The video game industry is an expansive market with immense growth potential. Many companies are making money in this rapidly developing sector and some are even making millions!
Electronic Arts, commonly referred to as EA, is one of the leading video game companies. They are well known for producing popular sports titles like FIFA and Madden as well as various non-sports titles.
Xbox Game Studios
Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft’s gaming division, is responsible for producing videogames designed specifically for Xbox consoles and devices, such as Halo, Forza and Minecraft franchises that have proven immensely popular worldwide. Xbox Game Studios constantly releases new titles to keep Xbox consoles competitive in the market place.
Gaming’s achievements system, first unveiled with Xbox 360, is an integral component of gaming. Gamers earn achievement points when performing tasks within games; these are then counted towards their Gamerscore.
The Xbox Studio boasts an abundance of experience, with Bethesda, id Software and Zenimax all producing popular series such as Fallout, The Elder Scrolls and Doom; but it also contains newer studios that could prove vital in future years. Alpha Dog was recently one of the driving forces in Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard; similarly inXile is known for c-RPGs such as Wasteland.
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts of Redwood City, California, is one of the largest game publishers globally and developers and publishers of PC, console and mobile games.
Products manufactured and distributed by Electronic Arts include The Sims, Command & Conquer, Battlefield and Mass Effect franchises as well as Madden NFL and FIFA sports franchises.
EA currently maintains studios in the US, Canada and Japan to publish games for various platforms such as PlayStation(r), Xbox(r), Nintendo(r) and Android devices.
EA uses behavioral data to drive revenue and strengthen brand relationships by understanding when its customers are active in games and how they behave, thus fulfilling its promise to put players first.
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard is one of the premier game companies worldwide, boasting iconic franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft as well as mobile titles such as Candy Crush. Microsoft could potentially take an interest in these mobile titles with GamePass.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Ubisoft marks their biggest gaming purchase to date and will allow them to develop an assortment of new titles on their platform. Furthermore, this acquisition expands Microsoft’s publishing arms and esports production capacities.
At first, Activision was struggling to survive. A change in ownership and management in 1990 resulted in its turnaround and led to major hits like Interstate ’76 (1997) – an elegant funk-infused 3D vehicle combat game that anticipated Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto game.
Sega Enterprises
Sega Enterprises is one of the world’s leading video game companies, producing popular franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza and Total War. Furthermore, they develop software compatible with multiple console systems.
Starting off as Standard Games of Hawaii in 1940, in 1951 it moved to Tokyo where it began importing American pinball machines and later video game consoles from America.
Sega first introduced their Genesis console with Alex Kidd as its unofficial mascot back in 1980, followed by Saturn in 1994 and finally Dreamcast two years later.
As competition intensified, Sega transitioned its efforts toward software development. Now a platform-agnostic software company that produces games for Xbox and PlayStation 2, Sega has come under considerable fire recently for both its business decisions and creative output.
Tencent
Tencent, a Chinese tech titan with a vast array of services including social media, entertainment, gaming, e-commerce and payment systems is considered one of the top 10 most valuable companies worldwide with a market capitalisation estimated at $494 billion and ranks tenth among most valuable firms globally.
China Mobile has established itself as an unrivalled force, becoming a household name and enjoying widespread renown for its revolutionary offerings such as instant messengers WeChat and QQ, social networking service Qzone, and mobile game Honor of Kings.
As Tencent expands internationally, it will face several unique obstacles. First of all, competing with companies who entered first could prove challenging; also there could be security concerns regarding data in foreign markets that must be addressed as well.