Top 20 gaming startups to know (2024)

The top 19 gaming startups

Let’s take a look at these 19 startups that have the potential to become unicorns one day and make big changes in the gaming industry.

Immortal Game

Immortal Game is an innovative digital version of chess that integrates blockchain play-and-earn mechanics into the classic strategy game. The web and mobile platforms allow players to test their skills against others online while earning cryptocurrency rewards through competitive tournaments and contests. By incorporating NFT collectibles into the game experience, players can acquire unique digital assets like custom chess boards and pieces that provide in-game advantages.

Immortal Game hopes to attract both enthusiastic chess fans and play-to-earn gamers by merging the strategic depth of the iconic board game with emerging trends in digital gaming powered by blockchain technology. The platform aims to cultivate a new chess metaverse that keeps the integrity of the original game while evolving gameplay through creative crypto incentives and features.

Twin Suns Corp

Founded in 2020 in Seatle, WA is a video game studio that develops action games with AAA-class platform titles for consoles and PC. 

The founders of Twin Suns Corp. are all seniors with huge experience in the gaming industry. They have worked on Hitman 3, Gears of War, and the Halo franchises, among others. That says a lot about the potential this startup has for future development in the gaming industry.

SkyMavis

Is a technology-focused gaming studio with a focus on blockchain technology and NFT. This studio is founded and launched in 2019 with headquarters in the Central Business District, Singapore.

The company offers the Axie Infinity game, which uses NFTs to financially reward players as they play more. Sky Mavis also creates marketplaces for the trading of one-of-a-kind digital assets. Sky Mavis uses blockchain technology to develop games for the future that will be played in the metaverse.

EsportsXo

This is a gaming startup that comes from India. Founded in 2020 in Bangalore province it’s one of the fastest-growing esports tournament management companies that provides software to manage online tournaments. 

Their vision for the future is to create the world’s largest community of console, PC, and mobile gamers where all gamers will be in one place. And to start making VR projects for the metaverse.

Zynga

This is the startup that stays behind the well-known games Zynga Poker, Farmville, and World With Friends launched on Facebook. It was founded in 2007 in San Francisco, California, and is a pioneer in creating simple social games, which are popular among the people.

With an average of 37 million daily active users, it’s one of the biggest unicorn companies in the online gaming world. And its influence is growing even more, as they are currently expanding into mobile applications and virtual reality.

ScopeLy

Is an entertainment and mobile-first video game studio founded in 2011 with headquarters in Culver City, California, and operations on all seven continents. This is another multi-billion fast-growing unicorn in the online gaming industry.

In the range of games that the development team has created are games such as, “Star Trek Fleet Command,” “MARVEL Strike Force,” “Scrabble GO,” “WWE Champions,” “Yahtzee With Buddies” and “Stumble Guys,” among others.

Rogue Games

This gaming startup is launched in 2018 with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and branch offices in San Mateo and Seattle. During this short span, the company has had huge success in developing and launching games for mobiles, PCs, and consoles. With this success, the company managed to assert itself as a major player in the gaming industry.

In the company’s portfolio, you can find a huge of games, including several award-winning such as Oz: Broken Kingdom, Sociable Soccer, Wild Life: Puzzle Story, Hexaflip: The Action Puzzler, Super Impossible Road, and many more.

Asobo Studio

Created in 2002 in Bordeaux, France. With 20 years of history under its belt, this French video game studio is considered a leading company in PC and console video game development.

In addition to the many projects that this studio has worked on, it can boast two big projects in the portfolio. Microsoft Flight Simulator and the award-winning project A Plague Tale: Innocence.

In the future, this company wants to focus on developing augmented reality solutions that will make transformations not only in the gaming industry but in other industries as well.

Jam City

Another unicorn launched in 2009 with headquarters in Culver City, California, and another nine studios located in the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. This startup managed to make a huge success in the industry in a relatively short period.

In addition to the many popular games that this studio has made. The biggest success was recorded in 2018 with the game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Since then, this company has seen continuous growth and development.

Itatake

This small startup comes from Northern Europe, more precisely Gothenburg, Sweden. Founded in 2011 with a team of just nine members, this company has seen significant success in developing games for mobile devices. Their games are in high demand and currently have over 13 million downloads and some of them are winning-award games.

Their plans include expanding their team of developers and producing even more mind-blowing games that will make an impact in the gaming industry.

Tiidal Gaming Group Corp

This is a Canadian professional esports, betting, and entertainment organization founded in 2018 in Toronto.

Tiidal has two subsidiaries Sportsflare and Lazarus Esports. Sportsflare offers reliable odds feeds and cutting-edge technology based on artificial intelligence solutions for sportsbooks, sports events, online betting, media, and video game firms. These solutions include a predictive engine, data platform, and trading services. Lazarus is the first recognized esports team in Canada and is rated as the best Canadian esports team based on past success.

The Sandbox

Is a gaming platform launched in 2018 by a group of software engineers. The Sandbox represents a gaming platform to provide a metaverse where cooperatively and without a central authority, virtual worlds and games will be produced. The platform allows users to customize and enjoy the game in any way by allowing users to animate three-dimensional objects, create games using in-game visual scripting, and NFTs to transfer assets from one game to another.

nDreams

The company was formed in 2006 and it’s located in Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. In their portfolio, you can find projects made for different video platforms such as Play Station Home, The Virtual World on Sony’s Play Station Console, and so on.

In the last seven years, they are focusing on developing software for virtual reality headsets. So, from 2014 onwards, they have developed games that can be played in virtual reality too. Some of the game titles are: “The Assembly”, “Gunner”, “Perfect Beach”, “Little Cities” and many more. Their plans for the upcoming years are to start developing VR games for The Metaverse.

Build A Rocketboy

This company comes from The United Kingdom. Founded in 2016, with headquarters in Edinburg, Scotland, and operations in Hungary, The Nederlands, France, and California is another fast-growing game studio in the industry.

The studio works on a new project, a game called “Everywhere” and the plans for release are for 2023. The game is a multiplayer open-world AAA game with social and streaming integrations and user-generated content implemented through a “virtual sandbox” where users can design their worlds.

1047 Games

This is another fast-growing gaming startup. Within just 5 years of its launch, this small game studio evolved into a big VC-backed company and managed to raise over 120 million dollars in funding. This rapid development allowed them to develop the flagship game Splitgate, which soon became a huge success.

Their way of working is quite simple and flexible.Тhey believe that freelancing is the future of remote work. They employ talents from over the world who are willing to help to build and grow this startup into a big unicorn company.

Chaos Karts

This project is founded in London, UK in 2019. It’s a video game designed in kart-style and it brings a real-life go-karting experience to the players. The team behind this project wanted to provide a live-action video game experience for the tech-leisure market. The game let players race around circuits in a digitally projected world thanks to augmented reality go-karting tracks, and power-ups.

Gamee

It’s a video game project founded in 2015 with headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, and office locations in Preston, UK, and Hong Cong, China.

Gamee is a social-networking-based mobile application where it connects gamers, brands, and crypto projects in one place through play. The studio provides a variety of minigames so that its users can play and compete against their friends on a social networking site. 

Since the studio has an open-source developer platform, anyone has an opportunity with contributing and creating games for Gamee.

Mythical Games

It’s a gaming studio launched in 2018 in Sherman Oaks, California, with operations in Seattle, Washington State, and Overland Park, Kansas. The owner designed the studio to connect businesses, players, and artists through individualized experiences and content. 

On the EOSIO crypto platform, the studio offers decentralized gaming applications that use blockchain technology to create games where players can own the assets they create. This allows users to create products that encourage people to the adoption of distributed ledger technology through games.

Paradox Interactive

This game company with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden is around since 1999. In its working history, the company has expanded in Europe and USA, and now has offices in Delft, The Nederlands, and Seatle, Washington. Their main focus is developing PC-based strategy games.

In the company’s product portfolio, you can find Franchise brands including Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Cities, Skylines, Tyranny, and Magicka. Additionally, Paradox is active in game publishing, in-house game development, and brand licensing for White Wolf. The company sells its games via Apple, Google Play, Sony Store, and the digital distribution platform Steam.

Game Way

Designed and launched in 2018 in Tigard, Oregon, it’s a video game project installed in airports across the US. The game brings unique entertainment to passengers to have fun while waiting on their flights. 

Each gaming station comes equipped with a Playstation 4 Pro that’s-loaded with games, a leather president, a 43″ 4K television, noise-canceling headphones, charging anchorages for your electronic bias, and space to store the luggage.

What do all these gaming startups have in common

As the gaming industry evolves, so do the game studios evolve as well. The game designers are already adjusting to emerging trends by including VR and AR technology, and the metaverse in their projects. As the list indicates, even relatively new startups in this sector are creating, distributing, and producing games that millions of people love them.