Video games are a major staple of the global media and entertainment industry. The United Kingdom is Europe’s top video game market, and it’s one of the largest in the world, according to Statista. London is a key contributor, with hundreds of gaming businesses setting up operations in the city. From companies that focus on racing games for mobile devices to studios that specialize in pixel-style art, these are some of the gaming companies in London to watch.
Top London Gaming Companies
- Warner Bros. Discovery
- Take-Two Interactive Software
- Bossa Games
- Hutch
- Curve Games
- Chucklefish
- Payload Studios
London Gaming Companies to Know
Payload Studios is an indie game studio founded in the United Kingdom. Its signature title, TerraTech, is a sandbox construction and combat game based on physics, which explores interplanetary mining through gameplay. The studio has been in operation since 2013, producing games for PC, console and mobile play.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s presence in London includes Rocksteady Studios, a gaming company with a reputation for developing titles that fall under the DC Universe. Its portfolio of games includes multiple installments of the Batman: Arkham series as well as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
SEGA is a multinational company with a storied gaming history. It was one of the first to develop consumer gaming consoles, including the SG-1000. Today, the company has shifted from hardware and produces games in the Sonic franchise and others. Although SEGA is headquartered in Japan, it operates an office in London.
Curve Games publishes console and computer video games, soliciting ideas from developers all over the world who come to Curve for development and other support services. The company specializes in creating highly curated worlds in simulation and action games like Space Crew as well as shooter and RPG games like For the King and From Space.
Hutch is a gaming company that makes racing games for mobile play. Founded by employees from a large corporate gaming studio, Hutch says it prioritizes developer autonomy. The company has partnered with NASCAR to develop a branded game and is at work trying to enlarge the market share of car racing games in the mobile space.
Bossa Games is an independent video game developer creating physics-based games tailored to the multiplayer experience. The studio focuses on immersive gameplay that works in cooperative and single player modes. Bossa Games has developed over 40 titles since its founding in 2010 and is well known for survival-based titles like I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator.
Chucklefish makes stylized games with retro aesthetics based on pixel art, like Starbound and Wargroove. Founded in 2011, the independent studio is based in London and collaborates with fellow indie games creators through its Indie Assistance program, which offers support in areas ranging from technical and creative development to marketing and sales.
Epic Games is the creator of the widely popular multiplayer title Fortnight. Some of its other titles include Infinity Blade and Gears of War, but its most significant contribution to the gaming industry is the development of the Unreal Engine, which provided a software framework to develop video games and helped popularize the first-person shooter genre.
Take-Two Interactive Software is an international gaming company that develops and publishes titles through its Rockstar Games, 2K, Zynga and Private Division brands. Its labels produce games that are played across a variety of platforms, including mobile, PC, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
Gaming tech company Unity doesn’t release titles but nevertheless plays a significant role in the industry. It develops various tech and support products like the Unity Engine and the Unity Cloud. The Unity Engine is a widely used framework that supports cross-console development and is used in games like Pokemon Go and Among Us.
