Video games are an inseparable part of our lives today. Their popularity has sees it taking different forms with varying names. One way to define video games is “interactive entertainment”. Video game companies have made the most of these dramatic changes with newer and more inviting game themes and storylines. But looking back, during the 1950s, video games were usually used for research projects in universities and large companies. Due to this, among video game companies, there was little competition to influence the market as a whole. But 60s changed it all. Over-time it slowly turned into an entertainment tool.
Today there are thousands of video game companies in the world. The fame of some of the large companies in the sector are usually based on a few main games. As well as, each of those companies has its flagship i.e., the best games out of them. So, even though they produce hundreds of games, the majority of people know them because of a few of those games. In this article, we will talk about the four biggest video game companies and their flagships.
Four biggest video game companies and their flagships
#1 - Electronic Arts (EA)
One of the biggest and most popular names in the industry is Electronic Arts (EA), based in the USA. Trip Hawkins, who was an Apple employee at that time, founded Electronic Arts in 1982. He was a part of Apple since 1978 when the company had only 50 employees. Noticing the substantially rising demand for personal computers at homes, he saw it as an opportunity. So, in May 1982, Hawkins established the company with his own investment of around $200,000. Since then, EA has grown to be one of the most prominent video game companies in the world. It has also produced hundreds of games for its customers. Further, EA is one of the largest mobile game companies worldwide. We can name the FIFA series, the Sims series, Battlefield series, NFS series, and etc. among its most selling games.
FIFA
FIFA, also known as FIFA Football, is a football simulator presented by Electronic Arts. Besides being the best-selling game of EA, FIFA also holds the record for the best-selling sports franchise in video game history. Till today it has sold 260 million copies. It was first released in 1993 and since then is released annually. FIFA is also available in 18 languages and sold in more than 50 countries. Further, FIFA 12 that EA produced in 2011, is the fastest-selling sports game till today. In its first week, it sold more than 3 million copies. World-renown footballers such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Eden Hazard have been the face of the franchise for past years.
Rockstar Games
Another huge and very popular one of game development studios is Rockstar Games. The company was founded in 1998 in New York. The founders of it are Sam and Dan Houser brothers, Terry Donovan and Jamie King. These founders established the company as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, which they were working for at the time. Rockstar Games is mainly specialized in producing adventure and action-styled games. Among its popular games include Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series, Max Payne Series, Manhunt series, Bully, and etc.
Grand Theft Auto
If you are a constant gamer, you have definitely heard about GTA. It is probably one of the few games that most people born in the 1990s have played at least once. The initial release of Grand Theft Auto occurred in 1997. Typically, in each game, you are given a criminal who has to pass missions in a big city to end the game. In the game, you can also type diverse codes. By this, you can increase your lifespan, get different cars and so on. GTA got acquired major fame with “GTA the third.” It was released in 2001, selling more than 17 million copies worldwide. In total, GTA has sold over 290 million games and is one of the best-selling games ever.
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard is another enormous company among video game companies that we cannot forget to mention. Compared to other dominant companies in the industry, Activision Blizzard is new. Headquartered in California, USA, it was founded in 2008. The company was established as the merger of Activision, Inc and Vivendi Games. Despite the fact that they are in the market for 11 years, Activision Blizzard has been able to receive worldwide acclaim. Among their popular products, Call of Duty series, Crash Bandicoot series, Diablo series, Warcraft series, Candy Crush Saga, and others exist.
Call of Duty
Another record-breaking game on the list is Call of Duty. The game was initially released in 2003 as a product of cooperation with Aspyr Media. It is a first-person shooter game series and can be called the best one in its genre. The content of the game was based on the Second World War in the first release. In later releases, the publishers started to depict more modern times in the game. As of now, Call of Duty has sold more than 300 million copies. This makes them the best-selling game in their genre. The massive sales of Call of Duty series have also earned $15 billion to Activision Blizzards. This is one of the biggest numbers in video game development history.
Nintendo
When we talk about the biggest video game companies in the world, it is literally impossible to skip Nintendo. This is probably the oldest and most influential video game company worldwide. Though it was established in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, back then, they were mainly designing playing cards. The company began to switch to a video game company during the 1970s. During those years, competition in the industry almost did not exist. This was a helpful factor for them to grab a huge market share for the time. Apart from being one of the biggest video game companies in the world, it is also one of the largest Japanese companies for its market value. Among Nintendo’s best-selling games, Pokemon, Super Mario, and Mario can be mentioned. It is important to note that top 3 best-selling video games ever belong to Nintendo, as well.
Mario
You have probably played this game at least once in your life. Mario series was one of the few games available in all personal computers during the 90s and early 2000s. It was a product designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, initially released in 1981. The franchise is mainly about the adventures of Mario, who is a fictional Italian man. The story of the series mainly follows Mario moving by jumping to be through the next levels.
Mario is widely considered one of the best video games ever to be created. Especially, the Super Mario series received enormous acclaim from video game critics. Overall, Mario has been the protagonist in games of 256 different genres. The game also holds the status of the best-selling game of one of the biggest video game companies. Its total sales as of now have passed 600 million copies. In total, the game has earned Nintendo over $36 billion.