by Known for launching the world’s most popular battle royale shooter, Epic Games is also a renowned game publisher/developer. It has a wide portfolio of high-quality titles. Its legacy includes Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM, both of which revolutionized gaming.
Take-Two Interactive is one of the largest video game holding companies. Its portfolio of blockbuster IPs includes the NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto series.
Sony
The company known for its PlayStation consoles generates a significant portion of the global video game market. It also manufactures other consumer electronics like TVs and digital cameras, as well as semiconductors. It has diversified into the music and film industry, but remains best known for its gaming division.
In the mid- to late-2000s, Sony suffered from disappointing financial results and a fading brand image. The firm sought to revitalize its media businesses by focusing on electronics, but this proved to be difficult. In 2005, Howard Stringer became the first non-Japanese CEO of a Japanese electronics company and began to turn things around.
NCSoft has earned its worthy placement on the list due to its extensive line of MMORPG games. Some of the company’s most popular titles include Guild Wars, Lineage, and Aion. The company also has investments in other major gaming studios like League of Legends and Path of Exile, and its games are loved worldwide for their story and graphics. The company generated revenue of 2 billion dollars last year.
Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the world’s biggest gaming companies, and its Xbox division has been in the console game battles since 2000. The company also publishes PC games, including classic titles like Minesweeper and Age of Empires. It has studios in Canada, China, and the United States. Its acquisition of Naughty Dog and Santa Monica has helped it firmly enter the PlayStation race.
The Japanese company Capcom is another major name in the industry, thanks to classic franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil. It has a number of studios around the world, including the famous San Francisco office that produced the iconic Crash Bandicoot series and Uncharted.
Nintendo has been at the top of mobile gaming for years, thanks to hits like Pokemon and Kirby’s Adventure. The company is still going strong, with multiple mobile releases a year and several big console/PC projects in the pipeline.
Tencent
In recent years, the global video game industry has seen a spate of major takeovers. The consolidation has left just four major players in the market. One of the big ones is China-based Tencent, which owns League of Legends and Clash of Clans. It has also been expanding its presence abroad.
The firm operates a number of game studios in China and abroad. It also owns a 40% stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games and has the licence for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. In addition, it has invested in a number of Western game studios.
Tencent’s push into foreign markets has been partly driven by tightening Chinese regulations. These have made it more difficult for gaming companies to evade government anti-competitive crackdowns. Tencent has been taking advantage of this by acquiring several Western games developers. One such is the UK studio Turtle Rock, which produced a mobile version of PUBG. Another is Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, which makes titles like Peacekeeper Elite and the reskinned PUBG Mobile for China. The studios are led by gaming veterans.
Activision Blizzard
The video game industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the technology sector, with a lot of revenue to be made. Among the biggest gaming companies in the world is Activision Blizzard, which makes some of the most popular video games in the market. This company has many major franchises such as the Call of Duty series and World of Warcraft. It also has a large number of eSports titles that are very popular.
Another big player in the gaming world is Electronic Arts, which makes a wide variety of video games. Its sports games like FIFA and Madden are extremely popular around the world. The company also has a lot of success with its non-sports video games as well, such as the Need for Speed and Battlefield franchises.
Sony is also a major gaming company, making a lot of money with its PlayStation video game consoles. The company also produces a lot of its own games, including the Spider-Man and God of War franchises. Its London-based studio, Rocksteady Studios, is known for its Batman: Arkham video games.
Xbox Game Studios
The Xbox division of Microsoft boasts a hefty stable of first-party studios that have produced some of the most popular gaming titles of all time. The list of developers that Microsoft Game Studios owns includes renowned franchises like Halo and Gears of War, as well as games that have become critical darlings such as Ori and the Blind Forest and Viva Pinata.
The studios under the Microsoft Game Studios banner began small, but have expanded over the years. The company’s acquisition spree began with Rare and Mojang, and then exploded into an incredible triumvirate of powerhouses that includes Turn 10, 343 Industries, and the Coalition.
More recently, Microsoft has pushed into mobile and indie games with the purchase of Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games. It’s also started a move into traditional console gaming with the announcement of the Santa Monica studio that’ll focus on exclusives for the Xbox platform. Combined with its planned acquisition of Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios has become a formidable force to be reckoned with.
