I would like to know:

- How many companies are creating video games worldwide?
- For which platforms are they creating games (PC, XBOX, 360, PS2,
PS3, GameCube, etc.). Numbers indicating how many companies per
platform would be great.
- Where are they located (North America, Europe, Asia)?
- On average, how many employees does each company have? 

These numbers can be approximate, but should include good data sources
from 2002 or later.

Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 19 May 2006 09:06 PDT

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----------------------------------------


There are an estimated 90,000 game developers.

?A successful computer game can make millions for its developers. As a
result there are over 90,000 game developers world-wide working to
create the next hit.?

Source:
Public Final Report EUTIST-AMI: (E)MOTIONS July 2003
Page 27
http://www.eutist-ami.org/final_report/emotions.pdf


There are an estimated 1,000 video game development companies-
 
?Most video game publishing companies, such as Electronic Arts,
Activision, and Sony, do maintain development studios, but these
companies are generally called "publishers" and not "developers", as
publishing is the primary activity of these companies, and is the
source of most of their income.

Other than the publishers, there are well over 1,000 video game
development companies today. Many are tiny 1- or 2-person operations
creating Flash games for the web, or games for cell phones. Others are
large companies with multiple locations, such as Foundation 9
Entertainment, formed by a merger in March 2005, which says it has
over 300 employees. As a rule, developers are privately held
companies; only a very few non-publishing developers have ever been
publicly traded companies.?

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_developer


List of video game developers

?This is a list of video and computer game developers, past and
present. Some of the developers may specialize in a certain platform,
such as console games or computer games. Others are primarily
publishers (e.g. Activision, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, THQ)
but also have in-house development studios.?

Companies that are member studios of the Academy of Interactive Arts &
Sciences (AIAS) and the International Game Developers Association
(IGDA) as of January 1, 2006 are labeled. The list includes both
current and defunct companies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_developers


List of video game publishers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_publishers

Bit of a cottage industry, Isn't it?  

The code has gotten lot simpler since I knew a group of 15 or so
making games years back.

Is there a unit sales threshold that makes them "in the Business" ?

Cottage industry? No.

The global Video Game Industry is expected to climb to $55.6 billion
by 2008 with more than $9 billion of that spending attributed to North
America. What was once seen as a niche market for a small demographic
is now the fastest growing sector in the entertainment industry.

You forgot to mention Linux as one on the target market, although the
ones I play on Linux are ports of MS OS versions.

Frankly, that is a big ask, about a weeks work, for $50.

The companies vary from one or two man shows, to BIG corporations like
Microsoft, Sony On-line, Vivendi, Electronic Arts, etc. Bigger than
Hollywood was the quote I vaguely remember.

By video games, did you just mean play by yourself only, or did you
mean online games (MMORPG?) only or games that can be played both
online and offline?

In Australia, an area you didn't mention, I know of at least three
companies claiming over 100 employees each. One is in Brisbane, two
are in Sydney.

Googling "game developers" might help, but I suspect you will find
that there is an enormous Asian area. Apparently Korea is a very big
market.