The video game industry has been growing for decades now, amassing billions of fans worldwide who love to play the various games that come out. It has had its highs and lows over the years, depending on the market and how people receive the games. Of course, not every game that came out has had the same success as some of the more heavy hitters, so a few companies have stood the test of time and consistently produced amazing titles that have captivated audiences immediately.
The largest companies in the video game industry have created quite a name for themselves, but what are the specifics of their success? To present the entirety of the gaming industry as clearly as possible, we are going to be listing the biggest video game companies as well as some statistics around them so you can understand exactly why they are at the top. We sincerely hope that you learn something new about your favorite games!
The biggest video game companies
Sony: $28.2 billion in gaming revenue
It is no surprise that the first place of the biggest video game companies belongs to Sony. Sony was founded all the way back in 1946 as a company that sold rice cookers and radios primarily but moved its production line to video games and gaming hardware in 1994. Since then, we have seen numerous consoles come from the company, primarily the PlayStation series, which has played a significant role in the company’s revenue of $28.2 billion in 2022.
Aside from consoles, we also have a tremendous number of games from PlayStation, with the highest-selling game of the company — Marvel’s Spider-Man selling over 33 million units. In the period between 2018 and 2022, Sony sold over 58.4 million first-party titles, and a whopping 338.9 million sales through the PlayStation platform. PlayStation Plus, Sony’s subscription service that offers a curated selection of games and online multiplayer access, has also contributed significantly to the company’s success by providing added value to players and fostering a strong gaming community.
Microsoft: $16.2 billion in gaming revenue
Microsoft is definitely one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to a little bit of everything, not just gaming revenue. The most popular aspect of Microsoft is their computer operating system that most people in the world use — Windows. Moreover, Microsoft has established itself as a prominent player in the video game industry, holding the position of the second biggest video game company globally. Microsoft was founded on April 5, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Bill Gates and Paul Allen for the sake of developing BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, but steadily rose to fame once it started developing operating systems.
The original Xbox console was developed in 2001 and became an instant global hit, going into the hardware market and creating a new generation of gamers, and broadening the gaming industry for the better. Microsoft has $16.2 billion in gaming revenue, with some of the most popular games of all time, such as Minecraft, the Halo series, and Gears of War owning up to such high revenue.
Furthermore, Microsoft has made significant strides in cloud gaming with the introduction of Xbox Cloud Gaming. This innovative service allows players to stream and play a wide range of Xbox games on various devices, eliminating the need for high-end hardware and expanding gaming accessibility like never before.
Tencent: $13.9 billion in gaming revenue
Tencent is a Chinese company that primarily specializes in mobile games, but its origins were tied to instant messaging boards when it was first founded on November 11, 1998. As time went on, Tencent spread its roots into gaming as well, publishing some of the most popular games such as PUBG, Call of Duty Online, and Ring of Elysium.
One of the main reasons Tencent is one of the biggest video game companies and has such a high market cap and revenue of $13.9 billion is due to the fact that the company owns other games published through other studios. For example, Tencent owns Riot Games, developer of what could arguably be called the best MOBA game in the world — League of Legends. This is a massive game and the success from it makes perfect sense.
Nintendo: $13.8 billion in gaming revenue
Nintendo is responsible for creating some of the most memorable and enjoyable childhoods for many of you reading this, as it was one of the biggest console manufacturers in history, coming up with classics such as the Nintendo DS, the Game Boy, Wii, and most recently, the Nintendo Switch. The company was founded on September 23, 1889, in Kyoto, Japan as a company that produced playing cards.
Since that time, Nintendo’s revenue has skyrocketed into the billions as they released more and more consoles and made a name for themselves by publishing some of the most iconic games in history — The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Pokemon, and Super Smash Bros. The company made $13.8 billion in gaming revenue and healthily rests as the fourth biggest video game company.
Activision Blizzard: $7.4 billion in gaming revenue
When it comes to popularity, it is extremely difficult to find a match for Activision Blizzard. This is a relatively young joint company founded on July 9, 2008, as a merger between Activision and Blizzard, which has spawned some of the most popular games of all time. Of course, we are talking about Call of Duty, Overwatch, as well as World of Warcraft.
The company has a revenue of $7.4 billion, which is quite a few steps ahead of their initial revenue expectations in 2008, which amounted to $1.8 billion. Unlike some of the other companies on this list, Activision Blizzard, the fifth biggest video game company globally, did not have its start making cards or household appliances, but rather, started making games and gaming software right off the bat.
Electronic Arts: $7 billion in gaming revenue
Now we come to one of the most controversial video game companies on this list — Electronic Arts, which ranks as the sixth biggest video game company globally. EA has produced some of the best and most popular games of all time, such as the FIFA series, the Battlefield series, NHL, Madden, Need For Speed, and many more. The company was founded on May 27, 1982, by Trip Hawkins and and for 2022 posted $7 billion in gaming revenue.
The reason for the controversy is that the company seems to have fallen into the bad habit of squeezing money out of their users through in-game microtransactions that many of their games have. They shut down one of the best horror franchises — Dead Space — because it wasn’t making a profit, and they are the authors of the most downvoted comment in Reddit history regarding the transactions for a Star Wars game.
Epic Games: $5.8 billion in gaming revenue
Epic Games, which ranks as the seventh biggest video game company, is actually a subdivision of Tencent, but it makes up a large portion of its revenue anyway through some fantastic games that have only grown over the years to global popularity. The company was founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney as an attempted venture of computer systems, but it naturally gravitated toward game production, with the company’s first-ever game being ZZT, a puzzle game.
Nowadays, the company is so large that it had $5.1 billion in revenue and released some of the most popular games in gaming history. By far, the game with the highest performance is Fortnite, which pulls in over 30,000,000 players daily. Other notable titles by Epic Games are Unreal Tournament, Fall Guys, and Dauntless.
Take-Two Interactive: $3.5 billion in gaming revenue
Take-Two Interactive had some fairly humble beginnings having been started by a 21-year-old Ryan Brant in 1993. Ryan wanted to branch out as a young CEO that wanted to make a name for himself independently. The company initially had some smaller game releases in the form of Start Crusader, but that all changed when it acquired some major game developers, namely Rockstar Games and 2K.
Since then, its been a top gaming company and in 2022 earned $3.4 billion in gaming revenue, making a name for itself as eighth the biggest video game holding companies. Rockstar Games and 2K are legendary studios that have produced some of the best games in history, such as GTA V, Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne, and the NBA 2K series.
Bandai Namco: $3.1 billion in gaming revenue
The ninth video game company we have for you is Bandai Namco, a Japanese video game company founded in 2006 in Tokyo. Notably, Bandai Namco holds the position of the tenth biggest video game company globally. The company started making video games after it was founded, contrary to some other companies on this list. One of the defining features of the company is the insanely high difficulty of some of the games they make.
Bandai Namco generated $3.1 billion in gaming revenue, and most of that is due to its highest-selling series: Dark Souls. Dark Souls is one of the most difficult video game series of all time, alongside Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, the newest game. The relatively low number of employees the company has tells us that you don’t necessarily need a high amount of manpower to achieve success.
Ubisoft: $2.5 billion in gaming revenue
Ubisoft is comparable to Electronic Arts when it comes to the memorable games they produce. It was founded in 1986 by Yves, Christian, Claude, Michel, and Gérard Guillemot — five brothers born in Brittany. Ubisoft, ranked as the ninth biggest video game company worldwide, had its start in video games with the PlayStation 2 and Rayman Revolution. The company made $2.5 billion in gaming revenue through some of the best games ever made.
Most gamers today have heard of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, the Tom Clancy series, and a few more titles. These franchises have created some of the best moments in gaming history, most notably through Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed.
And that would be all we have to say about the biggest video game companies in the world at the moment. As you can see, some of these companies have absolutely massive market caps that are hard to comprehend, and their total gaming revenue is extremely high as well. Through the stats shown, we also see that you do not have to be successful as soon as you start out, as some of these companies had very different beginnings before they found gaming, be it making playing cards or household appliances. We sincerely hope that you have found this list helpful and that you have learned something new!