While there are video game companies that create games for people to set aside money and buy their games, there are companies that no longer exist (in the present) for reasons that range from being bankrupt, closed, its name/assets being acquired by another company or were merged with one or more companies to form another onenote . Others are defunct due to a company deciding to divest itself from the video game industry in an effort to minimize financial losses. In a rare instance, the reasons why they are closed are not publicly disclosed.
Even though these companies no longer exist, they (at one point) published/developed games that would make gaming history or at times, bomb hard that they would force a company to close its doors due to an inability to make a lot of revenue.
See Creator Killer, where a work ruins the reputation of a creator forever. Canceled Video Games are for video games that are canceled before they could be officially released.
For games in Development Hell, but have yet to be officially cancelled, see Vaporware. Defunct Online Video Games are for online games that are shut down as their developers and/or publishers sometimes closed their doors.
Examples:
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Assets acquired
- Brøderbund Software: Acquired by The Learning Company in 1998. Ubisoft holds trademark rights to Broderbund Software as of 2001.
- Davidson & Associates: Acquired by Knowledge Adventure (later JumpStart Games) in 1998.
- Delphine Software International: Acquired by Doki Denki in 2004, which itself shut down in July 2004.
- Double Helix Games: Assets acquired by Amazon and created Amazon Game Studios in February 2014.
- Edmark: Acquired by IBM in 1996, then sold to Riverdeep Interactive Learning (today Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology) in 2000. Edmark went defunct by 2017, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (the parent company of HMHLT) sold most of the rights to Edmark's products in 2021.
- Eidos Interactive: Acquired by Square Enix in 2009 and was used to create Square Enix Europe. Trademark naming rights acquired by Embracer Group in 2022.
- FormGen: The company was acquired by GT Interactive Software in July 1996.
- Gremlin Interactive: Acquired by Zoo Digital in 2003 before Urbanscan acquired its properties in 2011.
- Hasbro Interactive: Sold to Infogrames in 2001.
- Hudson Soft: Acquired by Konami in 2012 after numerous people resigned, including co-founder Hiroshi Kudo, due to financial issues. By 2014, HS' assets/properties were acquired by Konami.
- Humongous Entertainment: Acquired by GT Interactive Software in 1996. GT itself would be acquired by Infogrames and later be renamed to Atari, Inc. Humongous Entertainment's development staff was laid off in 2005, and the remaining company and its assets was sold to majority parent company Infogrames Entertainment SA (today Atari SA), who would turn it into Humongous, Inc. and use the Humongous name as a brand for Junior Adventures re-releases and new games in the Backyard Sports franchise. The Humongous brand and most of its related assets were sold to Tommo Inc. in 2013, with the exceptions of MoonBase Commandernote and Backyard Sports.note
- KnowWonder: Absorbed by Amaze Entertainment.
- The Learning Company: Acquired by SoftKey in 1995 due to takeover bid. In 1999, Mattel acquired it.
- Lionhead Studios: Acquired by Microsoft in 2006, shut down in 2016.
- LJN Toys: Sold to Acclaim.
- NovaLogic: Acquired by THQ Nordic in 2016, has remained dormant since then.
- Pandemic Studios: Was acquired in 2005 by Elevation Partners and placed under the VG Holding Group. It was later sold to Electronic Arts in 2007, who then shuttered Pandemic in 2009.
- Psikyo: Acquired by X-Nauts in 2002, which itself went bankrupt in 2005.
- Ritual Entertainment: Acquired by MumboJumbo in 2007 after bleeding money from an aborted mission pack for Quake IV.
- Sierra: Acquired by CUC Software in 1996, which was ultimately acquired by Vivendi after several interim transfers. Vivendi in turn merged with Activision to become Activision Blizzard in 2008, and the Sierra division was closed shortly thereafter. Activision Blizzard revived the name for a time in the late 2010s to re-release their games.
- Telltale Games: Liquidated all assets in 2018; were bought out by LCG Entertainment a year afterward.
- Westwood Studios: Assets acquired in 1998 by Electronic Arts. Studio later disbanded in March 2003.
Bankrupt
- The 3DO Company: Went bankrupt in May 2003.
- Acclaim: Went bankrupt in 2004. Assets were purchased by former Activision CEO Howard Marks to establish Acclaim Games, which itself was dissolved in 2010 after being acquired by Playdom.
- AlphaDream: Went bankrupt in October 2019 following the failure of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, a remake of the Nintendo DS game that became the worst-selling game in the Mario franchise.
- Boss Key Productions: After LawBreakers failed to find success, they made a last ditch effort to jump into the Battle Royale Game trend with Radical Heights, a very-early-alpha stage game that ultimately got shut down when the company went bankrupt. Cliff Bleszinski left the gaming industry when his studio shut down.
- Cinemaware: Went bankrupt in 1991 due to low sales and piracy. Trademark/assets acquired by 2005 by eGames.
- Cing: Filed for bankruptcy in 2010 due to heavy liabilities.
- Compile: Went bankrupt by 2003; many former staff members went on to establish Compile Heart.
- Data Design Interactive: The company went defunct in August of 2012.
- Data East: Went bankrupt in 2003.
- Dark Energy Digital: Went bankrupt in 2012 due to the company literally running out of money.
- Deadline Games: Declared bankruptcy in 2009 after the failure of Watchmen: The End Is Nigh.
- Gainax: The studio, which also made video games, folded in 2025 due to insolvency.
- GameTek: Went bankrupt in 1997 after turning over most of its publishing duties to Philips Records the year prior. Most of their assets were acquired by Take-Two Interactive that year, and they finally went out of business entirely in July 1998.
- Human Entertainment: Declared bankruptcy in 2000 due to failure to negotiate their restructuring deal over 3.79 billion yen.
- Makh-Shevet Limited: Declared bankruptcy shortly after the failure of Armed & Delirious. Later it merged with Media Plus in 1997.
- Midway Games: Went bankrupt in early 2009 and finally closed its doors in 2010 with Warner Bros. gaining Midway's gaming library.
- New World Computing: Dissolved during the bankruptcy of their parent company 3DO in May 2003.
- Playlogic Entertainment: Went out of business in 2010, shortly after the release of Fairytale Fights.
- Silicon Knights: Declared bankruptcy and was closed in 2014 due to a loss on a court case against Epic Games over their use of Unreal Engine 3 and their unauthorised copying of code and comments from Epic's engine to their own game engine.
- Silmarils: Went bankrupt in 2003.
- THQ: Was bankrupt, closed on September 2013. Their assets would later be acquired by Nordic Games Holding (later Embracer Group) in 2016, leading to the formation of THQ Nordic.
- Titus Software: Declared bankruptcy and closed in 2005.
- Toaplan: Was bankrupt and closed in 1994.
Closed
- Atari Games: Closed down by Midway Games in 2003 following the failure of Dr. Muto.
- Banpresto: Closed in 2008. Video game operations moved to Bandai Namco Entertainment. Toy-based operations moved to Bandai Spirits.
- Bigbig Studios: Closed by Sony in 2012.
- Bizarre Creations: Closed in 2011 after it was acquired by Activision.
- Black Isle Studios: A subsidiary of Interplay, who had shut them down in 2003, revived them in 2012, then shut down again in 2016.
- Blitz Games Studios: Closed in 2013.
- Bluepoint Games: Closed in 2026 by Sony.
- Bullfrog Productions: Acquired by EA in 1995, who then shut them down in 2004.
- Clover Studio: Closed by Capcom in 2007.
- Core Design: After changing hands a few times, eventually ended acquired by Rebellion in 2006, renamed "Rebellion Derby'' and closed in 2010.
- DreamWorks Interactive: Closed by EA in 2013.
- Ensemble Studios: After the proposed Halo MMO was scrapped in 2007, the studio was heavily downsized and ultimately shutdown in 2009 following the release of Halo Wars.
- Evolution Studios: Closed by Sony in 2016.
- Firewalk Studios: Acquired by Sony in 2023, shut down in October 2024 after the catastrophic failure of Concord.
- FTL Games: Closed down in 1996.
- Gas Powered Games: Acquired by Wargaming.net in 2013, shut down in 2018.
- Gray Matter: Closed down in 1997 due to a lack of funding.
- Guerrilla Cambridge: Closed in 2017.
- Impressions Games: Closed by Vivendi Universal in 2004.
- The Initiative: Closed by Microsoft in 2025 without releasing a single game, with their reboot of Perfect Dark cancelled as well.
- Infocom: Acquired by Activision in 1986. The Infocom division was shut down in 1989, though a few titles were released under the Zork name in the 1990s. The Infocom trademark was abandoned in 2002.
- Innerloop Studios: Closed in 2003 due to a lack of funding.
- Ion Storm: Closed in 2005 after Eidos Interactive acquired it.
- Irrational Games: Downsized drastically before it was closed in 2014.
- Jaleco: Closed in 2014.
- JumpStart Games: Closed in 2023.
- The Learning Company: Dissolved around 2002.
- Legend Entertainment: Dissolved in 2004.
- Looking Glass Studios: Ran out of money in 2000 and closed.
- Megatech Software: Closed between 1997 and 1999, exact date is unknown.
- Monolith Productions: Closed in 2025 by Warner Bros. Games to shift attention to develop core intellectual properties.
- Nihilistic Software: Closed in 2012 due to mediocre reception of Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified.
- Origin Systems: Acquired by EA in 1992, who then shut them down in 2004.
- Player First Games: Acquired and closed by Warner Bros. Games in 2025 after the launch and commercial failure of their only title, MultiVersus.
- Psygnosis: Acquired by Sony in 1993, eventually closed in 2012.
- Sanzaru Games: Closed by Meta in January 2026 due to layoffs.
- SegaSoft: Was closed in 2000. At the time, most staff were moved to Sega.com.
- Sega Technical Institute: Closed in 1996 due to management changes in Sega following the high-profile Troubled Production and cancellation of their last-developed game, Sonic X-treme.
- SETA Corporation: Closed in 2009 due to financial decline. Its assets were acquired by parent company Aruze.
- SIE Japan Studio: Closed in 2021 by Sony.
- SIE London Studio: Closed in 2024 by Sony.
- Silverball Studios: Closed in 2012.
- Sir-Tech: Unwound its operations and shut down in 2003.
- Software Creations: Closed in 2004 by Acclaim.
- Spark Unlimited: Shut down in 2015. Their last released game was the poorly received Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.
- Strategic Simulations, Inc.: Acquired by Ubisoft, who dismantled and retired the brand in 2001.
- Swordfish Studios: Birmingham division acquired by Codemasters in 2008, officially closed in 2010.
- Tragnarion Studios: Folded in 2014 after five games, the last one concluding with an Accidental Downer Ending.
- Troika Games: Shut down in 2005 after Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines failed to sell.
- Torus Games: Closed in March 2024 after cancelling all future projects and laying off all employees except for founder Bill McIntosh.
- Twisted Pixel: Closed by Meta in January 2026 due to layoffs.
- Volition: Closed in August 2023 after the failure of Saints Row (2022).
- Working Designs: Closed in 2005 due to layoffs.
- Zombie Studios: Closed in 2015 as founders Mark Long and Joanna Alexander wanted to retire from the video game business.
Left industry
- Disney Interactive Studios: Shut down their publishing arm in 2016 due to a string of failures and the subsequent cancellation of Disney Infinity; now exists solely as a licensing department.
- LEGO Interactivenote : Closed by The LEGO Group in 2004 as part of a broader company effort to streamline the company and refocus their efforts on their brick sets after LEGO's attempt at being a Multimedia company backfired.
- LucasArts: Shut down their developing and publishing arms in 2013 shortly after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. Now exists solely as a licensing department under Lucasfilm Games.
Merged
- Bandai: Merged with Namco in March 2006 to create Namco Bandai Games (now Bandai Namco Games).
- Black Box Games: Merged with Electronic Arts under EA Canada in 2009 as part of consolidation plans with a rename to Quicklime Games in 2012. It was later closed in 2013.
- Namco: Merged with Bandai in March 2006 to create Namco Bandai Games (now Bandai Namco Games).
- Neversoft: Merged with Infinity Ward in 2014.
- Ocean Software: Merged with Infogrames in 1998. Assets/propeties later acquired by Bandai Namco Games in 2009 by acquiring Atari's European assets.
- Pack-In-Video: The creators of the first Harvest Moon game, Harvest Moon 1, merged with Victor Interactive Software to form Victor Entertainment in 1996. Victor Entertainment continued to publish games until it was acquired by Marvelous Entertainment in 2003 (now just Marvelous) who still holds the rights to and publish games in the series, which is titled Story of Seasons as of 2014.
- Shiny Entertainment: Merged with The Collective to form Double Helix Games in 2008.
- Sony Imagesoft: In 1995, SI's marketing division was merged to Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Video game division merged to SCEA's product development branch and became Sony Interactive Studios America, later changed names to 989 Studios. Computer software division only had name changed to Sony Interactive PC Software America.
- Tecmo: Merged with Koei in 2009 to create Koei Tecmo.
- Vivendi Universal Games: Merged with Activision in 2008 to form Activision Blizzard.
Not disclosed
- Hi Tech Expressions: Undisclosed, but was reportedly closed by 1994.
- Kaneko: Assumed to be closed as of 2007. A civil lawsuit was filed in 2006, which threatened its existence.
- Music Pen: Last active around 1999.
- Vatical Entertainment: Known to be closed in 2001 with no reason indicated.