Veterans are building businesses across the gaming industry, from virtual reality and independent game development to tabletop games and esports. Their companies also show that working in gaming does not always mean joining a major studio.
Some Veteran-owned companies are developing commercial games, while others are creating simulations, running esports teams, hosting game-development events, or building products by hand. Here are five that are active today.
Combat Waffle Studios
Combat Waffle Studios is a U.S. military Veteran-owned game studio based in North Port, Florida. Founded in 2022, the company has built its reputation around virtual reality survival and combat games.
Its best-known title is Ghosts of Tabor, a VR extraction shooter available across Meta Quest, SteamVR, PlayStation VR2, and PICO. The studio has since released GRIM and Silent North, along with Ghosts of Tabor: LEGACY, a standalone version that preserves the game’s 2024 experience.
LEGACY reached No. 1 among paid games on the Meta Quest Store after its 2026 release. Combat Waffle also announced in August that Neem Interactive had become the new publishing partner for Ghosts of Tabor, while Combat Waffle continues to own and develop the game.
Grunt Games
Army Veteran Dewayne Cameron founded Grunt Games in Grovetown, Georgia, after retiring from a 21-year Army career and earning a degree in game design from Full Sail University.
Cameron’s experience includes developing educational games and simulators for the U.S. military. Grunt Games now works across game development, game-based learning, software development, testing, simulation, and other interactive projects.
The company has also worked on concepts that use gaming and motion-sensor technology in physical and occupational rehabilitation. Grunt Games is an example of how game-development skills can move beyond entertainment into training, education, and rehabilitation technology.
Deadwood Games
Deadwood Games is a 100% Veteran-owned tabletop gaming company operated by Navy Veteran Matt Terry in California.
The business is currently focused on Pioneers in Peril, a Western strategy board game for two to four players. Terry designs the game, laser-cuts its wooden components, assembles each copy, and handles fulfillment himself.
The first production run is limited to 100 individually numbered, handcrafted copies. Its Gamefound crowdfunding campaign launched in September 2026 and is currently underway.
Deadwood Games takes a different path from a traditional video game studio, but it shows another side of Veteran entrepreneurship in gaming. A single designer can develop a game, manufacture it, build an audience, and take it directly to players.
Aristos Interactive
Aristos Interactive is an independent Veteran-owned game studio founded in 2025 by three Marine Corps Veterans.
The studio started with Roach Ranglers during a game jam in February 2025 and has since developed several playable projects, including I Have No Mouth and I Must Blob, Where the Stars End, and Bear B&B: Bash & Brutalize.
Aristos has also become active in the game-development community through its own recurring game jams. Aristos Interactive Jam #8 begins Sept. 25 and gives developers three days to create a playable game based on a theme announced when the event begins.
The jams are designed to be beginner-friendly, and Aristos plays submitted games afterward and features them in videos. That adds a community-development side to the studio beyond its own projects.
West Plains Vanguard
West Plains Vanguard represents the esports side of Veteran-owned gaming. Founded in 2025, the organization is based in southern Missouri and describes itself as Veteran-owned and military-inspired.
West Plains Vanguard currently lists two competitive titles, five active players, and three sponsors. Its mission extends beyond competing in esports. The organization is working to create career pathways and industry opportunities for players, graduates, and aspiring esports professionals in the region.
Those opportunities can include competition, broadcasting, event production, marketing, coaching, content creation, technology, and team operations.
Different Paths into Gaming
These companies show how wide the gaming industry has become. Combat Waffle builds VR games, Grunt Games works across development and simulation, Deadwood Games produces handcrafted tabletop games, Aristos Interactive develops games and supports new creators, and West Plains Vanguard builds opportunities through esports.
Military experience does not translate into only one gaming career. Veterans are using technical skills, leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurship to build companies across industries they once knew only as players.
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