The latest Game Developers Conference (GDC) survey has been released, and it gives a rather glowing overview of how great things are for PC gamers with lots of developers working on games.
With the survey including over 3,000 game developers and industry professionals, they've managed a decent enough sample size. What's really interesting though, is that PC game development is not just alive and well but expanding. As they said last year only "66% of developers reported that they were working on games for PC", but this year "that number climbed up to 80%".
Another interesting point here is that while the Steam Deck was not listed as an option, of those who picked "Other", the survey saw "44% of them wrote in Steam Deck as a platform they’re interested in". They didn't state how many filled out Other though.
Image credit: GDC
PC in this case means Windows specifically since Mac and Linux are separated. The industry still generally writes PC as meaning Windows. Maybe one day we'll break away from it. Update 8PM UTC: Image updated to their newer corrected version for some text.
Developers still don't seem all that keen on AI as well with "30% of respondents reported that they believe that generative AI is having a negative impact on the games industry, which is a 12% increase from last year". However, there's plenty that are using AI as GDC note: "More than half of developers surveyed (52%) work for companies that have implemented generative AI and one-third (36%) personally use them. Respondents within Business and Finance Roles in companies were most likely to use Artificial intelligence tools (51%), followed by Production and Team Leadership (41%) and Community, Marketing and PR (39%)".
Layoffs continue to hit hard too with "11% of developers reported being laid off in the past year".
Going by the results 4% of developers are using the free and open source Godot Engine for their current game, with the majority currently sticking to Unity and Unreal both at at 32%. 13% said they use other proprietary tools and then there's CryEngine at 0.2% and O3DE at 0.1%.
See more in the GDC Survey.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
VR/AR : 114%
Last edited by wytrabbit on 23 Jan 2025 at 6:32 pm UTC
But oh my gosh! VR! VR is exploding with 114%
Haha, this chart is funny.
Seems like they need another pass over this one to correct some text errors.The corrections box is a GOL feature that more websites should copy.
Cyba.Cowboy a day ago
Wild to see the Playdate still plugging away with 1% of the dev numbers.
Are they referring to that crowd-funded thing with the crank, as well as a black and white screen? That is pretty wild, considering how basic the device is!
Another interesting point here is that while the Steam Deck was not listed as an option, of those who picked "Other", the survey saw "44% of them wrote in Steam Deck as a platform they’re interested in".44% of what? How many chose "other"? The article makes it sound like some significant number, but neither are represented on the diagram.
44% of what? How many chose "other"? The article makes it sound like some significant number, but neither are represented on the diagram.If they had said how much, I would have noted it in the article.
If they had said how much, I would have noted it in the article.Not a complaint about you, man. Just commenting on the absurdity of such "statistics" where neither "Steam Deck" nor "Other" is represented, like they intentionally don't want to reveal the numbers.
I own a switch -- and my entire library with the exception of 1 or 2 games is all physical media. I have about 30 games. Why? Because Nintendo does not have a great track record with allowing users to keep their library when moving to the next gen console. Nintendo switch 2 seems to not be that way, but what about the next console. These games can cost 40-70 dollars. That is a major investment to just lose and not be able to resell. And at least where I am, even in the pawn shops -- Nintendo physical media all the way back to the original NES and all systems up to the switch still retain their value for the most part. Some have increased.
I think the switch would not have been as successful if it didnt have physical media, but thats just my opinion.
Physical media aside, with Nintendo's track record and mistreatment of it's playerbase, the Steam Deck offers people access to their up to 20 year old library. And they can access that library on any other computer. It's a no brainer.
Why am I talking so much about Nintendo? This survey shows that 8% are developing for it. That is a really terrible statistic. Not only that, how many people do you know that are excited about the switch 2? It is supposed to be backwards compatible, so why buy one? This feels like the Wii U all over again.
Most new games that are coming out other than some exceptions and choice indie titles are pretty garbage. It has been this way for a few years at least. I wont go in to the whys on this but the numbers speak for themselves. The other numbers that speak for themselves though are the MTX/DLC and live service numbers. PC gaming has turned in to mobile gaming in many ways. Of course there is a huge focus on it.
I have a large Steam and GOG collection. I have quite a bit physical media for a variety of systems and emulation is fantastic. I see little value in modern game releases and really have not been excited about a game release for some time. Everyone has something they are excite for, which I think is great (for me it is the new grim dawn expansion). Other than that, excitement has been replaced by pessimism because publishers dont use hype like the old days to get you excited for a passion project, they use false hype and lies to get as much as they can out of you before you realize you have been scammed as possible. Modern gaming is complete ass.
Metallinatus 5 hours ago
The math just doesn't work, you know? 🧐
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