Video game development has no territorial boundaries. Experts from all over the world come together to create inspiring, engaging and immersive projects. But gaming companies in the Bay Area are worth a separate discussion.
San Francisco boasts a stunning kaleidoscope of multi-disciplinary game studios. Here you can find partners for creating high-budget AAA projects, developing casual and social games, localizing complex oriental titles and optimizing unfinished or raw products.
We’ve handpicked 10 of the most experienced and trusted gaming companies in San Francisco, based on data from sources like Built In SF, GoodFirms and Crunchbase. The analysis involved researching the company’s website, portfolio and customer reviews.
Kevuru Games
Kevuru Games is a company whose gaming expertise is backed by years of experience in projects ranging from mobile games to AAA and an endless passion for delivering exceptional entertainment products. Its specialization is breathtaking 2D/3D game art, animation, game development for mobile and PC, as well as AR/VR direction.
This studio is distinguished by an integrated approach to the implementation of various projects. There are specialists from artists and designers to developers and testers who, if necessary, will lead your project from the stage of idea formulation to implementation with timely response to adjustments and advanced post-release support.
The studio has developed such well-known mobile games as the match-3 game Juicy Fruits, the arcade puzzle Crazy Roots, the exciting quest with stealth elements Ink Ninja, and the strategic role-playing adventure Legacy. Creativity and a strong technical base of highly qualified specialists allowed the company to earn the trust of the gaming industry giants Epic Games, FoxNext and EA, with whom the Kevuru Games team has worked on all the notable Fortnite and Storyscape projects.
Niantic
It’s time to dive into augmented reality. Among other video game companies in the Bay Area, it is Niantic that stands out for its commitment to continuous use, transformation and popularization of the AR sphere.
You couldn’t help but hear about the acclaimed Pokémon GO, and you might have met Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. These are the projects of Niantic, which harness the power of augmented reality not only to enrich the gaming experience, but also to create a global AR platform that will stimulate more social interaction.
Games with augmented reality give an inspiring effect of presence, thanks to which players remain passionate about the gameplay for a long time and are not tied to one location. Pokémon GO broke every known record and was downloaded over 750 million times in its first year.
Zynga
Many video game companies in San Francisco prefer broad areas of expertise, but Zynga has focused on a specific genre. It can rightfully be called the overlord and trendsetter of social gaming. The founder of the company, Mark Pincus, named it after his beloved Zynga bulldog. The bulldog is also painted on the corporate logo. The company has chosen online social gaming as its main focus, and this narrow profile has helped it become one of the largest players in the online gaming market.
The most famous products of the company are Zynga Poker, FarmVille, CityVille and CastleVille. In total, the company’s portfolio includes over 1000 gaming brands. The released games are distributed on the well-known social networks Facebook and MySpace.
The number of monthly users playing Zynga games exceeds 200 million. In percentage terms, this is approximately 10% of the global Internet audience.
Pocket Gems
Pocket Gems started their work back in 2009 and immediately decided that their way was a new type of mobile games. Interacting and connecting players from all over the world have become their main mission. It is important for them to create not local, but global international communities united by a passion for games. To date, their products have been downloaded over 300 million times worldwide.
The studio loves to experiment with game genres and focuses on rich juicy 3D graphics. Their best-known projects are celebrity-themed Episode, a mobile network and storytelling platform, and War Dragons, a real-time 3D strategy game that invites you to feel like the commander of an army of dragons. Unlike other mobile game companies in the Bay Area, Pocket Gems prefers a more complex and visually impressive style.
DraftKings
Considering the growing interest in sports and its exciting prospects in the coming years, DraftKings has definitely made the right decision to specialize. Its strong point is sports entertainment and advanced bookmaker opportunities for fantasy sports and betting. We confidently place this studio on our list of the most notable game studios in San Francisco since not everyone has an expertise in sports betting. This requires special knowledge and full dedication.
Before it became possible to bet on real sports in many states of the United States, the fantasy sports segment (daily fantasy sports or DFS) was developing there. There, players place bets on virtual teams of real players, the totals are calculated based on indicators in real games.
More than 5 million people have already bet on their favorite football, tennis, hockey, golf, baseball and other sports. The company has developed an amazingly balanced system that allows you to place safe bets and get the most out of the game.
Linden Lab
Best known for its Second Life, Linden Lab pioneered the creation of user-generated 3D worlds. This is their main specialization. The world of Second Life is more than a simple game, it is a special virtual space with practically limitless possibilities. It can be used as a social network and a community of interests, where you can create and sell objects of virtual art and travel to any destination.
Subsequently, the company expanded its portfolio with several projects, but remained true to its main principle of building virtual worlds with a minimum of restrictions. This is how Patterns for the desktop appeared, a sandbox-style three-dimensional shared space, offering to create your environment, and Blocksworld for iPad, a simple and intuitive system of building a world from blocks.
Rejecting the classic game schemes, Linden Lab brought together the most inspired game developers in San Francisco and other cities who were ready for the non-trivial task of creating a virtual world as close as possible to the real one. It worked: released in 2003, the game is still popular and has a monthly active audience of 600,000 accounts. The game’s official website has 12 million monthly visits.
Jam City
Jam City develops engaging mobile games for a wide audience around the world. Their distinguishing feature among other gaming companies from the Bay Area is the ability to see the main global gaming trends. They perfectly grasp relevant and popular themes and quickly develop simple, but very addictive colorful games that both adults and children like. Without focusing on too complex graphics, they make their products more accessible to users with devices of different capacities.
Their most famous projects are the popular match-3 game Cookie Jam, which has captured more than 100 million players, and the cutest puzzle Panda Pop offering to rescue little pandas. The company also creates captivating projects with a powerful storytelling component for iconic entertainment products such as Harry Potter, Marvel Avengers and Frozen.
N3TWORK
N3TWORK doesn’t just create mobile games. This company decided to go further and develop a special application where players can sync their profile from the Legendary: Game of Heroes project, share media in chat and find the materials, videos and guides they need. In this way, the team quickly forms a dedicated community that has much more advanced opportunities for interaction.
The company also features a special platform for live game publishing, which helps mobile game developers expand their products and reach a wider audience. It managed to raise funds for this and convince investors of the relevance of this project. Therefore, N3TWORK can be called one of the most enterprising and ambitious video game studios in San Francisco.
The already mentioned Legendary: Game of Heroes is a 3-match card game with hardcore RPG mechanics, epic heroes and guild wars. The company is also known for its Funko Pop! Blitz project, in which you need to combine different figures on the screen, creating combinations and getting points for their destruction. Instead of the usual flowers and crystals, Funko Pop Blitz has the heads of toy characters. Basically, this is a fan service for admirers of these figures.
Supergiant Games
Supergiant Games’ team is not as big as other companies, but their indie games have garnered a lot of attention. The action/RPG game Bastion has received acclaim from critics and gamers alike. The music and storytelling were the most admired, for which the development team and composer received many awards and victories in the following nominations: Best Debut, Best Downloadable Game, Best Song, Best Indie Game and others.
The company develops games for Windows, macOS, Nintendo, PS4 and Linux. The team has achieved particular skill when working with the RPG genre: this is the one of almost all of their games, which is successfully combined with a fantastic setting and an intriguing plot.
Knocknock Games
A relatively new company, Knocknock Games has already established itself as a reliable partner in the creation of game art and development on different platforms. Despite its small age, the studio consists of game industry veterans with over 10 years of experience in game design. Few game studios in San Francisco can boast of a staff with such experience, because the excitement in gaming professions began relatively recently.
The company focuses on the desire to cleanse some genres of unwanted elements that spoil their very essence. From their point of view, Freemium products and loot boxes do not contribute to the evolution of genres such as adventure, turn-based strategy and space combat simulators. Their famous projects are the strategy game Rise of Colonies, the casual mobile game Lone Tower and the puzzle Chest of Memories.
Wrapping Up
Game companies in San Francisco are a real Klondike for people looking for reliable and promising cooperation. Here you will find narrow-profile companies dealing with one area such as social games, studios working with mobile games, teams specializing in game art, experts in AR/VR, esports and entire user-generated virtual worlds.
Our top picks will help you make it easier for you to choose an outsourcing service provider, which is often quite difficult. The companies allocated by us have a high reputation among clients and have already managed to confirm their efficiency, flexibility and modern technological foundation for the delivery of projects of any complexity.
Why Kevuru Games Will Help You Achieve the Best Results
- When it comes to gaming services, we aim to cover the full spectrum. This allows us to take on complex projects, including artwork creation, programming, testing, management and marketing, which gives you, as a client, access to all services at once without having to look for another partner. An integrated approach guarantees the harmony of all elements of the project and their seamless implementation.
- We have fully staffed dedicated teams to create the colorful game art and breathtaking animations, as well as advanced technicians who are well versed in codes. We immediately get to work without the downtime and finding the right specialist outside the studio. This greatly speeds up the work and brings the long-awaited release of your product closer.
- Having an office in Ukraine, we understand better than others the current gaming trends not only on the American, but also on the European continent. Our team knows how to design successful games that will be remembered for different audiences with various regional characteristics and preferences. We will give you the most up-to-date tips for skyrocketing your project.
All you have to do is drop a few words about how you want to shake up the game world. Rest assured, together we will succeed.
