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Discover the latest trends in the game industry with the insights from the 2025 State of the Game Industry Report by GDC!
The 2025 State of the Game Industry Report
80 Percent of Game Devs Are Making Games for PC
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) unveiled in its 2025 State of the Game Industry report, released on January 21, 2025, that a striking 80% of game developers are now focusing on creating games for the PC platform. This annual survey, which gathers insights from developers globally, provides a comprehensive overview of the current trends, challenges, and opportunities within the game industry.
The report highlights a significant shift, with an increase of 14% from the previous year’s 66% focus on PC gaming. This rise may be partly influenced by the growing popularity of Valve’s Steam Deck, as mentioned in the report. Although the Steam Deck wasn’t listed as a specific development platform in the survey, a notable 44% of developers who selected the ‘Other’ option cited interest in developing for this device.
Despite the emergence of user-generated content (UGC) platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, and the upcoming Switch 2, PC has consistently been labeled as the "dominant platform" since the trend was at 56% in 2020, rising to 66% in 2024. If this trend persists, we can expect an even larger library of games available on PC. However, the anticipated release of the Switch 2, with its enhanced graphics and performance, might slightly alter this trajectory.
One-Third of Triple A Devs Works On Live Service Games
The same GDC report reveals that one-third (33%) of AAA developers are currently engaged in developing live-service games. When expanding the scope to all respondents, 16% are actively working on such titles, and another 13% express interest in doing so. Conversely, a significant 41% of developers show no interest in pursuing live-service game development.
Those working on or interested in live-service games acknowledge the potential for financial gain and community engagement these games can offer. However, those uninterested point to challenges such as waning player interest, creative stagnation, predatory practices, microtransactions, and the risk of developer burnout.
The report also touches on the issue of "market oversaturation" in the live-service sector, which makes it challenging for developers to sustain a viable player base. Ubisoft's experience with the early shutdown of XDefiant, just six months post-launch, exemplifies this struggle.
Some Devs Underrepresented in GDC’s State of the Game Industry
PC Gamer reported on January 23, 2025, that the latest GDC State of the Game Industry survey might not fully represent the global game development community due to the underrepresentation of developers from certain regions. Nearly 70% of the survey respondents hail from Western countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Notably absent from the survey are significant inputs from developers in China, known for its thriving mobile game market, and Japan.
This skew towards Western perspectives could potentially bias the findings, suggesting that the report might not entirely reflect the diverse landscape of the global game industry.
