GDC Releases Its State of the Game Industry 2019 Report

cageymaru

cageymaru

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The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has surveyed nearly 4,000 game developers for its annual State of the Industry Survey. In the latest edition, truths about the game industry are revealed such as working hours, pressure from bosses to work overtime, thoughts on the 30% cut that Steam takes, unionization, percentage of money that a game makes from digital storefronts other than Steam, interest in AR/VR, PC's lead in game development, and more topics. If you were considering a job in the game industry, this is the perfect report to read! The GDC runs March 18-22, 2019 in San Francisco. The Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VROC) is also in San Francisco and runs March 18-19, 2019.

When asked what platforms they're currently making games for, two thirds of respondents (66 percent) said PC, 38 percent said smartphone/tablet, 31 percent said PlayStation 4/PlayStation 4 Pro, and 28 percent said Xbox One/Xbox One X. Here again we note a striking similarity to last year's results, with PC again edging up its lead as the most popular platform for devs' current projects. Nintendo's Switch saw the biggest year-over-year increase in dev interest, up to 19 percent this year from 12 percent a year earlier.

When asked which platforms they expected their next game would be released on, 62 percent of respondents said PC and 35 percent said smartphones and tablets. 32 percent said PS4/PS4 Pro, 29 percent said Xbox One/One X, and 22 percent said Nintendo Switch. Again we see PC on top and increasing its lead year-over-year, while dev interest in other platforms remains relatively steady.
 
I wonder how much overlap there is. Such as a dev making the same title for PC, PS4, XBone, etc and it counting in all categories.

It is good to see PC is leading though.
 
I see so much interest on PC, and yet 2018 was a shit show for PC gamers. Where's the Red Dead Redemption 2 port for PC? Where's the first titles port?

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You know, I generally am anti union because of the low benefit vs cost in this day and age's labor laws, but the gaming industry is one area where I think a union is a must.

Now that we have these mega conglomerate companies that shit all over developers, a solid union could not only prevent this, but force some if these companies to go belly up, which could then cause another gaming boom as smaller companies start forming and competing.
 
The PC clearly has the advantage of having the best barrier to entry than any other platform with the fewest restrictions on top of an exceedingly mature community.
 
Zion Halcyon said:
You know, I generally am anti union because of the low benefit vs cost in this day and age's labor laws, but the gaming industry is one area where I think a union is a must.

Now that we have these mega conglomerate companies that shit all over developers, a solid union could not only prevent this, but force some if these companies to go belly up, which could then cause another gaming boom as smaller companies start forming and competing.
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Union not really, but more like a guild sure why not, people will say they are the same, while similar in idea I tend to separate them as a company can request so many given people and receive them rather than working on 1 project and being layed off going from 1 project to the next, instead specific people can be requested but it would allow for diversity in the field while fronting the benefits of the union uithout the pitfalls of actually having one.
 
1Nocturnal101 said:
Union not really, but more like a guild sure why not, people will say they are the same, while similar in idea I tend to separate them as a company can request so many given people and receive them rather than working on 1 project and being layed off going from 1 project to the next, instead specific people can be requested but it would allow for diversity in the field while fronting the benefits of the union uithout the pitfalls of actually having one.
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I suggest the Spacing Guild. Will get you there faster than any 3D-raster-space sweatshop.
 
1Nocturnal101 said:
Union not really, but more like a guild sure why not, people will say they are the same, while similar in idea I tend to separate them as a company can request so many given people and receive them rather than working on 1 project and being layed off going from 1 project to the next, instead specific people can be requested but it would allow for diversity in the field while fronting the benefits of the union uithout the pitfalls of actually having one.
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Uhm.. not following you. Can you clarify for me? Were you saying you like or don't like that companies can request workers from unions based on what they need? Seemed like you said you don't like unions but then said you like that they can work like that.

To clarify, being union has nothing to do with weather you are a regular employee like auto workers unions, or are on call to who've needs work done like service unions. Then there are construction unions that tend to be somewhere in the middle.
 
mord said:
Uhm.. not following you. Can you clarify for me? Were you saying you like or don't like that companies can request workers from unions based on what they need? Seemed like you said you don't like unions but then said you like that they can work like that.

To clarify, being union has nothing to do with weather you are a regular employee like auto workers unions, or are on call to who've needs work done like service unions. Then there are construction unions that tend to be somewhere in the middle.
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I am talking about a Union in a more traditional sense, a Guild in a more traditional sense, part of what you are describing are industries and Unions taking more a Guild role because its easier and then just calling it a Union.

"being union has nothing to do with weather you are a regular employee like auto workers unions, or are on call to who've needs work done like service unions." - In short it should, because its nuevo non-sense of diluting English because people want to just use 1 term broadly. English, and etymology is important.

A guild has a much diverse and longer history than Unions do.

Clarification would be - Yes because certain industries work better as a whole when companies just request workers and are sent them rather than them trying to shoehorn a large company into existence that can't maintain itself.
 
This study reinforces the reaction to "Do you not have phones?" We do have phones, and we use them, but we want our next game on PC.
 
Zion Halcyon said:
You know, I generally am anti union because of the low benefit vs cost in this day and age's labor laws, but the gaming industry is one area where I think a union is a must.

Now that we have these mega conglomerate companies that shit all over developers, a solid union could not only prevent this, but force some if these companies to go belly up, which could then cause another gaming boom as smaller companies start forming and competing.
Click to expand...
I, too, look forward to games costing ≥ $100.
 
I think PC would always rate highly for devs in this type of survey. Another way to phrase this question is: "Do you want to develop for restricted platforms / hardware with restricted tools or do you want to develop for PC?"

Also, gotta appreciate the person who voted for "Xbox 360" - trolling the survey much?
 
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