State University
- Topic No. 456 Student Loan Interest Deduction | Internal Revenue Service
- Progressive Insurance 2022: car, home and life| Bankrate
- Assurant Renters Insurance: Is it the best choice for you? (2021)
From pick-up-and-play casual mobile games to geocache hunting to bleeding-edge virtual reality, these innovative upstarts and trusted veterans are why video gaming continues to lap all entertainment competitors.
This Post: 43 Gaming Companies You Need to Know
In the letter to shareholders heard ‘round the entertainment world, Netflix in January famously admitted that it competes with — and loses to — the popular video game Fortnite more than HBO. And while the gargantuan success of that Epic Games blockbuster surely remains an outlier, the subtext is unmistakable: In the knock-down, drag-out competition for users’ screen time, the video gaming industry is booming where yesterday’s entertainment forerunners are lagging, if not outright busting.
The American video game industry hit record revenue last year, racking up $43.4 billion — an 18 percent rise over the previous year, according to data released by the Entertainment Software Association and The NPD Group. Compare that to the film industry, where domestic box office will likely “continue stagnating” through at least 2022, and the music industry, which struggled with sharp decline for years and is only recently showing signs of rebounding.
Poised to become a $300 billion worldwide business by 2025, 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
- The Pokemon Company International
- Zwift
- PlayVS
- Mythical Games
- Supernatural
- Activision Blizzard
- Big Fish Games (Acquired)
- Bonfire Studios
- Bungie (Acquired)
- DoubleDown Interactive (Acquired)
- Electronic Arts
- Epic Games
- Jam City
- MobilityWare
- PopCap Games (Acquired)
- Glu Mobile
- Scopely
- Twitch (Acquired)
- Zynga
According to Ed Thomas, an analyst at GlobalData, gaming is “in the throes of a huge transformation from a product-oriented business to an as-a-service model. At the same time, new technologies like 5G, cloud and virtual reality will usher in a new phase of innovation, while new business models like support for in-game micropayments are already changing the economics of gaming.”
Want some anecdotal evidence? Try getting between a friend and their current round of PUBG Mobile or Minecraft or the un-killable Candy Crush Saga.
All three of those titles have one thing in common: They’re mobile games designed for casual play—even if they are deceptively addictive. Pick up, play, put down, repeat as necessary. That kind of approachability has put mobile in the driver’s seat. Even though so many mobile games are free-to-play or micropay, mobile gaming collectively outpaced revenue of console and PC gaming in 2018.
At the same time, these remain the salad days of hardcore gaming, as console makers inch toward the cross-play future, PC game-makers build their own “mini-platforms” and even inveterate eight-bit nostalgists are afforded plenty of room at the screen.
To get an idea of who’s doing what in an industry that seems to be in perpetual flux, check out these 43 gaming industry innovators.
The Pokémon Company International
Location: Bellevue, WA
What it does: 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, as well as handling all aspects of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the brand’s animated television series, its website and more. The company’s website is filled with resources to help parents understand the nuances of Pokémon and its benefit to children, as well as video game-related news, updates and additional information.
Zwift
Location: Long Beach, CA
What it does: Zwift is an indoor cycling app that brings better experiences and engagement to home workouts, allowing riders to explore digitized locations from throughout the world while excelling in their workout. The app features workouts and training plans designed by expert coaches, a massive community of users helping keep each other motivated and sprawling landscapes that seamlessly bridge the gap between a workout and playing a video game.
PlayVS
Location: Los Angeles, CA
What it does: PlayVS is eliminating boundaries into the eSports landscape and creating new opportunities for high school and collegiate eSports players to compete for state championships and become recognized athletes by their state association. Managing two seasons of league play per year with playoff competitions immediately following, PlayVS has partnerships with more than 20 state and province associations in the United States and Canada and is actively building out both its platform and community to deliver better eSports opportunities to players at a greater scale.
Mythical Games
Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
What it does: Mythical Games is a team of veteran game and platform developers working together to bring groundbreaking new ideas to market and enhance the gameplay experience. The company is dedicated to playing a part in creating an integrated secondary market built on true ownership of digital assets to bring players, developers and content creators closer together, and has been integral in the development of franchises like Blankos: Block Party, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.
Supernatural
Location: Los Angeles, CA
What it does: Supernatural provides a groundbreaking home workout experience for those who love gaming and those looking for more than what traditional exercise can provide. The fully immersive VR platform allows users to engage with lifelike virtual locations such as Iceland’s glaciers, Ethopian volcanoes and the ruins of Machu Picchu, with meditations and workouts targeting multiple muscle groups included within the subscription. Supernatural is available via the Oculus Quest Headset.
MobilityWare
Location: Irvine, CA
What it does: MobilityWare specializes in developing tremendously replayable games for mobile devices and Facebook. The company’s impressive roster of games includes “Solitaire,” “Spider Solitaire,” “Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Video Poker,” providing users with hours of entertainment without any learning curve.
Twitch
Location: Seattle
What it does: 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 e-sports 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.
Electronic Arts
Location: Redwood City, Calif.
What it does: One of the industry’s true powerhouses, EA is proof that quality and quantity need not be mutually exclusive. The venerable outfit released a dozen distinct titles in 2018, almost all of which racked up critical accolades. (EA averaged a 77.5 Metascore last year.) The EA Sports division is responsible for some of the most iconic sports-games 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. Truth be told, if EA had done nothing more than create and distribute Skate or Die!, nostalgia points alone would merit it mention.
Take-Two Interactive
Location: New York City
What it does: A 25-year veteran, this major player is one of the most recognizable names in gaming. Its 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. Recent blockbuster Red Dead Redemption 2 is emblematic of the company’s rigorous attention to graphic and motion detail.
DoubleDown Interactive
Location: Seattle, Washington
What it does: DoubleDown Interactive makes classic casino games—everything from blackjack and slots to poker and roulette—for social and mobile platforms. The International District-based company is all in on employee perks, too, including on-site massage therapy and trips to Mariners games.
Activision Blizzard Entertainment
Location: Santa Monica, Calif.
What it does: Most famous perhaps for massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard also scores highly in digital collectible card games (Hearthstone), first-person shooters (Overwatch) and other genres. They’re also celebrated for some of the most memorable April Fools’ Day pranks in the industry and—get this—handing out steins, shields, swords and helms as service awards.
Jam City
Location: Culver City, Calif.
What it does: Befitting its location at the movie mecca of Culver City, Jam City has produced game adaptations of massively popular tentpole franchises, including Harry Potter and Marvel Avengers titles. They also recently inked a multi-year deal with Disney to develop games that will feature Pixar and Disney characters. The developer — which counts the creators of MySpace and a former 20th Century Fox executive among its co-founders — has proven to be a major leader, particularly in the free-to-play social and mobile categories.
Glu Mobile
Location: San Francisco
What it does: Glu Mobile has created some of the most popular interactive mobile games of the last decade. The mobile gaming stalwart is behind smash hits like, “Diner Dash,” “Design Home,” “Tap Sports MLB Baseball ‘20,” and “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” which have collectively wracked up billions of downloads from gamers worldwide.
Gearbox Software
Location: Frisco, Texas
What it does: After leveraging success from Half-Life expansion packs into their own hit franchises Brothers in Arms and Borderlands, Gearbox has not only navigated the ever-shifting waters of the gaming industry for 20-plus years, they’ve remained forward-thinking. Case in point: the impressively complex 2016 first-person shooter Battleborn.
Epic Games
Location: Potomac, Md.
What it does: 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—hence the company’s recent Detroit expansion.
ArenaNet
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
What it does: Started by a trio of former Blizzard programmers, this long-running outfit is known for massively-multiplayer-online successes like Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. It’s also known for incorporating the increasingly popular episodic-update model.
Owlchemy Labs
Location: Austin, TX
What it does: Owlchemy Labs has developed a number of popular virtual reality games focused on incorporating hand movements into the gaming experience, including “Job Simulator” and “Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.” The company was acquired by Google in 2017, who are making use of Owlchemy Labs’s touch interaction technology within their own products.
Stage11
Location: Fully Remote
What it does: Exploring mixed reality and advanced gaming technology, Stage11 is bringing an unprecedented dimension to the music industry. The company has plans to enhance fans’ experiences by weaving together narratives, virtual worlds, and avatars. In addition, people will be able to trade NFT items, connecting audiences even more to the artists they’ve come to know and love.
Portalarium
Location: Austin, TX
What it does: Portalarium produces online games, products and services that capture the attention of social media audiences and mobile gamers. The company’s most popular game is “Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues,” an experience designed to feature cooperative play between users and a shared equity system that brings friends closer together.
Bonfire Studios
Location: Irvine, CA
What it does: Bonfire Studios emerged from stealth in late 2016 after raising $25 million to build a highly anticipated title. The company is staffed with artists, level designers, character developers, animators, UX designers, VFX artists, developers and more, all bringing unique talents to the team with a goal of uniting players in a sense of adventure, exploration and fellowship.
Raven Software
Location: Madison, Wis.
What it does: According to its website, Raven Software’s decision to stay rooted in the gaming-industry flyover country of Wisconsin 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. And in recent years, it has notably lent assistance to fellow Activision partners Treyarch and Infinity Ward on Call of Duty entries.
Scopely
Location: Culver City, Calif.
What it does: Another leading mobile-gaming company with strong ties to Hollywood, Scopely works with in-house developers and external studios from around the world. The fast-growing company, which is responsible for hits like Star Trek Fleet Command and Looney Tunes World of Mayhem, prides itself for its diversity of approaches, moving beyond casual gaming into role-playing and strategy games.
backflip studios
Location: Boulder, Colo.
What it does: This Hasbro-owned developer specializes in approachable, family-friendly, free-to-play mobile fare, most notably their much-loved multi-toucher Paper Toss. Backflip Studios’ deal with Hasbro means plenty of opportunity to grow popular titles like Transformers into the next casually addictive hit.
PlayQ
Location: Santa Monica, Calif.
What it does: This on-the-rise mobile gaming developer prioritizes easy-to-grasp gameplay, colorful graphics, fit-for-all-ages narratives and just-so degrees of familiarity—think puzzles and platforms.
Groundspeak
Location: Seattle
What it does: Years before the great Pokémon GO scare of 2016, this geocaching pioneer was already getting gamers outside and GPS-scavenging for treasure. Groundspeak has also nurtured a robust network of forums, events and even environmental outreach, encouraging responsible play.
Naughty Dog
Location: Santa Monica, Calif.
What it does: 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. The company emphasizes cross-studio collaboration between programmers, developers and designers, retaining an indie-style culture while producing award-winning blue chip titles.
Zynga
Location: San Francisco, CA
What it does: 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 one billion users to date, leading to offices opening throughout the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and India Founded in San Francisco, the company has opened offices in Austin and around the world. Zynga’s games have been played by more than one billion people globally since its founding ten years ago.
Illfonic
Location: Golden, Colo., and Tacoma, Wash.
What it does: Co-founded by music industry veterans, including neo-soul favorite Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Toné!, 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 takes strides to maintain an independent spirit even as it continues to grow, and it carefully plans projects with an eye toward the long term, according to top brass.
RED : KuCoin Price in USD: KCS Live Price Chart & News | CoinGecko
Her Interactive
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
What it does: Led by their ever-popular and evergreen Nancy Drew series that has connected across multiple generations, Her Interactive makes games for girls with budding inner sleuths. Her helped shatter the canard that computer games were just for boys, and has carried the loyalty it’s developed over the decades into the contemporary gaming environment, expanding beyond the desktop.
Insomniac Games
Location: Burbank, Calif.
What it does: The creative force behind Spider-Man, one of the industry’s true recent mega-successes, Insomniac Games dates back 25 years. Having earned its name on Playstation exclusives like Ratchet & Clank and Spyro the Dragon, it’s of the true major American players in gaming.
N3TWORK
Location: San Francisco
What it does: Co-founded by Neil Young (the game designer and entrepreneur of We Farm fame, not the cantankerous rocker), N3TWORK did gangbusters business on its own with Legendary: Game of Heroes, then parlayed those winnings into an ambitious new arena: allowing third-party developers access to the studio’s best practices in applications ranging from ad creative development to continued campaign optimization—a sign that a company’s hunting for innovative business models.
PopCap Games
Location: Seattle
What it does: 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.
Bethesda Softworks
Location: Rockville, Md.
What it does: This three-decade-plus-old powerhouse became 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.
Valve Corporation
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
What it does: 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. In recent years, it has looked forward to hardware, particularly virtual reality. The team’s early VR breakthroughs infamously helped prompt Mark Zuckerberg to buy into the VR game, while Valve’s own upcoming Valve Index VR kit is scheduled for a much anticipated release this summer.
Obsidian Entertainment
Location: Irvine, Calif.
What it does: The age of sequels surely extends to the gaming world, and these RPG specialists—launched in 2003 by a team of ex-Black Isle employees—built their 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 Obsidian is adept at maneuvering the long falls that can be endemic to the quicksilver gaming industry.
iD Software
Location: Richardson, Texas
What it does: 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.
Bungie
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
What it does: Bungie has grown from self-described “creepy one bedroom apartment” origins to become worthy of a famous scoop-up by Microsoft. The major tech company acquired the company in 2000 and launched the Xbox console with the studio’s mega-hit Halo: Combat Evolved. In the span of just a few years, Bungie left Microsoft, then split from a subsequent Activision partnership and returned to its independent roots.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Location: Burbank, Calif.
What it does: Holding some of the most prime IP this side of Marvel under its umbrella has proven a sound business strategy for this major entertainment company. The game division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. 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. Expect upcoming Harry Potter and Game of Thrones titles to carry on the conquest.
Big Fish Games
Location: Seattle
What it does: Big Fish works the desktop game market, but it’s known primarily as a purveyor of fun, low-stakes social/mobile distractions of the so-called “easy to play, hard to master” variety. Think beat-the-clock, puzzle, hidden object and tile-match games—like the plenty popular Gummy Drop!, which got a Toy Story spin in May.
Infinity Ward
Location: Woodland Hills, Calif.
What it does: The developer 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. More recently, they appear to be breaking further into cross-platform-play territory.
santa monica studio
Location: Santa Monica, Calif.
What it does: Two decades into the gaming game, this venerable studio still looks like a visionary. Cases in point: the most recent God of War Playstation-exclusive juggernaut, which amassed seemingly endless Game of the Year hardware and surpassed $10 million in sales; and the internally produced documentary Raising Kratos, about the tolls of game development.
FlowPlay
Location: Seattle
What it does: Working both the consumer market and B2B, FlowPlay’s focus is squarely on immersive community-building games. Vegas World goes the casino route, with nearly 50 casino-style games under one “roof, and ourWorld sports hundreds of games-within-a-world, all designed with a teen-girl audience in mind.
Devolver Digital
Location: Austin
What it does: This publisher 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.
Images via Shutterstock, social media and company websites
Source: https://bloghong.com
Category: en