The San Francisco Bay Area is arguably the epicenter of the games industry universe. This number of studios in the Bay area is large (and constantly fluctuating), and it includes studios that do just about every type of game development imaginable. AAA development? Localization of obscure Japanese titles? Hardcore social games? Educational mobile apps? Major industry conferences? All of the above, and that barely scratches the surface. If something is happening in the games industry, you can bet that it’s happening in some way, shape or form in the Bay Area.
The Bay Area includes a few major cities and several smaller towns. For the purposes of this list, it stretches from about Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa.
Many of these studios are part of a larger organization. In each case, we’re trying to list the notable projects and size for that specific studio, not the larger company. If you see a “?” for something that seems obvious, that’s probably why. Let us know if you have info for something that we’re missing.
Remember to check out our job listings to see if there are any openings in the Bay Area.
| COMPANY | NOTABLE PROJECTS | FOCUS | STUDIO SIZE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2D Boy (Novato) | World of Goo | Downloadable, Mobile | 1-10 |
| 2K Games (Novato) | Corporate Office | Management | ? |
| 2K Marin (Novato) | Bioshock 2 | Consoles, PC | ? |
| 2K Sports - Visual Concepts (Novato) | NBA 2K Series | Consoles | 51-200 |
| 6waves | Astro Garden, Township | Social | ? |
| Aeria Games (Santa Clara) | Eden Eternal, Shaia | PC, Web, Mobile | 201-500 |
| Agetec (Sunnyvale) | Way of the Samurai | Consoles, Handheld | ? |
| Atakama Labs | Little Cave Hero | Social | 11-50 |
| Autumn Moon Entertainmen (Peteluma) | Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, Vampyre Story | Mobile, PC | ? |
| Backbone Entertainment (Emeryville) | Rock Band 3 (Wii) | Consoles, Downloadable | 51-200 |
| Big Fish - Self Aware Games Studio (Oakland) | Big Fish Casino, Fleck | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Bioware | Dragon Age Legends | Social, Web | ? |
| Blue Shift (Mountain View) | Luminati Rendering Engine | Tools | 11-50 |
| Breaktime Studios | Sweet Shop, Pocket Potions | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Capcom (San Mateo) | ? | Consoles, Handhelds | ? |
| Chronic Logic (Santa Cruz) | Bridge Construction Set | PC | 1-10 |
| Crowdpark | Bet Tycoon, Pet Vegas | Social | 11-50 |
| Crowdstar (Burlingame) | Modern Girl, Tower Town | Mobile, Social | 51-200 |
| Cryptic Sea (Santa Cruz) | Somnia, A New Zero | PC | 1-10 |
| Cryptic Studios (San Jose) | Champions Online, City of Heroes | PC | 51-200 |
| Crystal Dynamics (Menlo Park) | Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain | Consoles, Handhelds, PC | 51-200 |
| Digital Chocolate (San Mateo) | Galaxy Life, Gangs of Boomtown | Social, Web | ? |
| Digital Praise (Fremont) | Dance Praise, Amazing Bible | Religious Games | 11-50 |
| Double Fine | Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Costume Quest | Consoles, Downloadable | 51-200 |
| EA (Redwood Shores) | Involved in all EA titles | Operations - World Headquarters | 500+ |
| Exit Games | Photon Network Engine | Tools | 11-50 |
| Free Range Games (Sausalito) | FreeFall | Social | 11-50 |
| Frogster America | Runes of Magic | PC | ? |
| FunMobility (Pleasanton) | Narlii's Four Score, Zombie Hunter | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Funzio | Crime City, Modern War | Mobile, Social | 51-200 |
| Gaijin Games | Bit.Trip.Beat | Mobile, Downloadable | ? |
| Gameloft | ? | Mobile, Social | ? |
| Gazillion Entertainment (San Mateo) | Super Hero Squad Online | Web | 201-500 |
| GenPlay Games (San Jose) | Pro Dominoes Online, Muncher | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Glu (San Mateo) | Blood & Glory, Contract Killers - Zombies | Mobile | ? |
| Graffiti Entertainment (Redwood City) | High Tech Racing | Mobile, Downloadable | ? |
| Gravity Bear (Emeryville) | Battle Punks | Social | 1-10 |
| Hands-On Mobile | Deadliest Catch, COPS | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Hexify (Mountain View) | Journey of Moses, Legend Hunter | Social | 11-50 |
| HopeLab (Palo Alto) | Zamzee, Re-Mission | Gamification | 11-50 |
| HumaNature Studios (Albany) | Deko-Deko Mail | Social | 1-10 |
| Hypnos Entertainment (San Jose) | Contract work on many titles | Contract services | 11-50 |
| Idle Games | Idle Worship | Social | 51-200 |
| Ignite Game Technologies | Simraceway | Web | ? |
| IMVU (Palo Alto | Virtual chat rooms | Social | 51-200 |
| Interbang Entertainment | Super Comboman, Shinobi Ninja Attacks | Mobile | ? |
| Iron Realms | Achaea, Imperion | Web | 1-10 |
| iWin | Casual game platform | Web | 51-200 |
| Joju (Berkeley) | Bobby Nutcase series, Bubble Atlantis | Web | ? |
| Kabam | Kingdoms of Camelot | Social | 201-500 |
| Kixeye | War Commander, Battle Pirates | Social | 51-200 |
| KlickNation | Business Development for KlickNation | Social | ? |
| Konami (Redwood City) | North American publishing of Konami titles | Operations | ? |
| KRU Interactive (Santa Clara) | Nexus TK, Shattered Galaxy | PC | ? |
| Last Day of Work | Virtual Villagers series, Virtual Families | PC, Mac, Mobile | 1-10 |
| Lazy 8 Studios | Cogs | PC, Mobile | 1-10 |
| LeapFrog (Emeryville) | Educational software and hardware | Educational | 201-500 |
| Linden Lab | Second Life | Virtual Worlds | ? |
| Loot Drop (San Bruno) | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Commander | Social | 11-50 |
| Machine Zone (Palo Alto) | Original Gangstaz, Global War | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Mastiff Games | Reload, Heavy Fire Afghanistan | Consoles, Handhelds | 1-10 |
| Maxis (Emeryville) | The Sims, Sim City | PC, Consoles | 51-200 |
| Meez | Meez Nation | Social | 11-50 |
| Metro Games (Mountain View) | Coco Girl, Auto Hustle | Social, Mobile | 51-200 |
| Mighty Play | Licensed titles | Mobile, Web | 1-10 |
| MunkyFun | Bounty Bots, My Horse | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Namco Bandai (Santa Clara) | Tekken, PAC-MAN | Consoles, Handhelds, Mobile | 201-500 |
| Natsume (Burlingame) | Harvest Moon, Reel Fishing | Consoles, Handhelds | 51-200 |
| ngmoco:) | We Farm, Rolando | Mobile | 51-200 |
| nStigate (Novato) | ? | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Number None | Braid | Downloadable | 1-10 |
| Outspark | Fiesta, Luvinia | PC, Web | 11-50 |
| Perfect World (Foster City) | Legend of Martial Arts, Perfect World series | PC | 51-200 |
| Planet Moon Studios | Drawn to Life, Armed and Dangerous | Consoles | 500+ |
| Playdom | ? | Social | ? |
| PlayFirst | Diner Dash, Chocolatier | Mobile, PC, Online | 51-200 |
| Playfish USA | ? | Social | ? |
| Pocket Gems | Tap Paradise Cove, Tap Safari | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Red Robot Labs (Palo Alto) | Life is Crime, Forever Drive | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Redbana (San Mateo) | Hellgate, Audition | Web | 11-50 |
| Robot Invader (Mountain View) | Wind-up Knight | Mobile | ? |
| Rocket Ninja | Wrestler Unstoppable | Social | 11-50 |
| RockYou (Redwood City) | Zoo World, Galactic Allies | Social | 51-200 |
| Rumble Games (Redwood City) | Kings Road | Social, Mobile | 11-50 |
| Sanzaru Games (Foster City) | Mystery Case Files, The Sly Files | Consoles | 11-50 |
| SecretBuilders (San Mateo) | SecretBuilders | Virtual Worlds | ? |
| Sega | ? | Consoles, Handhelds | ? |
| Social Gaming Network (Palo Alto) | Jewels of the Amazon, Bubble Atlantis | Social, Mobile | 51-200 |
| SilverTree Media (Palo Alto) | Cordy Sky, Pixie Hollow | Mobile, Web | 11-50 |
| Skunk Studios | Daily Mah Jong, Flux Family Secrets | Web, Mobile | 11-50 |
| Slang (Redwood City) | ? | Consoles | ? |
| Sledgehammer Games (Foster City) | Call of Duty | Consoles | 51-200 |
| Sony Computer Entertainment (Foster City) | Operations | Operations | 500+ |
| Sourcebits | ? | Contract development | 11-50 |
| Spyra | Global Attack | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Star Filled Studios | ? | ? | 1-10 |
| Stickery | Mermaid Waters | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Storm8 (Redwood City | World War, Pets Live | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Stupid Fun Club (Berkeley | ? | ? | 1-10 |
| Supergiant Games | Bastion | Downloadable | 1-10 |
| Tagged | ? | Social | ? |
| Tecmo Koei America | Publishing of Tecmo and Koei titles | Publishing, Localization | ? |
| Telltale Games (San Rafael) | The Walking Dead, Sam and Max | Episodic Games, PC | 51-200 |
| Three Rings | Doctor Who - Worlds in Time, Spiral Knights | Web | 11-50 |
| TikGames (San Mateo) | Gold Fever, Scary Girl | Mobile, Downloadable, Handheld | 51-200 |
| Tin Truck (San Mateo) | Grem Legends | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Tintash (Palo Alto) | Lonely Planet - Globetripper, Stickcricket | Mobile | ? |
| Tiny Speck | Glitch | Web | 11-50 |
| Toys for Bob (Novato) | Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure | Consoles, Handhelds | 51-200 |
| Trion Worlds (Redwood City) | RIFT | PC, Operations | ? |
| Ubisoft | Rocksmith, Just Dance | Consoles, Handhelds | ? |
| Unknown Worlds | Natural Selection | PC, Tools | 1-10 |
| Vector Unit (San Rafael) | Shine Runner, Riptide GP | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Virtual Space Environment (San Rafael) | Varis Rift | Virtual Worlds | ? |
| Visceral Games (Redwood Shores) | Dead Space, Dante's Inferno | Consoles, PC | 51-200 |
| Wolfire Games (Berkeley) | Overgrowth, Lugaru | PC, Mac, Mobile | 1-10 |
| ZipZapPlay | Baking LIfe | Social | 1-10 |
| Zynga | ? | Operations, Social | 500+ |
References: Wikipedia (game company list), GameDevMap, Linkedin, studio pages
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