Games market research company NewZoo has made an informative graph comparing the top 10 companies based on game revenue in 2014.
A few surprises come from the results, most notably that the number one spot is taken by Tencent.
Wait, who is Tencent?
This Chinese investment holdings company is one of the world’s largest internet companies alongside Amazon, Ebay, Google, and Facebook, with a market value of over $206 billion. In addition to its most famous invention, the QQ instant messenger platform (the what?), the company makes significant earnings selling virtual goods for its MMO’s, like Dungeon Fighter Online, which you probably haven’t heard of. But you have heard of the popular MOBA game League of Legends, right? Well, Tencent owns that too, thanks to its 2011 buyout of Riot Games.
Unsurprisingly, Sony is just behind Tencent, and is closely followed by Microsoft. Both the PS4 and Xbox One have been major hits, selling over 20 million and 10 million consoles, respectively. Unfortunately, Nintendo’s position is a bit of a surprise and a letdown. The big N, who is almost exclusively a game company, comes in at an embarrassing 9th place, just in front of Ubisoft.
The Wii U isn’t doing too great, but no one could have guessed that Nintendo was this far behind the competition, beaten out by King, makers of Candy Crush, as well as Android owner Google, and Apple’s iOS platform. Things may be looking up for the Kyoto-based company however, as it was recently revealed that Nintendo’s market cap is the highest it has been in 4 years–likely a side effect to their recent partnership with DeNA.
What do you think of the results? Any surprises that stuck out to you? Let us know down below!
