In the letter to shareholders heard ‘round the entertainment world, Netflix 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 global video game market is projected to see more than $365 billion in revenue for 2023, which is up from almost $320 billion in 2022, according to data from Statista. 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
- Ubisoft
- Electronic Arts
- 2K
- Microsoft
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
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
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.
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 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.
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 e-sports, 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.
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.
Holding some of the most prime IP 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.
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.
Private Division is a game publishing company that advocates for small game developers, providing them with opportunities to successfully launch games commercially and globally. Some titles published by Private Division include Hades from Supergiant Games, OlliOlli World from Roll7 and Disintegration from V1 Interactive.
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-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.
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.
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. Bethesda Softworks has expanded into just about every other genre since then, including sports games, strategy games, shooters and beyond.
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.
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
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.
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 been helping other major players in the gaming industry port some of their most popular titles, such as Skyrim and Crash Bandicoot, to newer platforms.
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.
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.
Jackpocket’s mobile app allows users to order tickets for official lottery games from states including Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio and New York. Players can pick their numbers and view their tickets all from their mobile devices, and they can get winnings of up to $600 deposited into their Jackpocket accounts. The company securely delivers tickets to players whose winnings are over $600.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 nearly 100 years later 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.
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
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 Pokemon GO on mobile to Pokemon 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 has experienced significant growth in recent years.
Intercept Games is a gaming development studio that leans toward space, simulation and strategy-based games. Its current major project is the Kerbal Space Program 2 video game, which uses immersive audio content to simulate a rocket launch — and it’s so realistic that some NASA staff have used the program to run experiments.
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 another comic book title: Marvel’s Wolverine.
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.
Bet365 is an online gambling brand that specializes in in-play sports betting. Founded in 2000, the company employs over 9,000 people, many of whom have been with the company long enough to grow alongside it, and serves more than 100 million customers worldwide.
SteelSeries sells computer hardware for gaming. Its offerings include controllers, headsets, keyboards, speakers and mice. SteelSeries is a 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.”
