TOP – 10 most influential gaming companies in Seattle

Seattle is one of the most gaming cities in the world, due to a large number of game studios in Seattle. Specifically, it occupies the 6th position in terms of the number of game development companies, with 74 studios. It is not just Seattle area game developers that make games that no one outside of the state knows about.

Seattle is home to some of the most loved (or hated) companies in the world. Find out about the top 10 famous Seattle game studios in this article.

Gaming in Seattle - starting the TOP-10

To begin with, it's worth saying that it's quite difficult to rank game company in Seattle from "best" to "worst" based on what specific games they create. Such a top would be too subjective. Therefore, the criterion for success in this top will be the market capitalization of each company, which is basically “how much does this company cost”, but keep in mind that all data about video games companies in Seattle provided in this article is relevant as of January 2023.

#10 - Valve Corporation

Many would think that Valve Corporation has been a video game company in Seattle since games were created. In fact, this is a bit different, because the company was founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell, who has remained the permanent owner and director since then. At the moment, the most famous creations of this company are the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game DOTA 2 and Steam - an online platform for selling games and software.

Its most recognizable titles include DOTA 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half Life series. Latest company's release - Half Life Alyx - first-person VR shooter. In 2022, Steam Deck was released - a portable console with built-in Steam and the ability to play many PC games away from your favorite computer. Market capitalization is estimated at 7.7 billion dollars, opening the top of game companies in Seattle.

#9 - Zynga

If you are not a fan of mobile online games, then you have probably never heard of this gaming company in Seattle. The company was founded in April 2007, and has been developing online mobile games ever since, the first of which was FarmVille, the most popular game in the history of the company, first launched on Facebook in 2009. Other notable games from the company include:

Texas Hold'Em Poker - an online game whose theme is clear from the name. The game does NOT use real money.
CSR Racing 2 - the most popular racing game for mobile devices.
Empires and Allies - a game in the spirit of "what if ..." on the theme of the third world war and the fight against terrorists.

At one time, the company got a dirty rap for copying other companies' games, but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the most successful mobile development companies, with approximately 200 million people online every month on all of its games, which made it one of the top video game companies in Seattle, at least when it comes to mobile-games development. In the summer of 2022, the company was bought out by Take-Two Interactive, another video game developer in Seattle. Market cap is estimated at 9.4 billion dollars.

#8 - Bandai Namco

Another Seattle video game company,originally founded in Japan in March 2006 as a result of the merger of two other companies - respectively Bandai and Namco. In addition to games, the company also produces various video materials and music that are related to intellectual property owned by the company. Among the most successful projects of the company:

The Tekken game series - according to fans, the game is much better than Mortal Kombat.
The Gundam game series - based on popular manga and anime about huge battle mechs.
Sword Art Online - a series of fantasy MMO games, based on famous manga/anime series.
One Piece Odyssey is one of the company's latest releases that has already managed to garner a lot of attention not just among fans, but also other game developers in Seattle. Based on the manga/anime One Piece.

The company continues to develop actively and releases a significant number of games every year. Most of them are designed for a specific audience and the Japanese market, so you probably haven't heard much about this Seattle gaming company. Market cap is estimated at 14 billion dollars.

#7 - Take-Two Interactive

7th place is taken by Take-Two Interactive, a publisher, distributor and video games developer in Seattle, that wholly owns such well-known studios as Rockstar Games (GTA, Red Dead), 2K (Borderlands series), Private Division (Kerbal Space Program, The Outer World) and some others, making it probably the most loved Seattle game developer. The company was founded in New York in 1993 by Ryan Brant. The most popular games developed or published by the company include:

BioShock - a famous series of first-person shooters with horror elements.
Grand Theft Auto series - a series of games that needs no introduction.
Red Dead series, including the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 - a series of games about cowboys and the Wild, Wild West.
Borderlands series - a fantastic first-person shooter with unique art and excellent, often adult and rather cruel humor. Probably the funniest creation of this Seattle video game developer.

Among the interesting facts - this Seattle games developer was also the publisher of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Red Dead Redemption online and GTA 5 online are two of the games that the company is actively supporting. Estimated market cap - 17.3 billion dollars.

#6 – Nexon

Perhaps you have never heard of this Seattle game company. Nexon Co. Ltd. is a fairly well-known publisher and game developer founded in 1994 in Seoul, South Korea. The most famous games developed or published by the company include:

Dungeon & Fighter Mobile - a fantasy 2D RPG game.
FIFA Online game series – F2P MMO football-game created by EA Spearhead and published by Nexon.
ArcheAge - one of the most famous MMO RPGs.
Combat Arms - an online first-person shooter known in narrow circles.

Despite having an office in Seattle, the company is mainly focused on the Asian market. In North America and Europe, the company acts as a publisher of some popular games, making it not one of the most famous game developers in Seattle. Estimated market cap - 19 billion dollars.

Going to TOP-5 companies that make video games in Seattle

We now come to the hottest - the TOP-5 of Seattle game developers. Don't feel too upset if you don't see your favorite companies and your favorite games here, unfortunately not all good games and video games studios in Seattle become "very expensive". But do not be sad, no one forbids you to play what you like!

#5 - Epic Games

Epic Games Inc. - was founded back in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, and since then has come a long way and changed many names, now being one of the game studios in Seattle. Now Epic Games is known primarily as the most successful competitor to Steam, the creator of Unreal Engine (one of the most affordable game engines) and as the creator of games such as:

Fortnite - a cartoon version of PUBG with the ability to build and destroy buildings under a hail of bullets.
Gears of War - a game series dedicated to the confrontation of serious, a bit too fit men with huge cockroaches. You can also shoot with an assault rifle and cut the enemy in half with a chainsaw. And you don’t even need to switch weapons to do that!
Infinity Blade series - the first game created on Unreal Engine and published on iOS, which is an RPG game in which the player fights 1-on-1 with various opponents.

Now Epic Games is primarily known not as the largest video game studio in Seattle, but for Epic Games (an online game store) and Fortnite, regularly holding events and collaborations. One of the main advantages of Epic Games is regular and completely free game giveaways - just register an account and you can pick up one or more games for free once a week, and for holidays or special events, the giveaways get even bigger - one or more free games EACH DAY, also a bonus are year-round discounts for certain projects. Estimated market cap - 32 billion dollars, which makes it one of the most expensive gaming companies in Seattle.

#4 - Electronic Arts

EA Games - Challenge Everything! If you ever played legendary Battlefield 2 (2005) or some other not-so-new games from EA, then you might feel nostalgic right now. EA is one of the most known and formally most loved game companies in the world, and gave us such titles as:

Command & Conquer series - legendary RTS series, which basically began the “RTS-fever”. The Tiberium must flow!
Battlefield series - another legendary game series, a FPS with an extensive and highly popular online to play PVP. Also, the biggest rival for Call of Duty.
Dead Space - have you heard that the first Dead Space is getting a remake? Game-director himself said he’s too scared to play the game now.
And many others - Mass Effect, TitanFall, Star Wars….

Once, EA was beloved by many…but now everyone knows EA for their ridiculously greedy donation politics and quite expensive yet very low-quality AAA titles, Battlefield 2042 is a good example. Estimated market cap - 34 billion dollars.

#3 - Nintendo

Top 3 is opened by the legendary video game developer in Seattle - Nintendo, founded back in 1889, which makes it the oldest gaming company in the world that first produced handmade game cards. And later - with the development of technologies - Nintendo gave millions of people a happy childhood, creating such legendary games as Donkey Kong and Super Mario, as well as gaming consoles like Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Game Boy, Nintendo DS and many others. The most famous creations of the studio, among the newer ones include:

Super Mario games - a series of games about an Italian plumber who saves princesses after work.
The Legend of Zelda - a series of games that needs no introduction. By the way, you need to save the princess again.
As well as a huge number of consoles - Wii, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, GameCube and many others.

Despite its respectable age, the company continues to actively develop and release cult games, being probably the most known game studio, Seattle. By the way, have you played the latest The Legend of Zelda yet? Estimated market cap – about 50 billion dollars.

#2 - Activision Blizzard

Another legendary game developer in Seattle, and whose history began in 2008, with the merger of Vivendi Games (which included Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment) and Activision. The history of this company is extremely intricate, complex and rather scandalous, but this will not stop us from enjoying its creations. Among the most famous of them:

Call of Duty series - a series of legendary first-person shooters dedicated to real second and fictional third world wars.Most likely you have heard about this series, and if not, it is highly recommended to strengthen the front doors before installation. Trust us, you will need it.
Diablo - the legendary RPG series, the main goal of which was to find and kill Diablo - a kind of analog of the Devil in the fictional world of the game. But as always, everything was much more complicated than it might seem.
Overwatch – first person MMO shooter that created a turmoil after release and became extremely popular in a matter of days. A lot of other game developers tried to copy the game, but none really succeeded.
The legendary RPG series Warcraft has one of the deepest lores in history. Still alive, and World of Warcraft MMO is still actively developed.
StarCraft is another legendary strategy series that has long been one of the most complex and famous esports disciplines.

The list of legendary games continues on and on, but there is not enough space for them. Maybe soon enough we'll see all these games under the Microsoft logo, as Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard, but the deal hasn’t been resolved as of January 2023. Estimated market cap of this gaming company, Seattle – around 60 billion dollars.

#1 – Microsoft

With a history dating back to 1975, it is one of the largest software companies in various fields and largest Seattle game company. In this article, we will not tell you the whole long and complicated history of this company, but we will move on to the part where they began to create not only software, but also games. The most famous titles currently owned by Microsoft include:

Fallout series - one of the most famous RPG series about the Chosen One from the Vault. Microsoft did not create the game, but bought out Bethesda Game Studio, so Microsoft owns the rights to the game.
The Elder Scrolls - The Elder Scrolls you've most likely read. Have you bought Skyrim already? The story of this game series is the same as with Fallout.
In general, Microsoft also owns such games and series as Fable, DOOM, Wolfenstein, Gears of War, Age of Empires, Prey and dozens of others.
Games developed directly by or under the direction of Microsoft include Halo – legendary game series about the even more legendary Master Chief, Microsoft Train Simulator, Microsoft Flight Simulator and many others.
Also, Microsoft is the creator of the Xbox, the PlayStation's biggest rival. Which console is better? Decide for yourself. We do not want to take part in this war.

As already mentioned, the history of Microsoft is extremely extensive and multifaceted. And in many ways it consists of scandals, mainly accusations of monopolization, which entailed constant supervision by the US authorities, mostly by the Antimonopoly Committee and the Ministry of Economy as a whole. Estimated market cap - 2.2 trillion dollars, making this company the second most valuable company in the world and the largest Seattle based game and software developer.

Gaming industry will get its Golden Age once again

A large number of gaming companies in Seattle makes it one of the most attractive places for young and well-educated work-force. Gaming industry is still actively developing and growing, though it’s definitely not its Golden Age, like it was some years before when the most significant titles came out to conquer hearts and souls of gamers all around the world. Most probably we just have to wait for some kind of technology break-through, or maybe just a new major player who will make a game that millions will love from day 1, but as for now - we have what we have, not saying that it’s not enough and all the games now are low-quality.

Game-company	Founded	Market cap	Most famous titles and series
1. Microsoft	1975	2.2 trillion dollars	DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Halo, Fable
2. Activision Blizzard	2008	60 billion dollars	Diablo, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Starcraft
3. Nintendo	1889	50 billion dollars	Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Sonic
4. Electronic Arts	1982	34 billion dollars	Battlefield, FIFA, Command & Conquer, Need for Speed, The Sims, Star Wars, Dragon Age, TitanFall
5. Epic Games	1991	32 billion dollars	Gears of War, Fortnite
6. Nexon	1994	19 billion dollars	ArcheAge, FIFA Online, Combat Arms
7. Take-Two Interactive	1993	17.3 billion dollars	Red Dead, GTA, Kerbal Space Program, Borderlands
8. Bandai Namco	2006	14 billion dollars	Tekken, Gundam, Sword Art Online
9. Zynga	2007	9.4 billion dollars	FarmVille, CSR Racing, Empires and Allies
10. Valve Corporation	1996	7.7 billion dollars	DOTA, Team Fortress, Portal, Half Life

USA is the gaming capital of the world

The US is home to most gaming companies in the world. Some of them were based here, others moved here of their own free will. Seattle has a special place in this case, being one of the largest centers of the gaming industry in the country, but why is this happening?

Why do so many choose Seattle? The answer is quite simple and mostly pragmatic. Capital city is near, Seattle is one of the major economic centers already.

Why are there so many gaming studios in Seattle?

The city is famous not only for the fact that Microsoft, the largest Seattle based video game company, and Amazon are based here, gaming in Seattle is also quite popular. Seattle is the largest city in the northwestern United States, a major seaport and one of the country's largest economic centers. Leading companies began to appear here even before the emergence of Silicon Valley - the scientific center of the United States.

It was here that many businessmen were able to realize their American Dream, and not only by creating video games studios in Seattle. Also, this city regularly ranks among the top 10 US cities in terms of the attractiveness of starting a business. This is due to the presence of a large number of advanced companies that accumulate a skilled and educated workforce around them.

The gaming business is no exception. Seattle is home to the headquarters of some of the world's largest companies, as well as key offices of some of the world's most famous game-development studios and publishers. If you have ever thought of starting a game company in Seattle would be a wise option, but don't forget about the huge competition, because Seattle is one of gaming capitals in the US.