Despite themassive growthwithin the gaming industry in recent years, it’s saddening to see that the developers behind our favorite games still face constant struggles. With 2024 seeing some of themost intense layoffsever within the industry, recent statistics mirror that ongoing battle.
The Game Developers Conference recently releasedthis year’s big survey, which polled thousands of developers regarding the latest trends and changes. Compared tolast year’s numbers, the survey shows a massive shift in the industry within the last year.
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Of course, some of the most interesting trends include how game developers have been especially hit hard by layoffs, butadditionally, there are massive changes within the industry regarding live services and generative AI.
Despitegenerative AI’s growth, with companies regularly implementing it within their games and workflow, it doesn’t necessarily mean that developers themselves support this transition into a generative AI future.
The most deafening fact in this year’s survey is that41% of developers now feel that layoffs have directly impacted their lives, with 29% saying they have had a friend or colleague get fired.
Recent layoffsfrom UbisoftandMicrosofthave utterly shattered the lives of hundreds of employees, including many right before the holiday season. With thewar of acquisitions, we’ve also seen some publishers and companiesfire entire teams; of the 41% impacted, 4% had seen their entire studio get laid off.
Sure, there are distinct massive flops likeConcord, but this is only a small part of the puzzle, and we must acknowledge the overall trend in the industry.The survey later describes how 33% of AAA developers are actively working on a live service title.
Granted, the overall statistic is smaller when considering the entire industry, with smaller AA teams and indies largely avoiding the live-service business model. But the statistic helps describe why companies likeSonyhave undergone such massive changes as theytry to break outof the live-service bubble.
The Shift Towards Generative AI
Another important statistic from the recent data set is that52% of workers say their company implements generative AI, 36% say they use it themselves, and another 30% believe that it’s negatively impacting the industry as a whole.
In the previous year’s survey, a majority, 84%, were already somewhat concerned about the ethical nature of generative AI in game creation. Compare this to companies' positive standpoints regarding generative AI, and you can see how there may be a disconnect between companies and their staff.
While companies likeEA announced massive stepstowards generative AI, posing it as a pillar of their future experiences, they also didmassive downsizing, laying off hundreds at the beginning of this year alone.
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It’s an amusing yet saddening contradiction.Even though these AAA companies are the first to advance generative AI, live-service business models, and substantial newprojects that cost millions, the staff tends to take the brunt of the negative impacts.
These statistics are not the most positive sign for the life of your everyday developer. With so many directly impacted by layoffs and generative AI, it poses an interesting question of how much worse it can get and whether2025’s potential successescan save it.
If you’re interested in more statistics and information about the last year of game development, such as how PC game development has notably risen within the last year, we highly recommend thefull GDC report.
Regardless, we’re interested in the progress going forward into 2025 and hope that the following GDC stats in 2026 reflect a positive net change for this next year.
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