The 4 Biggest Developers in the Online Gaming Industry
Making it in the online gaming industry takes more than just funding, as many small development teams have found out. To see what it takes to make it in this expanding industry, let’s take a look at what some of the biggest developers have done to ensure their continued success.
NetENT
Starting off this list of developers, we have a top player in the industry, which has been producing online games since 1996, with a library now boasting over 1,000 titles. We are talking about casino game developers NetEnt, who have been offering gamers a huge selection of slot games and progressive slot machines for decades and who have been one of the leaders in innovation in the genre. Thanks to their vast library of titles, you will be hard-pressed to find a reputable online gaming website that doesn’t have at least a few NetEnt titles on its roster. Some of NetEnt’s most popular titles include pop-culture-inspired titles such as the Narcos and Motorhead slot machines.
Activision Blizzard
While Activision Blizzard may have been in the news recently for something other than its games, they are still one of the top-performing online game developers in the industry. The company comprises subsidiaries Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Blizzard Studios, King Digital Entertainment, and Major League Gaming, with many of the biggest titles coming from Activision and Blizzard Entertainment respectively.
In 2022, the company hosts servers for some of the biggest games in the world, including World of Warcraft, Destiny, and games in the Call of Duty franchise on PC and console. They also feature heavily on the mobile platform thanks to their acquisition of King Digital Entertainment, creators of the now infamous Candy Crush Saga. Despite negative fan reviews for its latest releases, the company boasts a current value of over $29 billion, making it one of the biggest players in the increasingly popular online gaming space.
Zynga
While not a name that many would recognise off the bat, Zynga has helped produce some of the most addictive and popular mobile games available today. Describing itself as a social game developer, Zynga focuses on titles that connect their players through games and they are best known for their release of the Facebook icon Farmville, which boasted 10 million daily active users within just six weeks of its release. Now owned by parent company Take-Two Interactive, Zynga continues to develop mobile-focused titles that are available for download in over 175 countries, with their games having an estimated monthly download rate of three million on just 200 of their 988 available applications.
Electronic Arts
One of the oldest game developers on this list, Electronic Arts, or EA, has been in the industry since 1982 when it was founded by Apple employee Trip Hawkins. Being a pioneer of the early home gaming industry, EA started as a publisher but soon saw the value in developing its own games, acquiring several smaller studios in an attempt to broaden its offerings. Now, the company is responsible for some of the best-known gaming franchises in the industry, including Need for Speed, The Sims, and Mass Effect. However, EA is perhaps best known for its massive library of sports titles, including the FIFA, Madden NFL, NHL, and EA Sports UFC series.
While all of these developers have made their money in different genres of gaming, their massive influence has made them recognisable well beyond their intended audiences. With many of these developers continuing to grow and expand their libraries year-on-year, you can be sure they will be making waves in the gaming world for the foreseeable future.
