The gaming industry is vast, with companies across the globe vying to develop the hottest new titles and launch the latest innovative consoles. The industry’s biggest names are working hard to stay on top of the latest tech trends, like virtual reality and the metaverse, while also crafting storylines and visuals that captivate players. From the developers behind massive multiplayer online game franchises to arcade classics, here’s a look at some of the world’s largest gaming companies.
Largest Gaming Companies
- Microsoft
- Roblox
- Tencent
- NCSOFT
- Konami Gaming
Largest Gaming Companies to Know
Founded: 1975
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington
Microsoft is known as a huge name in computers, operating systems and business software, but it’s also deep in the gaming world as the maker of the Xbox gaming console. It serves the gaming community with Xbox-adjacent hardware like gaming PCs, keyboards and accessories and offers a repository of free and paid games that users can access. On the content side, it owns several game-developing firms including id Software, Arkane Studios and Machine Games.
Founded: 2004
Headquarters: San Mateo, California
Video game developer Roblox operates an online gaming platform and an uber-popular game-making system that allows users to create their own games, share them with other users and play the games other users have programmed. Because users can connect with each other on the platform, the games’ immersive 3D experiences are also used as social networks and community spaces.
Founded: 1998
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
Tencent is an enterprise software company that focuses on interactive entertainment, like eSports, live broadcasts and gaming. It owns or holds controlling shares of over 800 smaller gaming companies, including Activision, Sharkmob and Riot Games, which makes League of Legends.
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Seongnam-si, South Korea
NCSOFT is a digital entertainment company that is fully dedicated to gaming, publishing top-rated massively multiplayer game franchises like Lineage, Guild Wars and Aion. The majority of its gaming content is designed for mobile apps, and NCSOFT is best known for the Lineage suite of games, which is a medieval fantasy role-playing game series based on a Korean comic book.
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Las Vegas, Nevada
Founded as a jukebox rental service, Konami is a gaming company that makes physical products like slot machines and arcade cabinets, as well as video games and management software for casinos. Fun fact: Konami made the iconic 1980s arcade game Frogger. The online gaming side of the business develops games for Nintendo systems and is responsible for popular franchises like Metal Gear and Castlevania.