Top 10 Gaming Companies in the World

Earlier in 90’s people generally used to consider video gaming as mere entertainment, something relaxing amidst the hustle of daily life. But with the onset of the current millennia, people found greater entertainment in gaming. And that turned “gaming” into esports! Gaming companies have started to expand exponentially throughout the globe turning in huge revenues. With the rapidly growing revenue, the global market of games is booming with new investors, and companies going crazy to get a piece of the expanding market.

How did the Table Turn?

Gone are the days when kids used to play video games just for fun. Road Rash, Super Mario, and all the arcade games the 90’s kids used to enjoy playing are not in relevance anymore. New and developed games with improved graphics and dedicated strategy-driven win-lose quotient have taken the gaming world by storm. New and modified PlayStations have revolutionized the games 90’s kids played in their childhood.

Even console gaming has gone up the ladder and added to its collection. Gaming, in general, has become so competitive that now it’s not even gaming, it is esports. From casually playing FIFA 98 with friends on a lazy Sunday evening to participating in FIFA world tournaments representing nations and teams, the world has certainly gone crazy. The evolution of gaming opened up a vast market for the companies that were ready to invest. Gaming was a trend that was not going to die. Ever.

However, gamers benefited from this shift too. Companies started hiring better coders, game developers, and a full team of experts to supervise game development. This opened up a job market, for gamers. And suddenly, we have this “industry” which is now a reliable career option.

For the companies, The key is always to stay ahead of the competitors – to make something worth the experience, and well, the value. Ne games are being released, updates are flying, newer versions of the games are getting released every year. Every time they started marketing campaigns for the games, it worked, and they had more people playing these games. The professional tournaments started around the globe – the exposure and the prize money were outstanding. That pushed everyone to take this seriously. The birth of esports skyrocketed the growth of the gaming industry.

The Top 10 Gaming Revenue Making Companies

With the gradual spread of gaming culture throughout the globe, the gaming industry started generating money as if it was grass. More the money, the greater is the growth. Investors started investing with open hands. The professional teams were created, and developers dedicated their hearts and souls to develop the best experience for the gamers. Among this rush of getting a piece of the expanding market, some gaming companies grew bigger than the others and placed themselves in higher positions in the gaming industry. The following list contains names and data of the top 10 biggest gaming companies in esports in today’s date.

(Note: This list is based on revenue generated from the gaming segment last year)

1.  Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony retains its spot as the biggest video game company in the world. Sony conquers the ranking with the help of its new PlayStation 5 which came out in November 2020 becoming the world’s most popular next-gen gaming console. PlayStation has always been Sony’s main area of business in terms of gaming revenues. With the new version in the market, it seems Sony has left all its competitors behind. No doubt the launch of PlayStation 5 has driven a strong financial year for Sony Corporation.

Sony has revealed that PS5 has shipped 7.8 million units into retail since its launch in November. To add to this, 4.5 million units alone were shipped in its launch quarters. As a result, the sale of the PS4 console dropped considerably, but overall it was a profit for Sony. Sony made around $25 billion in revenue last year from its gaming segment. Apart from this, the company also produces many original video games for its console. Interestingly, 65 percent of all sales for the full year resulted from digital downloads of full games.

2. Tencent Gaming

 Tencent came in second as far as the leaderboard of highest gaming revenue is considered. Last year the Chinese giant has made considerable profit from gaming launching four new titles in the last quarter. Talking specifically about video game creators, leaving aside console-making companies, Tencent is by far the world’s largest video game company in 2021. Tencent pulled an estimated gaming revenue of $13.9 billion last year. Apart from this Tencent has made huge money from other aspects of the business as well, resulting in the total revenue for last year going even higher.

Tencent primarily focuses on online and mobile games. The company’s mobile flagship game – Honor of Kings has been the top-grossing mobile game worldwide. Tencent also owns Riot Games, the American video game studio that created the popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game – League of legends. Apart from this, Player’s Unknown Battlegrounds and Fortnite are other most popular games under the Tencent banner.

3. Nintendo

This japan based video gaming giant had a very successful year in 2020. Despite dropping to third in the list, it is still the biggest video game developer in the world. Nintendo managed to make around $12.1 billion in terms of gaming revenue last year. This success was a result of not only the continued sales of the Nintendo Switch console but also by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This new game is all set to become the best-selling game for the Switch console.

4. Microsoft

 As it stands, the World’s largest software company also happens to be the world’s fourth-largest video game company. Microsoft witnessed a steep climb in its gaming revenue as compared to the previous year. Microsoft made around $11.6 billion with Xbox Game Studios, the company’s gaming segment. Although Microsoft’s total earnings were much more, Xbox sales made up around 10 percent of it. There was an overall 64 percent rise in Microsoft’s gaming revenue, largely driven by Xbox content and services revenue. The company’s next-gen Xbox Series X/S was an instant hit. Apart from this, Microsoft also develops video games itself or own studios that do. Minecraft is one such game developed by Mojang, a Swedish video game studio owned by Microsoft.

5. Activision Blizzard

As per the report in alltopeverything.com, Activision Blizzard comes fifth in the top 10 video game companies in the world rankings. The company was founded in the year 2008 by the merger of Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The Company generated around $8.1 billion in gaming revenue last year. The company is widely renowned across the world for its legendary gaming series Call of Duty.

With the newest installation in the series- Call of Duty: Black ops Cold War, the company’s gaming revenue shoot up. In addition to this, the company also owns the World of Warcraft series, which is also growing in popularity steadily. Furthermore, Activision Blizzard can be recognized as the pioneer creator of organized esports leagues attracting professional ownership, broadcast partners, and marketing.

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6. Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts are the market leaders in the sports game genre. They are successful to bridge gaps between sporting leagues and established franchises to bring them together into esports. The Company had gaming revenue of $5.5 billion last year. EA mainly focuses on gaming content and online services for internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones, and tablets. Some of the brand’s critically acclaimed blockbusters are – EA Sports FIFA, The Sims, Madden NFL, Battlefield, Dragon Age, and Plant versus Zombies.

7. Epic Games

Epic games is a video game publisher and software developer company that owns one of the most popular battle royal hits- Fortnite. Apart from this Epic is also the developer of the gaming engine – Unreal Engine which is currently monetized under a royalty model. Epic also claims a fee for the developers who publish games on their store. In 2020 Epic Games approximately generated $5.1 billion of gaming revenues.

The company’s most profitable game that was sold in this period was – Fortnite: Save the World. Another masterstroke by Epic Games was the claim that it would 12 percent of revenue from the developers who were using Epic Game Store. Others like Valve’s Steam, Apple’s App Store, or Google Play charge around 30 percent of the revenue from developers. Epic had a steady market growth in terms of Gaming revenues as per the previous year’s data.

8. Take-Two Interactive

Take-Two Interactive is a New York-based Gaming company founded in 1993. In 2020, Take-Two Interactive’s gaming revenue are a record $3.1 billion high NBA 2K21 and GTAO having its best year ever. The famous Grand Theft Auto franchise is a creation of this company. The company shares an impressive history of extending the life of its franchises. Other famous Games under this banner are NBA 2K, WWE 2K, Red Dead Redemption series. The company looks forward to extending its market shares and develop more promising games for a larger diversity of the gaming crowd.

9. Sega Sammy

Sega Sammy is a video game company formed from the merger of Sega and Sammy Corporations. It is a Tokyo-based gaming company founded in 2004. The company recorded around $2.3 billion of gaming revenue last year. The reason behind the rise in sales is due to the release of its most profitable game last year- Total War Saga: Troy. Other notable popular games under this banner are – Paradise city, New Genesis.

10. Bandai Namco

Based in Tokyo Japan, Bandai Namco is a more prominent name in Toy industry. Still, it has some really good video gaming content developed in recent years. When the revenue from gaming and toys is added together, it surpassed even EA and Activision. In 2020, Bandai Namco made around $2.2 billion in gaming revenue. Its most successful game was Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. But talking about its most played game surely one cannot miss the Pac-Man. Tekken, Soulcalibur, and Ace Combat are other mentions.

With each passing day sales of video games are increasing and newer companies are jumping into the competition trying to extend their market share. With the rapidly growing esports industry and professional esports scene, it is only a matter of time for these figures to change.