Twenty houses
The first-party and major third-party publishers that built the medium's catalog. Each one a distinct authorial signature, a distinct shelf in collecting.
Nintendo
The medium's most enduring first-party catalog.
1889 — Kyoto
Square Soft / Square Enix
The JRPG canon — Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest.
1986 — Yokohama (Square); merged 2003
Capcom
Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil.
1979 — Osaka
Konami
Metal Gear, Castlevania, Silent Hill, Suikoden.
1969 — Osaka
Sega
First-party for five generations of own-hardware.
1960 — Tokyo
Atari
Where the home medium began.
1972 — Sunnyvale
Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, Bully.
1998 — New York (Take-Two subsidiary)
Valve
Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal — the PC-anchored canon.
1996 — Bellevue
Blizzard Entertainment
Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, World of Warcraft.
1991 — Irvine
Activision
The first third-party publisher.
1979 — Sunnyvale
Acclaim Entertainment
Mortal Kombat console publisher, NBA Jam, Turok.
1987 — Glen Cove
LucasArts
Point-and-click adventure canon — Monkey Island, Grim Fandango.
1982 — San Rafael (as Lucasfilm Games)
Interplay Entertainment
Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Wasteland.
1983 — Newport Beach
Sierra On-Line
King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry.
1979 — Oakhurst (as On-Line Systems)
id Software
Doom, Quake — the FPS canon.
1991 — Mesquite
Bethesda Softworks
Elder Scrolls, Fallout (post-Interplay).
1986 — Bethesda
Westwood Studios
Dune II, Command & Conquer, Red Alert.
1985 — Las Vegas
Origin Systems
Ultima, Wing Commander, System Shock.
1983 — New Hampshire
Maxis
SimCity, The Sims, SimEarth, SimAnt.
1987 — Orinda
MicroProse
Civilization, X-COM, Master of Magic.
1982 — Hunt Valley