7. Sega

Year formed: 1952 (Sega); 1975 (Sammy)

Headquarters: Tokyo

Studios: Creative Assembly (West Sussex, U.K., Fortitude Valley, Australia); Secret Level (San Francisco); Sega Shanghai Studios (Shanghai); Sega Studios (Tokyo); Sega Studios USA (San Francisco); Sports Interactive (London)

Flagging arcade performance caused declining revenues and increased losses for Sega parent Sammy, and as a result, construction of a major arcade center was ended and 400 employees were laid off.

But Sega's sales of home video games were up for the past year, as combined sales of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games passed seven million copies.

Sega showed signs of continued improvement in the home market, with a publishing deal inked with dream-team developer Platinum Games, as well as strong sales of Japanese-made Senjou no Valkyria and a just-before deadline smash with Phantasy Star Portable.

A release schedule double the size of last year's helped ensure that Sega held its position.

Sega/Nintendo's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games