Eleven % of sport builders have been laid off in 2024, in line with GDC survey

It is a difficult time to be a developer nowadays, in line with GDC’s 2025 State of the Game Industry report that surveyed over 3,000 sport devs and business professionals. In one of many worst years ever for sport business job losses, 11 % of builders mentioned they have been let go from their positions in 2024 and 29 % noticed direct colleagues being laid off. All of that’s a part of an unfortunate trend brought about partly by consolidation that would see round 14,000 layoffs in 2024 when closing tallies are executed.

In the meantime, reside service video games seem like right here to remain, regardless of the spectacular flameout of Concord and the axing of several Sony projects. One-third of AAA builders mentioned they’re presently engaged on reside service video games (GaaS), with 16 % throughout the whole developer base engaged on such titles. That does not imply all of them prefer it although, as 41 % expressed that they weren’t in any respect on engaged on GaaS type video games. That traces up with a general malaise amongst players with regard to reside service titles.

One encouraging upward development is in PC video games, the place 80 % of builders reported that they have been working — up massively from 66 % final 12 months. That could possibly be due partly to Valve’s Steam deck, as 44 precent of devs mentioned they have been fascinated by working particularly on that platform. Browser video games are additionally on the upswing, with 16 % of respondents engaged on releases. Lastly, whereas gaming execs appear to like the potential for AI in gaming, builders hate it, with 30 % saying it is having a unfavorable influence on the business — up 12 % from final 12 months.