Top-9 video game companies in Chicago
Mar 21, 2023 
10 min
The US has the biggest amount of game studios and companies in the world, about 1400 studios to be exact. The most "gaming" cities are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Austin, though there are not that many game developers in Chicago. One of the interesting facts is that at one point Chicago was the capital of the creation and distribution of arcade and pinball machines. The article will not discuss such machines much, but rather the biggest Chicago game companies.
About the top Chicago game studios
This list of top gaming companies in Chicago will be quite interesting, because the numbers will reach from several million to billions. It is also worth mentioning that game development does not only consist of coding, prescribing quests, and so on - this will also be discussed in the article. The top will be compiled on the basis of revenue - the amount of money that the company earns in 1 year. All the data provided is relevant as of January-February 2023!
#9 – Kongregate
Kongregate is starting the top of gaming companies in Chicago. It is an online web game publishing portal and mobile game creator and publisher. In 2010, the company was bought out by GameStop Corporation, and in 2017 it was bought out by Modern Times Group MT AB, and is still owned by this company. On the portal you can find more than 110,000 web games, as well as download Adobe Flash Player, Java and other programs that will help you run these games. In addition, the company has developed about 30 games for mobile devices.
If desired, following a certain procedure, any developer can post their web game on this portal. There is also the option of a paid subscription to get some benefits. Estimated revenue of this game developer in Chicago is 8.3 million dollars.
#8 - Level Ex
This Chicago gaming company was founded by Sam Glassenberg in Chicago, and currently pursues a noble goal - creating games and applications that help doctors and medical professionals learn new skills and practice, which makes it a rather obscure company among gamers, but an authoritative creator in narrow circles. Everyone can also play some of the company's games - despite the narrow focus, they will be understandable to those who are not acquainted with medicine topics. In 2020, the company was bought out by Brainlab, a German medical technology company.
Level Ex continues to do what it does best - create games for doctors and not just for them. Most of the "games" are serious simulation projects for training surgeons that are not available to the general public. Estimated revenue - about 13.5 million dollars, which doesn’t make Level Ex one of the best game developer companies, but definitely one of the most useful.
#7 – Stern Pinball
Stern is associated with the name of two different but related gaming companies in Chicago. The company was founded in 1977 by the Stern family, which makes it the oldest among video game companies in Chicago. Later was bought out and closed when pinball games surpassed their peak of popularity, then reopened in 1999 and is still operating today, producing stylized Pinball arcade machines. Among the latest and most popular, for example, you can find a pinball machine stylized after the popular TV series The Mandalorian, or a machine stylized after the Marvel Avengers.
The history of this video game studio in Chicago is really interesting and slightly tragic - it is recommended for self-acquaintance. You will not be disappointed. Estimated revenue - 23 million dollars.
#6 - High Voltage Software
This studio with an extremely rich history and an incredibly extensive (and extremely diverse) roster of games is one of the oldest game design companies in Chicago and was founded by Kerry Ganofsky in Chicago in 1993, right after Kerry graduated from college. The company has been releasing games since 1995, and this includes both projects for mobile platforms (The Conduit HD, Le Vamp, Batman: Arkham City Lockdown), and for consoles and PC, among the latest and most popular releases - Fortnite: Save the World, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Mortal Kombat X, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, Saints Row 4: Re-Elected and many, MANY others. Estimated revenue - 23.3 million dollars.
#5 – NetherRealm
This Chicago game studio was founded in 2010 after Warner Bros. bought the bankrupt studio Midway Games and rebranded it. The founder and current CEO of the company is the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat universe Ed Boon, and the most significant games created by the company include the games of the Mortal Kombat and Injustice series. Estimated revenue - 25 million dollars.
#4 - Incredible Technologies
The studio was founded in 1985 by former NASA software engineer Richard Ditton and was called Free Radical Software before being rebranded as Incredible Technologies. For most of its existence, this Chicago gaming company was almost unprofitable, but after focusing on the development of coin-operated video games and Class 3 casino games, things got better. Estimated revenue - about 113 million dollars.
#3 - Play Mechanix - 190 million
Play Mechanix is an arcade machine developer founded in 1995 by George Petro, who used to work for Midway- another Chicago game developer, but left after the company went bankrupt. The most iconic game series is Big Buck Hunter, other popular releases include Minecraft Dungeons Arcade and Halo: Fireteam Raven. Estimated revenue - 190 million dollars.
#2 – Zynga
Zynga is among the best game companies in Chicago, though the name of this company is most likely unknown to those who are not fond of mobile games. The company was founded in 2007, and is known as a developer of mobile online games, including FarmVille (the most famous title of the company), CSR Racing (considered the most popular racing simulator for mobile devices), and other online games, with a total audience reach of approximately 215 million monthly users, which corresponds to 10% of the global Internet audience. The company also gained a not-so-good reputation in the 2010s for cloning games, but that didn't stop the company from having an estimated revenue of 400 million dollars, which makes it the richest mobile game developer in Chicago.
Chicago top gaming company
The company ranked #1 in our top list deserves special attention. This company is Wargaming, specifically its Chicago-Baltimore division. Let's start with a brief history of the company.
Wargaming Chicago - Baltimore, formerly Day 1 Studios, was a Chicago based video game company founded in 2001 by some of Microsoft Game Studios, Activision, EA and FASA Studio's former employees. The company's first major project was MechAssailt, and shortly after its sequel, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf. The next major project was the port of the famous (and somewhat cult) FPS F.E.A.R from PC to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. In 2006, an agreement was signed with Lucas Arts to develop games for seventh generation consoles using the company's intellectual property. Fracture was a TPS with the revolutionary feature of terraforming the landscape when it was released, though the game itself was rated as "mediocre"
F.E.A.R 3 was announced in April 2010 and Day 1 Studios was the developer with the support of Monolith Productions, the creators of the first game. On January 29, 2013, the studio was bought out by Wargaming.net and renamed Wargaming West and then Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore. Presently, this Chicago video game developer supports Wargaming's games on the US market.
Overall, the name “Wargaming” doesn't mean much to those who live outside of Europe. But at one time, this company made a "big-bang" on the MMO market by creating the first game in which the main role was played not by elves, dwarfs or humans, but by tanks - deadly multi-ton machines. This project was World of Tanks - a name that a huge number of Europeans know, and the game is most popular in Eastern Europe.
The game is still developing very actively, events and eSports tournaments are regularly held, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Milla Jovovich taking part in the last New Year's event. This Chicago video game studio also took part in creation of similar MMOs about aircrafts and ships - World of Warplanes and World of Warships, respectively.
All of these games are arcade simulators, gained popularity shortly after release, and currently exist thanks to a large and extremely dedicated fan base. One of the key factors in the popularity of World of Tanks (WoT) is the lack of competition. In the entire history of the project, only Armored Warfare, which still exists but does not show signs of life, was able to lure the attention of players. And there is also War Thunder, a simulator that is much more complex and cannot lure most of the fans who are used to simplicity and WoT's arcade gameplay, this allows the company to have an estimated revenue of about 1.1 billion dollars, making it the “richest” Chicago gaming company.
| Company | Revenue | Most famous games |
| 1. Wargaming | 1.1 billion dollars | World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, World of Warships |
| 2. Zynga | 400 million dollars | FarmVille, CSR Racing, Empires and Allies |
| 3. Play Mechanix | 190 million dollars | Big Buck Hunter, Halo: Fireteam Raven, Minecraft Dungeon Arcade |
| 4. Incredible Technologies | 113 million dollars | Silver Strike Bowling, Golden Tee Fore! |
| 5. NetherRealm | 25 million dollars | Mortal Kombat games, Injustice |
| 6. High Voltage Software | 23.3 million dollars | Mortal Kombat X. Saints Row Gat out of Hell, Saints Row 4: Re-Elected |
| 7. Stern Pinball | 23 million dollars | Different stylized pinball arcade machines |
| 8. Level Ex | 13.5 million dollars | Top Derm, Cardio Ex, Gastro Ex and realistic simulators for surgeons not available to public |
| 9. Kongregate | 8.3 million dollars | Spellstone, Crush Crush, Tyrant Unleashed |
Game development outsourcing
A large number of game studios in Chicago have caused the creation of other companies around them to provide specific services in game development. We are talking about outsourcing companies that take on certain responsibilities. The popularity of this phenomenon has its own explanation.
Why game development outsourcing is popular
One of the main reasons why outsourcing is popular among Chicago game developers is cost savings. It is much more profitable for a game development company to turn to someone to buy certain services (for example, the creation of game arts, UI / UX, 2D and 3D animations and so on) than to create a dedicated branch for such specific things. This requires a much larger investment and, most importantly, a large amount of time.
So outsourcing in game development is a common practice. For example, the American company AAA Game Art Studio, with talented artists and developers from Ukraine, offers its services in the field of creating 2D Characters, Isometric Arts, UI / UX, Sketches, Low and High Poly Modeling and many, many others. It is much easier to turn to outsourcing services and save your money, as companies such as Ubisoft, Konami, Bandai Namco, Softgames, Wooga, Playtika, Belka Games and others have already done.