The Seattle area is home to some of the most biggest game companies in the industry. Microsoft, Nintendo of America, and Valve – all have their headquarters in the area. Genre-defining titles like Half-Life and Halo were created here. There are a few cities with more studios, but it’s hard to argue with the quality of companies and titles coming out of Seattle.
The presence of Microsoft has certainly had an impact in spawning a thriving scene of game developers – the abundance of Microsoft millionaires meant that there was an ample supply of both money and talent available to help start new companies (see – Seattle tech history). That type of investment and infrastructure has helped turn Seattle into one of the most impressive hotbeds for game development in the U.S.
This lists includes studios in Seattle, as well as suburbs like Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond.
Remember to check out our job listings to see if there are any openings in Seattle.
| COMPANY | NOTABLE PROJECTS | FOCUS | STUDIO SIZE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 343 Industries (Kirkland) | Halo 4 | Consoles | 201-500 |
| 5th Cell (Bellevue) | Hybrid, Scribblenauts | Handhelds, Downloadable | 51-200 |
| Airtight Games | Dark Void | Consoles | 51-200 |
| Anomaly Labs (Tacoma) | Techpocalypse | Social | 1-10 |
| ArenaNet - NCsoft (Bellevue) | Guild Wars | PC | 201-500 |
| Beep Industries (Bothell) | Realms of Gold, Word Spiral | Downloadable | 1-10 |
| Big Fish Games | Large library of casual web titles | Web, Downloadable, Mobile | 51-200 |
| Boomzap | Antique Road Trip, Otherworld | PC, Mobile | 1-10 |
| Brethren Entertainment (Everett) | Christian titles | PC | ? |
| Bungie (Bellevue) | Halo, Marathon | Consoles, PC | 201-500 |
| Carbon Games (Bellevue) | AirMech | Web, PC | 1-10 |
| Cascade Game Foundry | ? | Simulation | 1-10 |
| CatDaddy Games (Kirkland) | Carnival Games | Consoles, Handhelds | 11-50 |
| CloakWorks Interactive | Shroud Cloth Simulation Engine | Tools | 1-10 |
| Detonator Games | Noah's Ark, DetoNation | Social, Mobile | 1-10 |
| Digital Chocolate - Sandlot Studios (Bothell) | Cake Mania | Downloadable, Web | 11-50 |
| Digital Eel (Kirkland) | Data Jammers, Soup du Jour | PC, Mobile | 1-10 |
| DoubleBear Productions | Dead State | PC | 1-10 |
| DreamBox (Bellevue) | Educational Software | Educational | 11-50 |
| En Masse Entertainment | TERA (Publishing) | Publishing | 51-200 |
| FlowPlay | ourWorld, downWorld | Web | 11-50 |
| Flying Lab Software | Pirates of the Burning Sea, Upper Deck U | PC | 51-200 |
| Fuel Cell Games | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Downloadable | 1-10 |
| Fun Bits | Escape Plan | Handhelds, Downloadable | 11-50 |
| GameHouse | Large library of casual Games | Web, PC | 51-200 |
| Gas Powered Games (Redmond) | Age of Empires Online, Supreme Commander | PC | 51-200 |
| Glu Mobile (Kirkland) | ? | Mobile | ? |
| Good Science Studios - Microsoft (Redmond) | Kinect Adventures, Kinect Fun Labs | Consoles | 51-200 |
| Guppy Games (Bellevue) | Tank Wars, Cubetrix Chaos | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Her Interactive | Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys | PC | 11-50 |
| Hidden Path Entertainment (Bellevue) | Defense Grid: You Monster, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | Downloadable | 11-50 |
| HipSoft (Redmond) | Shop it Up, Build-a-lot | Web, PC | 1-10 |
| Leviathan Games | Licensed Titles | Contract Development | 1-10 |
| Linden Lab | Second Life | Virtual Worlds | ? |
| Microsoft (Redmond) | Xbox 360, Kinect | Corporate Headquarters | 500+ |
| Monolith (Kirkland) | Gotham City Imposters, FEAR | Consoles, PC | 51-200 |
| NCsoft West | ? | Operations, PC | ? |
| Nintendo of America (Redmond) | North American Operations | Consoles, Handheld, Operations | 500+ |
| PopCap Games | Bejewled, Plants vs. Zombies | Web, Downloadable, Mobile | 201-500 |
| PressOk Entertainment | Gin Rummy, Fantasy Date | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Runic Games | Torchlight | PC, Mac | 11-50 |
| Screenlife Games | Scene It? | Consoles, Mobile, DVD | 51-200 |
| Signal Studios (Bothell) | Toy Soldiers | Downloadable | 11-50 |
| Smashing Ideas | Stunt Bugs, Polar Bear Payback | Mobile | 51-200 |
| Smith & Tinker | Whirleo, Kapow! | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Snowblind Studios (Bothell) | Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Champions of Norrath | Consoles, PC | 51-200 |
| Spiderweb Software | Avernum, Avadon | PC, Mac | 1-10 |
| Spry Fox (Juanita) | Triple Town, Panda Poet | Mobile | 1-10 |
| Sucker Punch Productions (Bellevue) | Infamous, Sly Cooper | Consoles | 51-200 |
| Sunleaf Studios (Redmond) | Pandanda | Web | ? |
| The Amazing Society (Issaquah) | Super Hero Squad Online | PC | 11-50 |
| Torpex Games (Redmond) | Bejeweled Blitz LIVE!, Schizoid | Downloadable | 1-10 |
| Turn 10 Studios - Microsoft (Redmond) | Forza Motorsport | Consoles | 51-200 |
| U4iA | ? | Web | 11-50 |
| Uber Entertainment (Kirkland) | Monday Night Combat | Downloadable | 11-50 |
| Undead Labs | Class3 (code name) | Downloadable | 11-50 |
| Valcon Games (Bellevue) | Adventures of Shuggy, The Baconing | Publishing | ? |
| Valkyrie Entertainment | Crackdown (contract), Infamous 2 (contract) | Contract Art Services | 11-50 |
| Valve (Bellevue) | Half-Life, Portal, Steam | PC | 201-500 |
| WB Games (Kirkland) | ? | Consoles, PC | ? |
| Wild Tangent (Redmond) | Casual Game Portal | Web | ? |
| Wizards of the Coast (Renton) | Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons | Downloadable, Table Top | 51-200 |
| WXP Games | Xotic | Downloadable, Contract Developer | 1-10 |
| Z2Live | Battle Nations, Trade Nations | Mobile | 11-50 |
| Zombie Studios | Blacklight Retribution | Consoles, PC, Contract Services | 51-200 |
| Zynga Seattle | Zynga Ad Platform | Social | ? |
Seattle is also home to one of first schools to offer a series of game design degrees: Digipen.
References: Wikipedia (game company list), GameDevMap, Linkedin, studio pages