When it comes to international IT and video game companies, Ukraine is considered as one of the best outsourcing options. This region is known for being a source of talented and skilled developers. Every year, more and more businesses pay attention to this Eastern European country, since it is rich for qualified IT experts. Low development prices make this destination even more attractive. There are a great many representatives of European game companies that visit conferences and conventions in Ukraine every year to find and hire well-versed partners. Today, this country is one of the most popular and beneficial outsourcing options.
According to UNIT. City study carried out last year, games created by Ukrainian developers are extremely popular and have an audience that exceeds 770 million players. The most popular projects were created by large studios like Wargaming and Ubisoft. More than half of Ukrainian companies work on mobile applications and small games for Android and iOS devices. Also, most of them are already entering the VR/AR games market.
International Video Game Dev Companies Based in Ukraine
Foreign companies have a great interest in hiring and outsourcing Ukrainian engineers, designers, and developers. Thousands of experts become partners with large European companies and cooperate to create outstanding products that gain incredible success. In this article, we have made a list of video game companies that can boast of having a qualified workforce that attracts businesses from all over the world. These companies develop both Ukrainian and international game market.
Also read our interesting article about video game dev trends
Melior Games
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Kyiv, Ukraine
Melior Games is a Ukrainian game development outsourcing company that already has a strong positive reputation within American and European markets. The company provides services in all major areas of game development that cover game design, art design (2D and 3D), animations & programming. Expertised in different genres of games Melior Games team has an impressive portfolio of puzzles, arcades, actions, adventures, RPGs, and social games which have been distributed to a wide range of platforms: iOS, Android, Xbox, Windows, Mac OS, etc. Today Melior Games is proud of 120+ successfully completed projects and has a reputation of a reliable partner for its customers, providing affordable rates combined with high quality products.
Persha Studio
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Minsk, Belarus
Wargaming started as a Belarussian video game company in 1998. Over a decade, they opened sixteen offices in different regions, including Cyprus, San Francisco, Paris, and Kyiv. The studio located in Kyiv is known as Persha Studio. Namely this department made a great contribution to the World of Tanks development. Later, they created a continuation of the military-themed saga – World of Warplanes. This game is their self-sustained product, which is no less popular than a previous hit – World of Tanks. Currently, this studio is also working on World of Warships, another online action game.
Ubisoft
Founded: 1986
Headquarters: Montreuil, France
Ubisoft is one of the largest and well-known independent development studios in the world. It has 29 offices in 19 regions. Their most popular projects are Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six, Watch Dogs, and more. Assassin’s Creed is definitely one of the greatest game hits of previous years that brought incredible income to Ubisoft. Updates and new series of the franchise are still being launched regularly. Ubisoft’s Ukrainian office is located in Kyiv. It stands behind the following parts of the game: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed III, and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
Playtika
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Israel
When talking about game development in Ukraine, one should mention Playtika. The main office of this company is located in Israel. This studio is known as one of the most prominent iOS and Android app developers in the world. Besides Israel, Playtika has offices in Japan, Belarus, Canada, US, Romania, and Ukraine. There are three of Playtika’s research and development centers located in Ukraine. This company is considered as a top employer in this region and many qualified IT experts strive to get there. Playtika is focused on multi-platform game development. This studio was the first to launch gambling-style free casino game Slotomania on Facebook. This product conquered incredible success and was ranked among top-10 entertainments on social networks. Caesars Interactive Entertainment has bought Playtika for $80 million after a successful launch of Slotomania.
Crytek
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Coburg, Germany
Crytek was founded in 1999 in Coburg, Germany. Over a couple of years, they have opened six more offices in Shanghai, Budapest, Sofia, Seoul, Istanbul, and Kyiv. Crytek’s games are based on their own engine – CryEngine. The game engine was distributed to a number of other studios and many popular games use it. For instance, such titles as Farcry and Kingdom Come also work on the basis of CryEngine. However, in 2015 the license for this software was bought by Amazon. Crytek’s games are recognizable due to stylish and detailed graphics. Most of them are first-person shooters and survival games. Ukrainian game developers that work for this company in Kyiv have created many studio’s products, including one of the most popular – Warface. This free first-person shooting game rocketed right after being launched in 2013.
Playtech
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Douglas, Isle of Man
Playtech is one of the main players in the game development arena. Its developers, licensors, and designers are the most skilled and professional in the entire industry. They have offices in 14 countries, including Ukraine. Company’s office located in Kyiv includes about 500 developers. Mostly, Playtech works on gambling games creation and builds gambling solutions, like poker, casinos, bingo, slots, betting, etc. The most popular products of this studio are Live Casino Games, IPoker, Sports Betting, Virtual Tennis, Poker, Bingo, Casino, etc. Most of them were built by Ukrainian experts. The high level of competition on the gambling market is hard to beat, but Playtech carried away the bell and stay on the top to these days.
Conclusion
Foreign video game companies that open their offices in Ukraine country do that for a reason. Ukrainian employees are known for being creative, dedicated, highly educated, and skilled. What is more, they value work ethics very highly, therefore large studios find cooperation with pros from Kyiv and other cities beneficial in all ways. Such hits of the gaming world as World of Tanks, Warface, and Assassin’s Creed originate from Ukraine, which is the best proof of proficiency local developers have.
Read a full guide on video game dev process in our blog
The development community of this region is large, experienced, and advanced. The companies listed in the list above work on outsourcing products as well as their own projects. Looking for a studio to outsource professional developers, designers, and engineers, one should consider Ukraine as one of the most beneficial options.
