Top 10 Video Game Companies of All Time

Video Games are the greatest things ever created by human hands, but which companies are the best?
The Top Ten
1 Nintendo Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and software company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as Nintendo Karuta by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. After venturing into various lines of business during the 1960s and acquiring a legal status as a public company, Nintendo distributed its... read more

Nintendo is the best of the best. There is no doubt. Nintendo has innovated the video game industry and taken it to new levels. With household names like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and Metroid, how can they be beaten? They offer good quality games, consistently brilliant storylines, and some pretty good consoles. Nintendo's games composed my entire childhood. Even today, I play Nintendo games. They make them so well that you can't help but want to replay them. Once you get hooked on Nintendo, you'll never settle for any other. Nintendo is the backbone of the industry itself.

Sure, there are other very great video game companies. But most of them create a few iconic games and don't even release a console. Nintendo? Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and Pokémon (kind of) were all made by them, and they made the best console ever (the Wii). Also, basically everywhere you look, you can see the impact they have left on society. They essentially define the video game industry. While other video game companies can be outstanding, we all know that none can even compare to Nintendo's sheer impact on culture and society.

2 Rockstar Games

Perfection is what Rockstar is all about! They don't release a game unless it's going to be a massive hit. They are the ones who are sure to hold the Game of the Year award for every game they release. Whether it's the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne, or even Bully, Rockstar does its best.

The best thing about this developer is the tiny details they include in their games. Go see the IGN list of tiny details in Grand Theft Auto V, and you will come to know why Rockstar is the most loved game company right now. They are the ones who pay attention to every detail a game should have. Wow! I love this company so much. They are the reason my childhood was awesome!

The GTA series is probably the best truly open-world sandbox video game of all time. It offers huge, diverse worlds with an incredible amount of things to do in them.

Rockstar Games almost never disappoints people. Grand Theft Auto is obviously their big-selling title and flagship franchise, but they've also released other high-quality titles like Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne, Bully, Manhunt, and, quite strangely enough, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. They started in 1997 when they collaborated with DMA Design (now Rockstar North) to release a game originally known as Race'N'Chase, which later became Grand Theft Auto. The game was a massive commercial success. Around the time of the release of Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar Games purchased DMA Design, then called DMA Design Limited, and rebranded it as Rockstar North.

They also noticed that Red Dead Revolver had been shelved by Capcom because Angel Studios couldn't complete the game. Hoping to save it, they bought the studio and rebranded it as Rockstar San Diego. Throughout its many years of existence, Rockstar has had some controversial moments, big hits, and lots of new studios opening. They also closed Rockstar Vienna in 2003 without notice. Overall, Rockstar is mostly a company that never disappoints its fans and usually always gives them what they want.

3 Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French multinational video game developer and publisher, headquartered in Rennes, France.

Ubisoft has always revolutionized gameplay in every aspect through their games, which has been readily copied or borrowed by other games.

Eagle vision in the AC series, wall-run in POP, naval combat in AC, and the open wild safari of Far Cry have been seen in many other games after Ubisoft has shown them how to use it.

The best thing is that Ubisoft always offers a great storyline with twists and turns. I remember they really blew my mind with the Warrior Within storyline.

Guys, come on, Ubisoft is number one! Think of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs is coming out. Think of the graphics, the stories, the realism, the features, the details! How is Nintendo number one? The Wii sucks. On the DS, the only fun games are Mario and Sonic, but that doesn't last long. But I played Assassin's Creed 2 three times in a row for fun! And I bought them on Steam but then again on CD because I wanted them so much. So, pick Ubisoft.

4 Valve Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, publisher and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

Portal was one of the first "FPS" games I ever played. After doing research into the Portal Universe, I stumbled upon Half-Life 2 and experienced one of the best action FPS games out there. I own pretty much every game Valve has ever released. I love the company, and in every way, they are probably the best.

The fact that they give players what they want, spend all the time in the world perfecting their games, and ask for very little in return makes them one of my favorite game developers. Although they take long periods to make their games, they're all worth the wait. I'm a bit irritated by the loss of communication on the subject of Half-Life 3, but I'm sure it'll be one of the best games ever made.

Valve has a lot to compete with, especially with all the amazing games coming out recently. However, I'm sure they'll surpass even the infamous "The Last of Us." Once the Xbox One and the PS4 are released, I'm sure Half-Life 3 or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 will be just around the corner.

5 Sega Sega Games Co., Ltd., originally short for Service Games and officially styled as SEGA, is a Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world.

I just want to say that if you ignore Sonic for now, Sega actually has a great selection of games. This includes Shin Megami Tensei via Atlus (and by extension, Persona), Bayonetta, Yakuza, Phantasy Star, Valkyria Chronicles, and Ecco the Dolphin, among many others.

I also get the feeling that Sega is judged solely by one franchise, even though they have other titles that have done rather well on their own.

In my opinion, Sega is a respectable gaming company, but unfortunately, they don't know what to do with their flagship character and franchise. Look into other series to see Sega's potential.

Here is one thing that Sega does better than Nintendo: They care about their fans. Now, I still really love Nintendo, but it feels like they don't give a single crap about their fans and they take down many fan games, which were amazing and had lots of effort put into them. However, with Sega, they let their fans create fan games and never take them down. Heck, the official Sonic YouTube channel said they loved the fan games that the Sega fans make. They're great.

6 EA Electronic Arts, Inc., also known as EA Games, is an American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Sometimes, I'm just having a bad, bad day. Let's say, for some reason, I can't get any kills in Fortnite, my Minecraft world looks ugly, I'm not racing well in Forza, I'm raging at my mom in Overcooked!, I've gotten all the Rocket League out of my system, I'm bored of Sea of Thieves, and Cuphead is - well, you know - impossibly hard. You know what I do? I load Battlefront and take out my frustration on the Stormtroopers. I get myself some peace and quiet and customize my car in NFS. EA can always cheer me up, even when I hate gaming. Thank you, EA, for improving my life so much.

Nintendo never really takes risks. The only reason Nintendo has about four different franchises is that they never take chances on games like The Saboteur, one of EA's most underappreciated third-person sandbox games. Who needs a preschool plumber who messes around with bimbos when you can have an Irish mechanic/saboteur who pushed the Third Reich out of France?

7 Sony Computer Entertainment

Awesome company. They made my favorite game on earth, Infamous Second Son! I really loved the game. Delsin really looks cool with his powers: Smoke, Neon, Video, and Concrete. Also, karma bombs add up to the beauty: Orbital Drop, Radiant Sweep, and Hellfire Swarm. Trivia is cool. Good and evil karma have increased my liking of the game.

Good: Protector, Guardian, Champion, Paragon, and True Hero.

Evil: Thug, Criminal, Bioterrorist, Most Wanted, and Infamous.
I would rate it a ten-star game.

Sony Computer Entertainment has the best exclusive games, such as Uncharted and many more. It has sold more of its consoles than any other console company in the world. The PS2 was the most successful console ever made and it is the most sold console ever.

Sony should be at #1 because they have the best consoles you will ever play. They are even better than Nintendo and Microsoft because Sony has the most powerful consoles ever.

8 Bethesda Bethesda Game Studios is an American in-house development team at Bethesda Softworks established in 2002. Previously synonymous with parent publisher Bethesda Softworks, the studio's name and logo were established with the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002. The studio is currently led by executive producer Todd Howard.

The entire Elder Scrolls and Fallout series are both some of the greatest examples of Western RPGs. They combine enormous open-world experiences with plenty of exploration and many things to see and do.

Okay, first off, if you've ever remotely tried to make a game, you know all about the complex protocols and coding that go into creating the game. This is extremely true when it comes to game quality and performance. Bethesda puts a lot more effort and time into creating their games than other companies that have been listed above them. Not to mention, Bethesda games are very popular, more so than the games created by higher-ranking companies. It's not about the quantity, but the quality of the game, and Bethesda is a primary example of quality vs. quantity.

I was torn between Bungie and Bethesda, actually. Bungie gave us Halo, while Bethesda has the Elder Scrolls series. Considering Bungie won't be making any more Halo games and Bethesda is working on ESO, I had to go with Bethesda.

Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series has already set the bar for open-world RPG games. I believe ESO will revolutionize the MMO genre, breaking free from WoW-style gaming and all its clones.

Companies like Capcom engage in shady practices, trying to drain consumers dry with massive DLC or locked content that must be purchased. EA, on the other hand, has a habit of buying rights to games and then creating sub-par products, as they did with Spore and the Mass Effect sequels.

Other companies that continue to reuse their own franchises are really annoying. Nintendo keeps making Mario and Zelda games. Activision keeps cloning its own Call of Duty games, and they somehow think they can call their work "new."

Bethesda doesn't engage in shady practices like Capcom, and they value consumer feedback, unlike EA. Each Elder Scrolls game has progressively been better than the previous one, setting a new bar. They have stepped outside their comfort zone with the successful Fallout 3. Bethesda is a gaming company with respect and pride and deserves to be #1.

9 Capcom Capcom Co., Ltd., or Capcom, is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Ace Attorney, and Monster Hunter, as well as highly successful games based on the Disney animated properties.

Resident Evil is a one-of-a-kind game. It combines a great horror atmosphere with excellent combat gameplay and an interactive environment. It also features some of the best level designs in video games.

I absolutely love MVC, Street Fighter, and Mega Man, and here's why.

Mega Man 2 is hard but fun. I don't play after I get past the masters because it's pointless to me.

MVC (Marvel vs. Capcom) is absolutely phenomenal, and I am shocked every time another game comes out. But the scary part to me is that they haven't made or even announced another game since Disney got Marvel. Could this be the end of an era?

Last but not least is Street Fighter. This is the reason I play the Capcom characters in MVC because this made me learn that superheroes aren't the only good fighters.

Capcom is one of the best video game companies in the world. They did a major reboot of the classic 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game, which was often known as DuckTales: Remastered.

10 Square Enix Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, and distribution company that is best known for its role-playing video game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts role-playing game series.

Really, guys, is EA above this?

And I'm just going to be honest, Valve kind of sucks now. I like Half-Life and Portal as much as the next guy, but they've proven that they care more about making money by selling other people's games than making their own.

In my opinion, Square should be at #4. They're game-changers, to say the least, and while they're not as influential as they once were, they still make some of the greatest games each year. I think people anticipate Square games more than any other company's games, period.

Final Fantasy franchise. No other reason to mention anything. But if I must, Chrono Trigger is another example. They are the only video game company to spend 130 million on a film and lose 100 million of it, knowing it was going to happen. They made it for the fans. And they are now the ONLY company that bases their games on story rather than easy, hands-on gameplay.

The go-to company for your RPG fix. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, the Mana series, Chrono Trigger - their list goes on. You may find a new favorite by playing their games.

The Newcomers

? Team Meat
? 3D Realms
The Contenders
11 Naughty Dog Naughty Dog is an American video game development company based in Santa Monica, California. Acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2001, the company is known for producing critically acclaimed video games such as the "Uncharted" series and "The Last of Us." Naughty Dog has a reputation for storytelling and technical prowess in game development.

How is this not #1? At least put it in the top 3! Let me name some games for you.

The Last of Us
The Uncharted Series
The Crash Bandicoot Series
The Jak and Daxter Series

All of these games I have just named are outstanding. I grew up playing Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. They were two of the very first games I ever played and two of the best. Over the following years, the Uncharted games came into play. Each of the Uncharted games has great graphics, an even better storyline, and fun and smooth gameplay. The Last of Us just came out this year, and for most people, it is the best game of the year and possibly the best game of all time. Must I go on? Naughty Dog for the win.

How are they not number one, or at least in the top 3 or 5? I mean, come on, they started off by giving us the Crash Bandicoot series, which was amazing at the time. But they didn't stop there. They then gave us the greatest series of games ever: Uncharted. From the graphics to the gameplay, to the fantastic voice acting by Nolan North, the gameplay immerses you in the game as if it's something you're living through, despite it not being a first-person shooter, or at the very least, an amazing blockbuster movie. Finally, they gave us another great game with another blockbuster movie-like story, and that is The Last of Us. I cannot explain to you all how great this company is, especially in their storytelling. They should be number one, point-blank, period. They are the BEST.

12 Rare Rare is a British video game developer located in Twycross, Leicestershire. The company was established in 1985 by Tim and C hris Stamper, founders of Ultimate Play the Game. During its early years, Rare was backed by an unlimited budget from Nintendo, primarily concentrated on Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games . During this time they created successful titles such as Wizards & Warriors, Battletoads,... read more

Like many of the companies on the list, Rare is not what it once was. However, their place in gaming history has been cemented by their N64 releases alone. Their NES output is underrated too.

How is Rare so far down? This company and Nintendo made gaming popular and more mainstream. Without GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, you can forget about all the rubbish first-person shooters you get nowadays. I can't mention Rare and not mention Banjo-Kazooie!

Rare is the epitome of video game development. As Tim Stamper (one of the founders) said in the '80s, "We worked seven days a week, 8 a.m. till 1 or 2 in the morning. I don't feel it's any good having engineers who only work 9 to 5 because you get a 9 to 5 game."

13 Namco-Bandai

Pac-Man is to video games what Mario is to video games. Even if you've never touched a game in your life, you know Pac-Man.

14 Blizzard Blizzard was founded under the name Silicon & Synapse on February 8, 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham. They primarily made ports of other games for other studios until 1993, when they made Rock N Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings . In 1994, They became Chaos Studios, Then Blizzard Entertainment Inc. after being bought by Davidson & Associates. Then, they made their first big... read more

Much like Valve, Blizzard works with the mentality of quality over quantity. We only have as many as three main Diablo games and two main Starcraft games because of this. They don't spend their efforts trying to crank out as many games as they can in the shortest amount of time. Instead, they focus all their efforts on perfecting the few games they have.

The sequels to games may take longer this way, but in turn, they are much better made than if Blizzard had rushed out the game sequels. This same idea also applies to World of Warcraft. Instead of making lots of sequels to it, Blizzard has just kept on adding to the initial game. Updates like Wrath of the Lich King, Mists of Pandaria, or Battle for Azeroth could have just been standalone sequel games. However, Blizzard chose to add all that onto WoW instead, deciding that it would be better to improve the first game more and more than to produce a bunch of smaller sequels. This mentality of quality over quantity is what I like the most in video games.

15 Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services.

Microsoft is one of the leading gaming companies in the world. They produced Microsoft Kids, which includes titles like Creative Writer, Fine Artist, and Scholastic's The Magic School Bus.

Microsoft started out focused on desktops only and has branched off from computers to games, creating a wide variety of universal software. Microsoft gets my vote.

They make the best consoles. They might not be dirt cheap, but hey, if you want the best, go with Xbox. They may not make games, but they are the biggest company on the market.

16 Mojang Mojang AB is a Swedish video game developer founded in May 2009 under the name Mojang Specifications by game programmer Markus Persson, best known for creating the popular independent game Minecraft, a sandbox game.

Why is this ranked 17th? They're the first gaming company to only publish one type of game (Minecraft) and still be successful! How crazy is that! Now, for my list of qualities that make a good company and how much I rate each:

- Is very unique: 10/10
- Is crazy but cool: 10/10
- Has made lots of games: 4/10
- Provides good updates: 1,000/10
- Has a unique logo: 1,000,000,000,000/10
- Has extreme achievements: googolplex/10

Overall: So amazing it blows my head off.

Minecraft is by far the most open-minded game ever, with all of the possibilities. To add to that, mods for Minecraft are easier and more abundant than for any other game I know.

Minecraft filled the empty space that Lego left in my heart. It is my absolute favorite game, and I really want to thank Markus Persson for making it happen!

17 Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles.

Oh, this company. It started out as a simple company and became even more awesome over the years, until the great disaster that is Call of Duty. They started milking the series, which is normal for companies (for example, God of War), but after a while, things went out of hand. Modern Warfare 2 was the last game for them. After that, they started killing off the main character in every campaign, copying other games when it came to weapons, online in general, maps, etc. The graphics went from good to bad (Ghosts), and let's not forget about the price of every single game. Uncharted 3 came out in 2013. Black Ops came out earlier. It still costs more because why not.

Skylanders was a genius idea! They legitimately made a game where you buy toys, and they come to life on screen! I loved everything about Skylanders. They might have made Call of Duty, but don't forget about one of their awesome game series, Skylanders! Every game brought something new to the table and a brand-new story. Also, the music is iconic to me, and the chapters were so good.

18 Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game developer located in Bellevue, Washington, United States. The company was established in May 1991 as Bungie Software Products Corporation by University of Chicago undergraduate student Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones after publishing Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete.

With Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie pretty much carried Microsoft through the sixth-generation console era. A company that practically carried a whole console deserves some credit. To add on to that, they are possibly developing another franchise that will change the way we play video games: Destiny.

These are the guys behind Halo, which is said to be revolutionary to the FPS game industry. That means that every unique thing that Halo brought to the genre was coined by Bungie Studios. I respect a gaming company that tries out different methods to the formula and thinks outside the box when making games.

Yes, there are many game companies that have provided us with good games, but with Halo being considered the best first-person shooter, I also believe that it is. It was one of the games that really got me into first-person shooter games.

19 Konami Konami Holdings Corporation is a Japanese entertainment company that formed in 1969. Konami does a high amount of distributing products such as slot machines and arcade games, anime, video games, and trading / game cards. Konami also

Konami has been quiet over the last decade, but all of a sudden, they have come back into the spotlight with Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. I can't wait for those games.

Konami deserves to be higher. They were one of the greats. There are too many games to mention, really. Going from early titles like Frogger, Scramble, and Pooyan, all the way through the NES era of Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius, then the SNES era with Turtles in Time and Sunset Riders, and Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill on PS1. Sports games like Blades of Steel, Hyper Sports, ISS.

Just a huge, huge body of work.

This company should go from #18 to the top 5. It is indeed legendary and should not be thrown under the bus while companies like EA retain a number 4 spot. Metal Gear and Silent Hill are reasons enough why they should be much, much higher on this list.

20 LucasArts LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game publisher and licensor. Until 2013, it was also a video game developer.

They made one of the best franchises ever, and along with that came some of the best video games ever.

Responsible for their Indiana Jones games.

21 2K Games 2K Games, Inc. is an American global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of video games, like Borderlands, Civilization V, The Darkness, NBA 2K and more recently, WWE 2K.

The Bioshock series is truly a masterpiece. It has an excellent environment, an interesting storyline, and an exciting combat system.

Man, did they do way better with their sports games than EA did. NHL 2K11 feels way more realistic than EA's NHL 21, and the game is a whole decade older than NHL 21, which says something. However, they ended the series with 2K11, so now they can only do NBA 2K for sports.

I love this company for reviving XCOM, my favorite TBS, which I have played since I was a kid. It is by far the most challenging strategy game I know. No other video game developer has brought XCOM back to life except for 2K. Thank you so much!

22 Playdead

Playdead Studios is the creator of two of the most uniquely amazing games I have ever seen: Limbo and Inside. You may have heard me gush about these games before. To summarize my previous comments, Limbo and Inside stand apart from any other games primarily because they are much more than mere games. They are unique experiences. Both serve as psychological journeys, most comparable to watching a silent film without context, though they offer even more than that. It's difficult to fathom how the small team at Playdead could conceive of such experiences as Limbo and Inside, but they managed to create worlds that are both unique and abstract.

What's even more impressive is that Playdead is an indie company. As of my last check, it had no more than eight people on its team. Imagine how small the team must have been when the company first started! These two remarkable games were not produced by some large, technology-rich corporation. They were made by a small group of people with limited resources. Despite this, Limbo and Inside have achieved what no big, corporate-made AAA game has ever done: they provide a truly unique experience to the player. Given their limited resources, Playdead had to work exceptionally hard to bring these games to life.

To give you an idea of the level of dedication involved, the development of Limbo took more than four years. The team released a trailer concept in 2006 and didn't complete the game until July 2010. That's four years dedicated to making Limbo what it is today! The development of Inside took even longer. Just a month after Limbo was released in 2010, Playdead announced that another game was in the works. That game wasn't completed until May 2016 - nearly six years spent on making Inside! This level of dedication is something I've rarely seen in the video game industry, perhaps only paralleled by companies like Studio MDHR or individuals like Toby Fox. All of this is what makes Playdead Studios completely distinct... more

23 Atlus

Persona 4 alone should put them in the top 10. The whole SMT series, Persona, Catherine, and a slew of other greats make for a fantastically underrated game developer.

Persona 5 is the best. Catherine is the best. I just like them.

24 Undertow Games

This company was founded by Regalis after creating the beta of SCP: Containment Breach. This is a small indie-game company that works very hard on their games. I generally respect indie game developers more than triple-A game companies because indie devs work harder.

Indie game teams, like Undertow Games, don't have the massive resources that big triple-A video game companies have, yet they still manage to make a pretty decent video game with the little resources they have. Undertow Games would have had to work much harder than any big corporation to make a game as good as Containment Breach.

The other thing I like more about indie developers than AAA developers is that indie devs tend to be more interactive with their fanbase. Undertow is very interactive with their fans. They have changed and updated the SCP game so many times in response to what the fans want. Not many big game companies work like that! Undertow Games is a great example of what I love about indie game developers: they work hard, out of passion, and for the fans.

25 Telltale Games Telltale Incorporated, doing business as Telltale Games, is an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in October 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following LucasArts' decision to leave the adventure game ...read more.

Telltale Games is one of the best developer when it comes to story driven games. They also let YOU choose how the story unfolds. They also don't define whats the "Good" or "Bad" choice / ending is, but they let you make the choice based on how you would handle that situation brought to you in the game

Was one of my favourite video game companies before they shut down, which is a shame. It's such to see such a great company go down in shambles, but they'll always have a place in video game history for starting the trend of games where your choices matter.

The best! They made wolf among us, walking dead, and even a borderlands series! You make your own decisions and they have consequences. They're good at making stories and suspenseful things. Fantastic!

The walking dead, Game of thrones, and the wolf among us. Best games I've ever played from telltale games! If your into good storyline games, I recommend telltale games

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